I laid out the plan one final time. "I go in alone with the fake documents. Viktor thinks he's getting his surrender."
"While you're negotiating, we're in position," Giulio added, checking his weapon. "Snipers on the warehouse roofs adjacentto Pier 76. Extraction team in boats on the East River. Medical standing by at the marina."
"But we can't move until you signal," Rocco reminded me. "If we go too early, Viktor executes Piero on the spot."
I nodded. The signal: when I removed my watch and set it on whatever surface was between Viktor and me. That's when the team moved.
"Estimated timeline?" I asked.
"Thirty seconds from signal to extraction. If everything goes perfectly."
Thirty seconds. An eternity when bullets started flying.
Paola spoke up from her position by the windows. "And if Viktor searches him? Finds a wire or weapon?"
"I won't be carrying either," I said. "I go in clean. Unarmed. That's the only way Viktor might believe this is real."
The room went silent. Even Giulio, who'd seen combat in three different countries, looked uncomfortable.
Unarmed meant defenseless. Vulnerable. An easy target.
But it was the only play we had.
8:15 a.m. Time to move out.
The team loaded into vehicles—surveillance van, two SUVs with operators, medical response unit. Everything positioned but invisible.
I pulled Paola aside before we reached the elevator. Alone in the penthouse foyer, the morning light was harsh against her pale face.
"I need you to stay with Rocco," I said. "In the command vehicle. Not at the pier."
"But—"
"Please, Paola. You're pregnant. I can't focus if I'm worried about you being in the line of fire."
She wanted to argue. I could see it burning behind her eyes—the same fierce defiance that had made her refuse Viktor's offer, that had made her stand with me when her entire world collapsed.
But she nodded. "Okay. I'll stay with Rocco."
I cupped her face, kissed her. Not gently. Desperately. Like I was trying to memorize the taste of her, the way her breath caught, the small sound she made when my teeth scraped her bottom lip.
When we broke apart, both of us were breathing hard.
"Come back to me," she whispered. "Both of you. Come back."
"I'll try."
"Not good enough. Promise me."
I wanted to. God, I wanted to promise her everything—that we'd survive, that we'd raise our child together, that we'd build something beautiful from all this blood and violence.
But I'd never lied to her. Wouldn't start now.
"I'll do everything in my power," I said instead.
It was the best I could offer.
Her fingers tightened on my jacket, then released. "Go get your brother."
