Sofia’s POVThe soft rumble of the vehicle beneath me was the only thing I could feel until a voice pierced through the weight in my mind."Your Highness," Agent 47 called gently from the front seat, “We’re close.”My eyes blinked open and I sat up, disoriented for a moment. I had fallen asleep? Damn it.“How long have I been out?” I asked, voice hoarse as I straightened, already reaching for my phone.“Thirty-five minutes. Madam Gloria wants to speak with you,” he added, gaze still fixed ahead like a machine programmed for war.I checked my phone. Two missed calls from Gloria. Just as I was processing that, the screen lit up again with her name.I swiped to answer before the first ring could complete.“Glory, did you find anything?” I asked breathlessly.Her voice came steady but urgent, “Sofia, listen to me. I used Giada’s GPS history to triangulate where her movements deviated. She did arrive at the mall and even stayed about thirty minutes, but after that... she didn’t leave in
Clancy’s POVThe jet’s wheels had barely kissed the tarmac before I was already loosening the button of my collar. My patience was a rare currency these days, and I had none left to waste. As I descended the jet stairs,a black line of polished vehicles awaited, purring silently beneath the golden morning haze, and Matteo stood in front of them, too eager, too proud. But I wasn't looking at him. My mind wasn’t even in New York anymore.It was back there.Back to her.Back to that goddamn elevator.I should’ve stayed to seize Giada at the parking lot, twist her secrets out of her mouth but the Mayen Tower lead changed everything. That ghost of a hotel, existing on paper but not in my grid? That was no coincidence. That was a declaration of war… or of defiance.And if Aurora DE Santa really was hiding there?I didn’t even realize I had paused at the last step of the jet until a gust of wind kissed my jaw and brought with it a lingering trace of her scent--sweet, clean, faintly flo
The glow of the laptop screen flickered softly in the dark, illuminating the deep furrow between my brows. My fingers paused midair over the keyboard as my eyes tracked the pings on the map."Multiple locations...?" I murmured under my breath, dragging the cursor slowly across the highlighted dots, "No, no, no..." My voice cracked, my chest tightening with every passing second.This wasn’t right.Giada never allowed her GPS to multi-ping unless she thought someone was following her. And she would always text me if something was off. My throat dried instantly. My body stiffened, my palms beginning to sweat. A cold shiver danced down my spine, and I leaned back, blinking rapidly as if the action would somehow reconfigure the chaos in front of me.“Damn it, Giada. What happened?” My voice trembled.I forced my focus and searched the network for possible third-party intrusion. Nothing. No signs of external tracking.Which meant...She triggered this herself.And that only confirmed
The smooth hum of the laptop fan filled the quiet of the room, but my focus wasn’t on the ambient noise. I sat still, hunched slightly forward, with the VR set clasped over my eyes, immersing me in the final pre-launch review of the cyber weapon prototype. Every component, every thread of code unfolded before me, alive, responsive. I twisted my wrist and the satellite's internal frame rotated mid-air in the virtual space, the HUD interface pulling open the remote-access module with a flick of my fingers.“Remote ports, encryption layer… full override scripts.” I mumbled to myself.A breath escaped my lips. I slowly lifted the VR set from my face and blinked, adjusting back to the dimmed light of the room. My throat felt tight but steady, and I tapped the screen of my phone that had been on record all along."I'm no engineer, Glory, but with what I see, this is a flawless masterpiece," I said, my voice low but confident.Gloria's voice came through, steady and reassuring, “The sy
Clancy’s POVI drove into the underground parking lot slowly, one hand on the wheel, the other on my thigh, twitching.Through the black tint, I caught her.Red sedan. Matte finish. California plates.Giada.She slipped out of the driver’s seat like smoke, hips cocked in confidence, chin high. Red hoodie, tight jeans, sneakers white as sin. No one that smooth was ever clean.She didn’t even look around before heading for the elevator. Brave. Or stupid.I leaned back with a sigh. All that trailing, all that shadow-play, and all she did was swing by a mall.On the surface, that’s what it looked like.But I’d been watching how she drove, cutting corners, doubling back, slipping into lanes like water through cracks. That wasn’t some spoiled assistant cruising on her boss' money. That was trained instinct. Maneuver and misdirect. The kind of moves that lose tails and scramble patterns.She was good.But I was better.I waited a minute longer. Let her vanish upstairs. Then I moved.
Clancy’s POVI slammed the last of the encrypted burners onto the glass table, hard enough for the surface to quake but not break. Still no answer. No goddamn answer.I’d tried all of them. Five phones, one satellite tablet, two obsolete lines masked through German proxies. Nothing. The entire fvcking grid. And not a single whisper from that bastard in Italy.Mario Karts.My jaw flexed so tight. One more ring. Just one more ring, I told myself. The screen blinked… dead. Line ended.I roared.The second phone shattered against the wall like an eggshell. The third followed. Plastic and glass scattered across the floor.“Answer me, you Italian fvck…” I growled under my breath, pacing like a rabid lion in a cage too small for its rage.We had a deal. A pact sealed without blood but with something far more binding, my word of protecting his Queen from North America.Five years ago, I had spared him. He stood at my mercy, right after Sofia’s left and I couldn’t follow. I could’v