DANTE POV
Octavia collapses.
Not physically—worse. Something inside her just... breaks.
"No," she whispers, staring at the blank phone screen. "No, that's not real. That's fake. He's lying—"
"Octavia—"
"My mother wouldn't do that!" She's shouting now, hysterical. "She's sick! She has cancer! She needs me!"
I grab her shoulders. "Look at me. Look at me!"
She does. Her gray eyes are wild, desperate.
"The cancer," I say gently. "When was she diagnosed?"
"Six months ago. Right after—" She stops. Understanding dawns. "Right after Dad's gambling got really bad."
"It was never real," I tell her. "The cancer. The medical bills. All of it was a setup to get you desperate enough to—"
"To what? Work myself to death supporting them?" Her laugh is broken. "They didn't need Konstantin for that. I was already doing it!"
"They needed you vulnerable. Isolated. So when Konstantin came collecting, you'd have nowhere to turn." I pull her against me. She's shaking so hard her teeth chatter. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"My own mother." Her voice is muffled against my chest. "She sold me. Smiled while doing it."
I don't have words. Nothing I say will fix this.
My phone rings again. Konstantin.
I consider not answering. But he has her father. And Felix. And probably a dozen other ways to hurt us.
I answer.
"Touching reunion, yes?" Konstantin sounds amused. "Now that family matters are settled, let's discuss business."
"What do you want?"
"What I've always wanted. Justice." His voice hardens. "You've been lying to me for five years, Agent Marchesi. Playing spy. Stealing from me. That requires... compensation."
"Name your price."
"The girl. Tonight. Delivered to my estate by midnight." He pauses. "Alone. No FBI. No weapons. Just you and her, walking into my home."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I start killing. Her father first—quick, merciful. Then your handler Felix—slower. Then every person you've ever cared about, one by one, until you beg me to stop."
Octavia pulls away from me, eyes wide. She heard everything.
"How do I know you'll let us go after?" I ask.
Konstantin laughs. "You don't. But you'll come anyway. Because you're a hero, Agent Marchesi. Heroes always sacrifice themselves."
The line goes dead.
Octavia and I stare at each other in the alley.
"We're not going," she says firmly. "It's a trap."
"Of course it's a trap."
"Then we call the FBI right now. Have them raid the estate—"
"And Konstantin executes everyone before they arrive. He's done it before." I check my watch. Three hours until midnight. "We need another option."
"Like what?"
My mind races through possibilities. All of them end with someone dying.
Unless...
"The files," I say slowly. "We still need those files."
"Are you insane? We barely escaped with our lives!"
"Exactly. He won't expect us to try again." I grab her hand. "We have three hours. If we can get those files to Felix before midnight—"
"We still need Konstantin's retinal scan. Which means we need him."
"Right." I think hard. "What if we give him what he wants?"
"You want to hand me over?" She jerks her hand away. "After everything—"
"No. I want him to think we're handing you over." I'm talking fast now, the plan forming. "We show up at midnight like he asked. You're the distraction—keep him talking, keep him focused on you. I'll slip away, get to the vault—"
"Using what for his retinal scan? We're back to the same problem!"
I pull out my phone, scroll through photos. "Three months ago at that party, I didn't just photograph his hand. I got his eyes too. Close-up. High resolution."
"That won't work for a retinal scanner!"
"No. But this will." I show her another device. "Retinal pattern replicator. Experimental FBI tech. If my photo is clear enough—"
"If? We're betting our lives on 'if'?"
"You have a better idea?"
She's silent. Because she doesn't.
"Okay," she finally says. "Say this insane plan works. Say we get the files. Then what?"
"Then we upload them to Felix, and he raids the place with every agent available." I check my watch again. "Konstantin gets arrested. Your father goes free. We survive."
"And my mother?"
The question hangs between us.
"She goes to prison," I say quietly. "For trafficking. For conspiracy. For selling her own daughter."
Octavia nods slowly. "Good."
The coldness in her voice surprises me. But I understand it. Betrayal from strangers is one thing. Betrayal from family cuts deeper.
"We should go," I tell her. "We need supplies. And I need to brief you on the plan."
We're heading back to the car when I notice something.
A black SUV parked across the street. Engine running. Windows tinted.
I've seen that SUV before. At Konstantin's estate.
"Run," I tell Octavia.
"What?"
The SUV's doors open. Four men with guns step out.
"Run!"
We sprint. Gunfire erupts behind us. Bullets ricochet off brick walls.
I pull Octavia down a side alley. The men follow, shouting in Russian.
"This way!" I yank her through a gap between buildings. Too narrow for grown men. We squeeze through, clothes tearing on rough brick.
We emerge into a crowded street. People everywhere. The gunmen won't risk shooting into a crowd.
"Keep walking," I mutter. "Act natural."
We blend into the crowd, walking fast but not running. Behind us, I hear the men cursing, trying to follow.
We duck into a subway station. Rush onto a train just as the doors close.
Through the window, I see the gunmen on the platform, furious.
The train pulls away.
Octavia is breathing hard, eyes wide. "They found us. How?"
I check my phone. My regular phone, not the burner.
There's a tracking app I didn't install.
"Konstantin's been tracking me this whole time," I say, sick. "Probably since he found out I was FBI."
I throw the phone under a seat. Some stranger will carry it away, leading the gunmen on a false trail.
"Now what?" Octavia asks. "We have no phone. No way to contact Felix. No—"
"We have the burner." I pull it out. "And we have each other."
"That's not enough!"
"It has to be." I grab her face, make her look at me. "In three hours, we walk into hell. No backup. No safety net. Just us against Konstantin and his entire empire."
"We're going to die."
"Probably." I kiss her forehead. "But we're taking him down with us."
The train stops. We get off at a random station, keeping to the crowds.
I call Felix from the burner.
"The number you have dialed is not in service," a robotic voice says.
Ice floods my veins.
I try again. Same message.
"What's wrong?" Octavia sees my face.
"Felix's phone is disconnected." I try his office line. His emergency line. His personal cell.
All disconnected.
"Maybe he changed numbers?" Octavia suggests hopefully.
Or maybe Konstantin already got to him.
I don't say it out loud. Don't need to. Octavia sees the truth in my eyes.
"So we're alone," she says flatly. "Completely alone."
"Yeah."
"Against a Russian mob boss who wants us dead."
"Yeah."
"With no backup, no plan, and no guarantee of survival."
"That's about right."
She laughs. It sounds slightly hysterical. "This is insane. We should run. Get as far away as possible."
"We could," I agree. "But then Konstantin wins. Your father dies. My handler dies. And we spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders."
"As opposed to dying tonight?"
"At least if we die tonight, we die fighting." I take her hand. "Together."
She looks at our joined hands. Then at me.
"You know what the really crazy part is?" she asks quietly.
"What?"
"Two days ago, I was worried about student loans and medical bills. That was my biggest problem." She smiles bitterly. "Now I'm planning a suicide mission with my kidnapper who I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with. How messed up is that?"
My heart stops. "What did you say?"
"You heard me." She won't look at me. "Don't make me repeat it."
I pull her close, kiss her hard. She kisses back desperately.
When we break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"After tonight," I tell her, "if we survive, I'm taking you somewhere safe. Somewhere Konstantin and his people can't find us. And I'm going to spend every day making up for kidnapping you."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
We hold each other in the subway station while strangers rush past.
Then my burner phone buzzes.
Text from unknown number:
Felix is alive. For now. He sends his regards. You have two hours until midnight. Don't be late. - K
Attached is a photo.
Felix, tied to a chair. Beaten. Bloody. But alive.
And standing next to him, smiling at the camera—
My sister.
Isadora.
Alive.
"That's impossible," I breathe. "She's dead. I saw her body. I went to her funeral—"
But the photo doesn't lie.
My sister—five years older, looking tired and scared—is alive.
And Konstantin has her.
The message continues:
Surprise! Your sister's death was... exaggerated. She's been my guest for five years. Come tonight, and you'll see her again. Don't come, and I'll kill her for real this time. Your choice, brother.
The phone slips from my hand.
Everything I've believed for five years—every reason for going undercover, every sacrifice—based on a lie.
Isadora is alive.
And I'm about to walk both of us into Konstantin's trap with no way out.