My phone exploded before he could finish.
Alerts from every security system fired simultaneously. Messages flooding in.
Then a call from my team leader, Dario.
"Safe house breach!" he shouted. Gunfire cracked through the connection. "Multiple hostiles. Heavy weapons. They came through—"
Explosion. Static.
"Dario!"
"—Sofia's down. They're grabbing Valentina. Armored van. We can't—"
Valentina screamed in the background. Terror and rage in one sound.
A van engine roared.
The line went dead.
"GO!" I roared at Domenico.
He floored it. The SUV rocketed forward.
I pulled up security feeds on my phone. Watched the nightmare unfold in choppy footage.
Six men. Military precision. Smoke grenades and flashbangs. They'd neutralized FBI agents in seconds.
Sofia had tried to fight. She lay motionless in the hallway.
They'd dragged Valentina out in under ninety seconds.
Professional. Planned. Executed perfectly.
"How far?" I demanded.
"Ten minutes."
Might as well be a thousand miles.
I watched the van disappear from the security perimeter.
Tracked its direction on GPS until the signal vanished.
Marco had her.
And I'd left her unprotected.
CHAPTER 14
Valentina
The Arizona sun slanted through the kitchen windows, warm and golden. I sat at the small table reviewing testimony notes, coffee steaming beside me in the ridiculous mug Alessio had bought—"World's Okayest Witness." He'd presented it with mock seriousness three days ago, and I'd laughed until I cried.
The memory made me smile even now, pen hovering over my notes.
Alessio had left thirty minutes ago—kissed me at the door, thumb stroking my cheekbone, eyes intense and protective. "Stay inside. Don't answer the door for anyone except FBI agents you recognize. Promise me." I'd promised. Then watched him drive away and padded back to the kitchen in my slippers, hair still damp from the shower.
Sofia hummed at the sink, washing breakfast dishes. Water ran in a steady rhythm. The safe house smelled like coffee and the cinnamon rolls she'd made that morning—domestic, peaceful, almost normal.
