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The click of his briefcase echoed in the silence.
“As for retaliation, Diego’s likely already put a death order on Ramón. Even if he ends up in federal supermax, he won’t last. With two top lieutenants gone, the DEA expects Espina Negra will fracture. Rival cartels will move in. Diego will have his hands full.”
“So, that’s it?” Caleb’s gaze slid to Gia, then back to Caldwell. “No retaliation?”
Lucas held hisstare. “No guarantees. But Gia was never a threat to Diego. And you? You didn’t kill his son. You just happened to be in the way of those who did.”
The door whispered shut behind him.
The empty conference room, once suffocating, suddenly felt as cavernous as an arena.
It was over.
She could stay Gianna Barone.
No more hiding behind false identities.
No more running.
No more flinching at shadows, seeing danger in every stranger’s face.
Relief should have flooded her.
Instead, she felt…nothing.
She searched Caleb’s face, needing something solid to anchor herself to.
Warm fingers closed around hers. Tugged her to her feet.
“Gia.” His voice was steady, solid. “You’re free. It’s over.”
“Over.”
She tested the word. Let it settle on her tongue. Waited for it to take root in her brain.
“Now what?”
He brushed a kiss over her lips. Squeezed her hand.
“I have one thing left to do here in Phoenix. Then we go home.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
AftergraduatingfromtheGreen Beret Qualification—or “Q”—course, an intense, months-long Special Forces training pipeline, and earning his Green Beret, Caleb had moved his mother from the crime infested South Side neighborhood he’d grown up in to a modest one-bedroom apartment in northeast Phoenix.
That was where he took Gia after leaving the FBI office and renting a car at the airport.
The place was nearly empty—only his mother’s bed and dining table remained. A donation truck would collect them in the morning. At Caleb’s request, Camila had offered his mother’s friends whatever they wanted. She’d donated the rest, sending everything important in the box his grandfather had passed along.
Gia stood beside him, just as she had the day of his mother’s funeral, when he’d sworn never to return.
Only he’d stayed.
For Gia.
And in doing so, he’d found love. Reconnected with his family. His roots.
Gia twined her fingers with his. “Do you need more time?”