All Chapters of No Apologies, No Regrets: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Three days later, Judah Carlstone stepped into the secure government building with the weight of the last 72 hours pressing against his chest. He moved through three layers of security, badge flashing, heart pounding—not from nerves, but from what he was about to report.Inside the CIA’s debriefing room, he laid everything on the table. Rivas had handed him the first consignment—pure fentanyl, methamphetamine, and a designer opioid mix called Ghost Dust, all hidden in modified sound equipment crates. Three routes, multiple checkpoints, pre-paid bribes. Judah executed it flawlessly.“Was the target convinced?” one of the analysts asked.“He called me mi sangre,” Judah muttered, jaw clenched. “He was convinced.”But then came the twist.“El Padre Rivas made a request,” Judah said, his voice dipping lower. “He wants me to allow Fedora to stay with him… until the consignment is confirmed delivered.”That silenced the room.“You’re saying he wants to keep her as insurance?” his supervisor

The text came through at 2:03 a.m.Unknown Number: “She looked happy with you. Let’s see how long that lasts.”Judah stared at the screen, fingers tightening around his phone. The air in his apartment suddenly felt colder. He rose from the couch, checked the windows. All locked. Still, something didn’t feel right.Someone had seen them. Someone had watched.And that someone wasn’t Rivas.***In her room, Fedora stood in front of her bathroom mirror, brushing her teeth in silence. Her phone buzzed on the counter.Anonymous: “You were always too soft, Fedora. I’m surprised you’re still alive.”She froze, foam drying on her lips. The number was untraceable.Another message followed.Anonymous: “Cynthia said you couldn’t stomach blood.”Her grip on the toothbrush loosened. It clattered into the sink."Cynthia? What does she have to do with this? How did this stalker know she hated the sight of blood?" She quizzed rhetorically.She knew that Cynthia was vengeful, but not to this extent. Or

“Dammit!” Korben snarled, kicking over a rusted pipe as he stormed into the room. The bowl of street noodles he brought crashed to the floor, splattering the wall. The guard he’d assigned to Fedora lay writhing, bloodied and dazed, clutching his jaw and muttering incoherently. The ropes were on the ground—cut clean through. The window? Shattered.The air was rank with rage and panic.“Where is she?!” Korben bellowed, grabbing the man by the collar, shaking him violently. “You had one job!”He didn’t wait for an answer.Upstairs. Downstairs. Through the stairwell. Behind crates and rotten furniture. He tore through every room in the crumbling warehouse. No Fedora. He charged outside, diving into the dense brush behind the building, gun drawn, scanning for movement. Nothing.She was gone.She’d outmaneuvered him.And the handover to Judah was in just a few hours.He paced, breathing hard. Options flickered in his mind like static. He couldn’t show up empty-handed. That would mean he ca

“Stay on the line with me, Fedora,” Judah said, voice trembling, pacing the CIA ops center like a man walking a tightrope between hope and insanity. “Don’t hang up. Please.” “I won’t,” came her faint, exhausted voice. “I promise.” His throat closed, but he forced words out. “Are you safe now? Where are you exactly? Are you inside a building? Are there people with you?” “I’m in a house. A kind farmer brought me in. His family’s kind. They gave me food… a place to sleep. I think it’s somewhere in the outskirts. I—I don’t really know.” Judah turned to the team. “Trace her call. Get satellites aligned. Move now.” “Fedora, look around. Anything you can tell me—street signs, landmarks?” There was shuffling on her end. A moment of silence. “There’s a sign… says ‘Little Haven.’” “Copy that!” shouted one of the techs. “We’re narrowing it down!” Judah’s voice softened again. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” She was quiet for a moment. “I’ve got cuts. Bruises. But I’m alive,

And the world between them caught fire.His lips found hers with the urgency of a man who had come too close to losing the only thing that had ever made him feel alive. Her fingers slid up his chest, curling into his T-shirt, and he deepened the kiss, cupping her face with both hands like she was something sacred. Something he’d once prayed for but never thought he’d deserve.The spatula forgotten, the food ignored.The only heat that mattered now was the one sparking between them.Fedora gasped against his mouth, and he took it as invitation. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down, pulling him in. Every kiss he gave her was both like an apology and a confession. I’m sorry for falling in love with you. I can't help my feelings. I'm gone too deepBut even as her body leaned into his, her mind screamed, This is a mistake. This breaks the rules. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Still… it was Judah.And he was thinking the same—This shouldn’t happen. This changes everything