Page 121

Toward the main house.

Toward him.

A flash-bang explodes twenty feet to my left, and suddenly the world goes white and silent.

When my vision clears, my bodyguards are scattered, pinned down by crossfire from positions that weren’t there seconds ago.

Hidden positions. Pre-planned kill zones.

This is a trap.

“Fall back!” I scream, but my voice is lost in the chaos.

Gunfire echoes off the compound walls, creating a deafening echo chamber.

Smoke grenades detonate in sequence, filling the air with thick gray clouds that make it impossible to see three feet in any direction.

I spin in a circle, trying to locate my men through the haze. “Ettore! Chiara! Anyone!”

Nothing but static on the radio.

I’m alone.

More gunfire erupts from my left—not the controlled bursts of my assault teams, but the wild spray of panic. Glass shatters somewhere in the distance.

My men are getting slaughtered.

No.

Not slaughtered.

Separated. Confused.

Marco’s forces aren’t trying to kill them—they’re trying to scatter them.

But why? Isn’t it easier to kill us when we’re together?

A bullet whines past my ear, close enough that I feel the wind displacement. I dive behind a marble fountain, heart hammering so hard I can barely hear my own thoughts.

The fountain provides cover, but I’m completely exposed.

No backup.

No clear escape route.

I need to find someplace safe. For the first time since all this started, I feel fear. Instinctively, I cradle my belly. If anything happens to me…

My radio finally crackles to life. Ettore’s voice, tinny and distant: “Aria, where are you? This is all wrong. They’re not defending—they’re herding us.”

“I know,” I gasp, pressing against the marble base.

“Boss,” comes another voice—one of the team leaders. “We’re taking heavy fire from positions that shouldn’t exist. It’s like they knew exactly where we’d breach.”

Because they did know. Marco helped me acquire weapons from the Russians. Marco let me gather intelligence on his compound. Marco allowed this attack to happen exactly the way I planned it.

Which means everything I thought I knew about tonight is wrong.

Another explosion rocks the compound, closer this time. Debris rains down around the fountain. Through the smoke, I catch glimpses of my men retreating toward the outer walls—some carrying wounded, others firing blindly into the haze.