Chapter 2

Breakfast was as tense as ever.

My father, Don Salvatore Cavallo, sat at the head of the long table, his eyes lowered as he cut into his medium-rare steak.

"Elowen, Riccardo leads tonight's op, as usual. You stay at the estate and monitor everything from here." He didn't even look up, and his voice was cold. "Dante Rossi and his crew have already scouted the site. All they need now is your exit route."

My gaze darkened as I sliced the bread in front of me.

In my last life, an hour before the op, Riccardo had come down with acute appendicitis and been rushed to the hospital.

Dante had stepped in to take command at the last minute.

In the end, Dante and 24 of our best men died in the kill zone, mowed down by the enemy's heavy machine guns.

Meanwhile, Riccardo lay in the hospital, cleared of all suspicion. Then he returned to the estate as my interrogator and personally sent me to my death.

I finished the bite in my mouth and looked at Riccardo across the table.

"Riccardo, I hope tonight goes smoothly. With you in charge, I'm not worried."

Riccardo's fork stopped in midair for a split second.

He looked up and gave me a gentle smile.

"Of course. I'm leading it myself. Besides, with you guiding us along the escape route from here, what could go wrong?"

I gave him my usual look of concern.

"How's your stomach? Didn't the pain keep you up last night?"

Something flickered in Riccardo's eyes, but he quickly raised his coffee to his lips as though nothing were wrong.

"It's fine now. Just the same old problem. It won't affect tonight."

"Good," I replied evenly, setting down my knife and fork.

"Dante's team is heading to the forward post at nine this morning for the final weapons check. Since you're feeling fine, go with them."

"You're commanding tonight's op. You should check the weapons, the vehicles, and the exit routes on the ground yourself."

Riccardo's smile froze for a second.

But I acted as if I hadn't noticed and took a slow sip of coffee.

In my last life, he'd stayed at the estate the whole time. It wasn't until two hours before the op that his appendicitis suddenly flared up.

This time, I was sending him out early, where everyone could keep an eye on him. I wanted to see how he'd pull off his little act now.

Before Riccardo could get a word out, Sophia, across the table from me, set down her silver spoon.

"Elowen, isn't that a little early?" Her voice was soft, but a barely perceptible flicker of panic crossed her eyes. "Riccardo's stomach has been acting up for days. Tonight's op is so dangerous. Can't he rest here a little longer and leave when it's time?" As she spoke, she slid a glass of warm water over to Riccardo like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Their fingertips brushed for a moment.

Riccardo didn't pull away. Instead, he took the glass like he'd done it 100 times before and answered her in a low voice, "Don't worry. I'm fine."

It sounded like simple reassurance. But it confirmed everything I'd suspected.

Sophia wasn't worried about him.

She was trying to keep him from showing up at the forward post early.

So they'd planned from the start to fake his appendicitis to get him out of tonight's operation.

I put down my coffee cup and looked Sophia dead in the eye.

"He just told us himself that he's fine. What exactly are you worried about?"

"Or does our commander not get to decide whether he goes to the front tonight? Is that your call?"

Sophia went pale.

Her eyes welled up instantly, and she turned to my father, looking wounded.

"Father, I'm just worried about Riccardo..."

My father wiped his mouth and shot Sophia a cold look.

"Elowen's right. When something's none of your business, keep your mouth shut."

Sophia bit her lip and lowered her head. Under the table, she bunched her skirt in her fists.

Under the table, Riccardo lightly touched Sophia's knee to reassure her.

They thought they were being discreet enough.

But I'd seen the whole thing reflected in the glass doors of the liquor cabinet across from me.

I let out a cold laugh.

After breakfast, Riccardo followed me back up to the war room on the top floor.

The door had barely closed when he wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Elowen, you're in a mood today."

"Sophia's still young. She doesn't know any better. Don't let her get to you."

I let him hold me and felt the warmth coming off his skin.

Being this close to the man I'd once loved now turned my stomach.

"Riccardo, Dante's taking our whole first wave with him."

I turned my head to look at him.

"If this job fails, our foothold in Eastern Europe will be wiped out. And if that happens, neither of us wants to face the Don's wrath."

Riccardo stroked my long hair, looking at me like he trusted me completely.

"It won't fail. As long as there's nothing wrong with your route, we'll all make it out in one piece."

He put extra emphasis on two words: your route.

If the operation failed, everyone would reach the same conclusion: the route's designer had either screwed up or sold them out.

"Just to be safe, I worked out a backup route."

I picked up a freshly printed plan from the desk and held it out to him.

"The sewer route we planned has blast doors. We could easily get trapped in there. The backup route goes through a rail maintenance tunnel instead. There are no cameras, and it's five minutes to the safe house."

Riccardo looked at the plan, and his eyes lit up.

He snatched it up and smoothed the page with a little too much eagerness.

"A tunnel? It's much harder to spot than the sewer line."

"Elowen, you really are the best mind this family has."

He leaned down to kiss me on the lips.

I turned my face, and the kiss landed on my cheek.

"This is the only copy. Take it to the forward team for the pre-op briefing."

"And remember, no one sees it but Dante."

"Don't worry. I'll hand it to Dante myself."

Riccardo folded the plan and carefully tucked it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

The second he walked out, I activated the tracker I'd slipped into his pocket while he'd been holding me.