Page 227 of Fractured Allegiance

The page fills with names, times, addresses. A web of soft targets and choke points I’ve fed the Bureau piece by piece, never all at once. Enough to keep my cover intact, never enough to topple him.

Until now.

I mark a single X over one name: Petrov Station. It’s the one place he never expects me. Where the file on Lydia would be if he wants it untouchable.

A shadow moves at the edge of my vision. Lydia stands in the doorway, mug in both hands, my shirt hanging off her like a borrowed flag. Her eyes flick from the paper to my face. “You’re making… lists?”

“Thinking,” I say.

Her gaze lingers. “Thinking of what?”

“How to make sure he never touches you again.”

She doesn’t answer. She just takes a sip of the tea and leans against the frame, watching me like she’s trying to decide if I’m a bigger threat than the man we ran from.

When she finally speaks, it’s not soft. “You’re going to kill him.”

It’s not a question.

I look up from the paper, meet her eyes. “Yes.”

Her fingers tighten around the mug. “And the Bureau?”

“I’ll handle them.”

“Handle them how?”

“They won’t see it coming.”

She studies me for a heartbeat longer, then sets the mug down on the sideboard. “Then you’d better not miss.”

Elias appears behind her, wiping his hands on a towel, eyes flicking to the paper before I can cover it. He doesn’t smile. “Planning something off-script?”

“Always,” I say.

He leans against the wall, arms crossed. “Good. Because if you’re serious about this, I’ve got a few people Drazen doesn’t own yet. But you’ll have to trust me.”

I tear the page off the pad and fold it once, sliding it into my pocket. “Not yet.”

“Suit yourself,” he says, pushing off the wall. “But whatever you’re cooking up, make it fast. We’re on borrowed time.”

He disappears back into the kitchen, leaving me alone again with Lydia’s mug, the smell of tea, and the hum of a city that doesn’t know it’s about to bleed.

I look at the folded page in my hand, thumb brushing the X I made. Petrov Station. The place where Drazen hides what he can’t lose. The place where I’ll put a bullet in him before he can cut a deal.

For the first time since last night, a thought cuts through the static, strong and clear:

If I’m going to end him, it has to be soon. Before Naomi loses her nerve. Before Elias loses his patience. Before Lydia loses faith in me entirely.

I slip the page deeper into my pocket, stand, and glance toward the kitchen. Lydia is sitting at the table now, talking low to Elias. She doesn’t know it yet, but every move I make from here on out is for her.

Even if it kills me.

Chapter 27 – Lydia - Fault Lines

The blinds cut the light into thin strips across the table. Dust floats through them, shimmering in the stale air. I sit hunched over a mug of tea that tastes too bitter on my tongue, because it at least gives me something to do with my hands.

Elias leans against the counter across from me, arms crossed, that look on his face that says he’s already dissected me and doesn’t like the pieces.