THE WAR BEGAN

Chapter 6

Lucia left. Dinner arrived twenty minutes later—pasta that tasted homemade and wine that probably cost more than Tia's car had. She ate mechanically, her mind already on tomorrow night.

The building blueprints arrived via tablet, brought by the same silent girl who'd delivered breakfast. Tia studied them for two hours, memorizing exits and camera placements, guard stations and blind spots. By the time she finally closed her eyes, she could navigate the executive floor in her sleep.

She dreamed of hallways and locked doors, of Julian's face when she'd caught him, of Dante's hands steady on a gun.

When she woke at dawn, someone was in her room.

She tensed before recognizing the silhouette by the window.

"Do you ever knock?" she asked.

"The sun's up. That means you should be too." Dante turned from the window. He wore workout clothes, his hair damp from what looked like a morning run or training. "Get dressed. We're going to the range."

"The shooting range?"

"If something goes wrong tonight, I need to know you won't freeze." He tossed something onto the bed. A handgun, compact and deadly. "You have thirty minutes."

"I don't know how to shoot."

"Then it's time you learned."

He left before she could argue.

Tia stared at the gun on her bed. Three days ago, she'd been planning a wedding. Now she was learning to shoot, breaking into her father's company, and sleeping in a mafia compound.

She picked up the weapon, felt its weight in her palm.

Everything had changed.

She was changing with it.

Twenty-five minutes later, she walked into the basement shooting range wearing borrowed workout clothes and found Dante waiting with an assortment of weapons laid out on a table.

"Lesson one," he said, picking up the compact pistol he'd given her. "This is a Glock 43. Nine millimeter, six-round capacity. It's small, easy to conceal, and reliable. If everything goes right tonight, you won't need it. But if everything goes wrong—"

"I want to be ready."

"Exactly." He moved behind her, adjusting her stance with firm hands on her shoulders, her hips. "Feet shoulder-width apart. Slight bend in the knees. Arms extended but not locked."

His breath was warm against her ear as he guided her arms up, his body close enough that she could feel his heat.

"Now, look down the sight. Front sight focus. The target should be blurry."

Tia tried to concentrate on the target downrange, but all she could focus on was how close he was, the solid presence of him at her back.

"Breathe," he murmured. "Squeeze the trigger gently. Don't jerk it."

She fired. The recoil jolted her arms, the sound deafening even with ear protection. The bullet hit the target's shoulder, far from center mass.

"Again."

They worked for an hour. By the end, Tia's arms ached and her ears rang, but she could consistently hit center mass from fifteen yards.

"You're a fast learner," Dante said, securing the weapons. "That's good. We'll need every advantage tonight."

"What happens if we're caught?" Tia asked. "What's the plan?"

"If we're caught, I get you out first. That's the only plan that matters."

"And if you can't?"

He looked at her directly, his expression harder than she'd seen before. "Then you run. You forget about the data, forget about me, and you run. Lucia will have extraction points planned. You follow her instructions, you survive."

"I'm not leaving you behind."

"Yes, you are." He stepped closer. "This is not a negotiation. If I give the order to run, you run. Understand?"

Tia wanted to argue, but the steel in his voice stopped her. He'd saved her life. He'd given her a chance at revenge. The least she could do was follow his orders if everything went to hell.

"Understood."

"Good." He checked his watch. "We have twelve hours until the op. Get some rest, eat well, and stay focused. Tonight, we take back what's yours."

As Tia left the range, she glanced back at Dante. He was checking weapons with the practiced efficiency of someone who'd done this a thousand times.

She was walking into danger with a man who lived in it.

But for the first time since her world had exploded, she felt like she was taking control back.

Tonight, Julian would learn that killing Celestia Harrington wasn't as easy as he'd thought.

Tonight, the fight back began.