Page 152 of BounBound By Scars

“We’re going.”

I blinked. “Seb—”

“We can’t afford to backpedal every time emotions flare,” he said. “We’ve got one confirmed location, one confirmed target, and an opening we may never get again. Kabir’s warning could be real—or it could be a delay tactic. Either way, we go.”

“Who is ‘we’?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Me, Zarek, Delara, Dylan, and Zane,” Seb replied, arching a brow like he was daring me to push back.

“You’re going too?”

He hesitated, glancing between Zarek and Zane.

Then, quieter, “I’ve been sober a month, Amelia.”

I exhaled hard. We were still short-handed. Still going in blind.

This was going to end badly.

“If we could just wait—”

“We’re going,” Seb said again, firmer this time. “That’s the call.”

He looked to Zane, who said nothing. Then to Zarek, who nodded silently. Delara didn’t speak at all.

My chest ached.

I wasn’t just losing this fight.

I was watching the seams of our team tear open one by one.

THIRTY-FOUR

Kabir

She failed.

Whether it was Ghost shutting her down with that insufferable calm or Sebastian steamrolling the room with command presence, it didn’t matter.

They ignored her.

Probably bulldozed her.

Which meant they ignoredme.

I probably wasn’t Zane’s favorite person either anymore. Can’t say I blamed him—but I wasn’t here for approval.

Fuck.

I had done everything I could to warn them. Quietly. Carefully. Without exposing the fragile thread I was walking. But they still chose to push forward.

So I had to improvise.

I made sure I was looped into Romano estate’s perimeter security detail. Romano was reluctant at first, until I told him that I couldn’t derail his defense on my own.

I was just one person against his two strike teams of ten militants each.

Now, here I was—standing in the dark,withthe enemy, wearing a face no one questioned. My gear matched theirs. My stance. My silence.

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