Chapter 3

Sienna was distracted all afternoon.

Every few minutes, she'd glance toward the Tactical Operations Office. I couldn't tell whether she was looking for Chase, or hoping to avoid me.

I didn't ask.

I was reviewing the intelligence package for that night's operation when something caught my eye.

I frowned.

"Sienna." I closed the briefing folder and looked at her.

"The coordinates for Warehouse Eleven. Did you verify them yourself ?"

Her expression faltered. "I... I thought I did."

"You thought?"

The room fell silent.

She hurried over, reopening the digital file with trembling hands. A second later, the color drained from her face.

"I... uploaded the wrong map."

"Claire,I'm sorry."

I drew in a slow breath. "You don't owe me an apology."

I tapped the correct file on the screen. "You owe one to every Soldato walking into that kill zone tonight."

Silence stretched thick across the room. I turned directly toward the Capo. "Remove Sienna from the team. Effective immediately."

Sienna's eyes turned red, she bit down hard on her lip. But business was business. When human lives hung in the balance, there was no room for sentiment.

The office doors slid open and Chase walked in. Of course he knew what was happening.

I thought he would back me up. A tactical mistake like this wasn't a joke, it was a death sentence.

But to my surprise, Chase just cast a fleeting glance at the screen, immediately trying to smooth things over.

"It's just one mistake, Claire. No one got hurt."

“Yet.” I corrected him. “No one got hurt yet.”

“The Don taught us something when we were sixteen. One mistake gets people killed. I remember every word. And so do you."

His expression shifted. He hated it when I called him out in public, a sharp contrast to Sienna, who would never dare challenge his ego.

Years ago, Chase had stood beneath the scorching sun after another brutal shootout.

Blood stained his knuckles. Sweat clung to his brow. He'd flashed me that infuriating grin.

"Don't mistake me for some spoiled heir.” He had told me. "My father is harder on me than anyone else. Everything I've earned, I earned myself."

"One day you'll stop looking at me like I'm just Don Moretti's son."

Back then, I had believed him.

I believed we fought for the same standard—perfection, discipline, and zero unnecessary sacrifices.

Now, he was standing here telling me that a fatal error didn't matter just because it was Sienna.

The disappointment settled quietly inside my chest.

"Claire—"

Before Chase could finish, Sienna covered her mouth and rushed out of the room.

Without another word, without even a glance back at me, Chase turned and followed her into the hall.

That night, I went to the rooftop overlooked the Manhattan skyline. Whenever an action weighed too heavily on me, I'd come here.

The wind always cleared my head. Only Chase knew that. This is our secret place.

Or...

So I thought.

The rooftop door opened behind me. "Claire."

Sienna's voice was hoarse from crying. "Chase said I'd find you here."

I looked back at her. I saw tears streaked down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." She started. "I know those words don't fix anything."

She took one careful step forward. "But I couldn't help falling in love with him."

"I didn't plan it. It just..."

She swallowed. "It happened."

I let out a quiet laugh. "Sienna, there are eight million people in New York."

"Why Chase?"

She lowered her head. "You've always been extraordinary."

"You walk into a room, and everyone listens. You've always known exactly who you are."

Her voice cracked. "I'm not like you."

"I've spent my whole life needing someone to hold onto. I just..."

"I didn't want to be alone anymore."

"You were never alone, Sienna." My voice was steady, but my heart wasn't. "When Dominic was beating you, I brought you home. I gave you a place to stay."

I looked at her quietly.

"We grew up with nothing but each other. After our parents died, we survived because we refused to let the other fall."

"I never minded being the one you leaned on."

The wind carried my words away.

I looked at the city below us. "You think I never needed anyone?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she whispered, "You'll hate me. I know. But I don't regret choosing him"

"You saved me. You gave me another chance at life. I'll always be grateful."

"But I don't owe you my happiness. We're even now."

She turned and walked away, as if afraid my words would unmask the brutal truth—

That she had betrayed me.

I almost laughed.

"We're even." The words echoed strangely in my head.

A cigarette glowed in the darkness. Chase stepped out from the shadows.

He didn't come any closer. "I've been thinking, Claire. "

"You never asked me for anything, never leaned on me, and never let me protect you."

His voice was low. "If I bought you something, you always found a way to repay me."

"I kept wondering... If you ever really needed me at all."

He looked toward the stairwell where Sienna had disappeared.

"Sienna is different," he said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "When she looks at me, I know exactly who she needs."

He finally looked at me, a cruel, mocking curve on his lips. "Turns out, she needs me a lot more than you do. So why even bother?"

Silence stretched between us. I smiled. Almost invisible.

Sienna had built her world around love. I never had.

Love had always been only a small part of mine. Maybe ten percent. But within that ten percent... Chase had once been everything.

He simply never understood.

I turned toward the door.

The wind caught it just before it closed behind me.

It was the last time I ever stood on that rooftop before leaving for Sicily.