"I don't know what to say." Her voice was hoarse, scraped raw from the crying at the roadside. "I keep replaying it. The countdown. His face when he saidbrake line. Like he was telling me the weather."
"He wanted to rattle you. Control you."
"He succeeded." She looked at her hands. "I froze, Alessio. If your men hadn't come through those windows—"
"But they did. That was the plan."
"Was it?" She turned to me. "Or did you just get lucky?"
Honest question. She deserved an honest answer.
"Domenico had a team in position before we went in. I didn't tell you because I needed your reactions to be real—Marco would have spotted the bluff otherwise." I held her gaze. "I would never have walked you in there without a way out. Never."
She absorbed this. Something shifted behind her eyes—not forgiveness exactly, but understanding.
"You used me as bait."
"I usedmyselfas bait. You were the reason we had a backup plan at all."
Silence stretched. The woodstove crackled and ticked as it heated.
"He killed my mother," Valentina said. Not a question. A statement she was testing against the air, seeing if it held.
"That's what he said."
"Do you believe him?"
I chose my next words carefully. "I believe he wanted you to believe it. Whether that makes it true—"
"He saidbrake line. He saidquick, merciful. He shrugged, Alessio. Heshrugged."
"I know."
"So either he murdered her." Her voice cracked, steadied. "Or he lied about murdering her to break me. And I don't know which is worse."
I didn't either. Both were monstrous.
"We'll find out," I said. "One way or another, we'll find out what happened to Sofia."
She leaned into me then. Not collapsing—she'd done that at the roadside. This was deliberate. Choosing contact, choosing me. I put my arm around her and pulled her close.
"I'm so tired," she whispered. "I'm tired of being afraid."
"Then rest. We're safe here. No one knows about this place. We can stay a few days. Catch our breath before we figure out where to go."
"You said that last time."
"Last time I was right."
The ghost of a smile. "Barely."
I kissed the top of her head. She smelled like smoke and gunpowder and expensive shampoo that was losing the battle. "Rest," I said again. "We'll figure out next steps in the morning."
She blinked. Looked around. Recognition flickered behind the exhaustion.
She was asleep within minutes, curled against me on the couch. I eased her down, covered her with the blanket, and watched her breathe for longer than I should have.
Then I went outside to make calls.
