Re_joyce의 작품

POV: MayaI watched Sienna walk away from the library, her spine straight with newfound determination. Agent Harrison cursed under his breath, but I felt something else entirely, pride. The scared girl I'd first met months ago was gone. In her place stood someone dangerous."Rodriguez, what the hell just happened?" Harrison grabbed my arm as we left the library. "She played us.""She learned." I pulled free from his grip. "Which means she's more valuable than we thought."My phone buzzed with a text from my real handler, Agent Sarah Chen, the only person in the Bureau who knew the full scope of my operation. The message was simple: "Debrief. Now."Twenty minutes later, I sat across from Chen in a dingy coffee shop that stayed open all night. She looked tired, her usually perfect hair pulled back in a messy ponytail."Harrison says the Carter girl made you," Chen said without preamble."She figured it out on her own. Girl's have good instincts." I stirred sugar into my coffee, buying t

POV: SiennaThe gun in Pedro's hands looked enormous. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might burst from my chest. Time stretched like taffy as I stared into his dark eyes, searching for any sign of the man who'd saved me from the penthouse."Pedro," Vincent's voice was ice cold. "Pull the trigger."I watched Pedro's face, saw the war raging behind his eyes. His finger trembled on the trigger, and I knew with horrible certainty that he was going to do it. Family meant everything in his world. I meant nothing. But then the lights went out.The safe house plunged into darkness. Gunfire erupted from somewhere outside, followed by screams and the sound of breaking glass. I felt Pedro grab my arm in the chaos."Stay down," he hissed in my ear, pulling me from the chair just as someone kicked in the front door.Flashlight beams cut through the darkness like swords. Vincent was shouting orders in Italian. Sofia screamed. Isabella cursed in Spanish. And through it all, I heard a voice I

POV: PedroThe service tunnels beneath the penthouse reeked of old concrete and fear. My heart hammered against my ribs as I led Sienna through the narrow passages, her hand clutched tightly in mine. Behind us, the sound of gunfire echoed through the building like thunder."Where are we going?" Sienna gasped, stumbling over loose debris."Somewhere safe," I lied. The Torrino safe house wasn't safe for her, it was a death trap. But with Romano soldiers hunting us above and my own family demanding answers, I had no other choice. I'd bought us time, nothing more.The tunnel opened into a parking garage three blocks away. My black Mercedes sat waiting, engine already running, Isabella had followed my instructions perfectly. Too perfect. My stomach clenched with unease."Get in," I ordered, practically shoving Sienna into the passenger seat. Her journalism instincts were already kicking in; I could see her cataloging details, asking questions with her eyes. She was too smart for her own go

POV: SiennaThe penthouse felt like a cage tonight, all glass walls and nowhere to hide from my own thoughts. I stood on the balcony, forty floors above the city, letting the wind whip through my hair as I stared at the lights below. Each one represented a life, a story, a person who wasn't trapped between two crime families and falling for men who could destroy her."You'll catch pneumonia out here."I turned to find Lucian in the doorway, his jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled up. Even disheveled, he looked like he belonged on magazine covers instead of wanted posters."Maybe that would be easier," I said, not moving from the railing.He stepped onto the balcony, closing the door behind him. "Easier than what?""Than this. Than you. Than everything I'm feeling right now."The words hung between us in the cold air. Lucian moved closer, close enough that I could smell his cologne, see the concern in his dark eyes."What are you feeling, Sienna?"My heart hammered against my ribs. This

POV: MayaThe coffee shop near campus was perfect for this kind of meeting, crowded enough to blend in, noisy enough that conversations couldn't be overheard. I sat in my usual corner booth, fingers wrapped around my mug, watching Sienna Carter walk through the door with shadows under her eyes and tension in every line of her body.Three months. I'd been undercover for three months, playing the desperate journalism student caught up in Pedro Vega's web, and I was finally getting somewhere. But seeing Sienna like this, fragile, frightened, caught between two deadly families made my chest tight with guilt."Maya!" Sienna's smile was genuine as she spotted me, and that made it worse. She trusted me. In this world of lies and violence, she thought I was the one person who understood her situation.If only she knew."You look terrible," I said as she slid into the booth across from me. It wasn't a lie, her skin was pale, and her hands shook slightly as she reached for the menu."Thanks. Yo

POV: SiennaLucian's penthouse was nothing like I expected. Sitting forty floors above the city, it was all floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek modern furniture that probably cost more than my college tuition. Everything was pristine, sterile almost, like a museum exhibit of how the other half lived.I stood at the living room window, watching the sunrise paint the skyline gold and orange, my reflection ghostlike in the glass. Three days. I'd been here three days, and I still felt like a prisoner in a golden cage."Coffee?" Lucian's voice came from behind me, and I turned to see him holding two steaming mugs. He was already dressed in another expensive suit, every hair in place despite the early hour."Thanks," I said, taking the mug. Our fingers brushed, and I ignored the flutter in my stomach. Stockholm syndrome, I told myself. That's all this was."How did you sleep?" he asked, settling onto the leather couch like he owned the world. Which, in many ways, he did."Fine," I lied. The