“Okay.” She nods. “I can do that.”
“What about Adrian’s men?” Marco asks. “They’ll be expecting us.”
“Let them expect us.” I study the map, calculating angles and timing. “We’re not trying to be subtle. We’re trying to be fast. Get in, get the target, get out. Anyone who gets in the way goes down.”
We spend the next hour going over every detail, every contingency. My men are professionals.
They’ve done extractions before.
But I can see the doubt in their eyes.
They don’t like using Sophia as bait.
They don’t trust that Adrian will play fair.
Neither do I. But we’re out of options.
As the sun climbs higher, we load into the vehicles.
Sophia sits beside me in the lead SUV, her hand gripping mine so tightly I can feel her pulse racing.
She’s terrified.
Of course she is.
But she’s doing this anyway.
“You don’t have to be brave,” I tell her quietly. “You’re allowed to be scared.”
“I am scared.” She looks at me, fear flooding her blue eyes. “But I’m more scared of living with myself if I don’t try to save her.”
The textile factory looms ahead, a hulking structure of brick and broken windows.
Through my binoculars, I can see Adrian’s men positioned on the roof, at the entrances, watching our approach.
My jaw clenches.
There are more than Marco reported.
At least twenty, maybe twenty-five.
We’re outnumbered. Outgunned. And walking straight into a trap.
I stop the SUV two blocks away.
This is as close as we can get without alerting them to our full numbers. Sophia takes a shaky breath and reaches for the door handle.
“Wait.” I pull her back and kiss her. It’s hard and desperate, full of everything I can’t say.
When I release her, her lips are swollen and her eyes are bright with unshed tears.
“Come back to me,” I whisper against her mouth.
“Always.” She touches my face, her fingers tracing the line of my jaw. “I promise.”
Then she’s gone, stepping out of the SUV and walking toward the factory.
I watch her go, my heart hammering against my ribs.
