Page 61 of The Enforcer's Possession
The gesture was automatic.Protective.The same way I’d been touching her all night -- keeping contact, maintaining connection, making sure she knew I was there.
She didn’t pull away.Didn’t comment on it.Just stayed beside me while I coordinated final positions, her attention fixed on the warehouse schematics like she was memorizing every detail.
Before we left there was one more thing I needed to do.I took out a gun and gave her a quick lesson on how to use it.I didn’t have time to take her to a shooting range, so I had to hope she’d be able to protect herself if she needed to.
“Ready?”I asked.She gave a nod and I took her hand.We went to my car and made our way to the location.We both needed to be present for this one.I’d wanted her in the van, away from all of this, but now that it was go time, I didn’t like the idea of not having her in my line of sight.Which was why she was now entering the warehouse with me.
“Alpha Team in position,” Francesca’s voice came through my phone speaker.“Bravo Team ready.Charlie Team confirms exit routes blocked.All personnel accounted for.Waiting on your go order.”
I checked my watch.Half a minute to four hundred hours.“Execute in thirty seconds.Mark.”
“Marking.”I heard her relay the countdown to the other teams.“All units, breach in thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”
Caterina’s hand moved to cover mine where it rested at her back.Her fingers curled around my wrist, holding on with pressure that betrayed her returning fear.Not for herself.For what we were about to walk into.For whether her brother would come out alive.
I turned my hand to thread my fingers through hers.Squeezed once.A gesture that said I’ve got this.Trust me.We’ll get him back.
She squeezed back.Then released me and straightened, her jaw set in determined lines.“Let’s go get my brother.”
We moved toward the door together, my hand automatically returning to the small of her back as we walked.Guiding her.Claiming her.Making sure anyone who saw us knew exactly who she belonged to.
Soon enough we’d know if Caterina’s instinct about Via Dante was correct.Hopefully, it wouldn’t be much longer before we’d either have Luca secured or be executing contingency plans.
And Marco Vitale would learn exactly what it cost to take something from Dante De Luca.
I felt Caterina’s warmth against my side, felt her breathing steady despite the fear I knew she was controlling.She was holding it together through sheer force of will, channeling everything into the mission ahead.
My wife.My responsibility.My partner in this moment, even if partnership wasn’t what I’d planned when I’d married her.
We’d get her brother back.Then I’d deal with Marco in ways that would make him understand his mistake in the last moments before his life ended.
But first, we had a warehouse to breach and a hostage to extract.Everything else could wait until Luca was safe.
Everything except the unfamiliar sensation in my chest that insisted this mattered beyond tactics and territory.That Caterina mattered.That I’d burn the entire city down if it meant keeping my promise to her.
I felt her lean into my side with exhausted trust.
Time to move.
Chapter Sixteen
Dante
The concrete was cold through my tactical pants as I crouched behind a stack of shipping crates that smelled like rust and old engine oil.My Kevlar vest pressed against the fresh scratches Caterina’s nails had left on my chest and back -- marks that stung with each breath, reminders of a different kind of violence.Through my earpiece, I heard Rizzo’s steady breathing on Alpha channel and Francesca’s low commands positioning Bravo team on the building’s south side.
I checked my Glock’s magazine by feel -- full load, one in the chamber.My backup piece rode secure in the ankle holster.Combat knife strapped to my thigh.Flash grenades on my vest.Everything exactly where it needed to be, muscle memory taking over tactical preparation I’d performed hundreds of times before.
But this time was different because Caterina kneeled beside me in borrowed tactical gear that didn’t quite fit right.The helmet sat slightly too large on her head, the Kevlar vest hung loose at her sides despite the adjustments my armorer had made in the vehicle.She looked small in the combat equipment, fragile in a way that made every protective instinct I had scream at me to send her back to the command vehicle.
Except she wasn’t fragile.I’d seen her throw a crystal lamp at my head with enough force to shatter a mirror.Watched her negotiate our marriage terms with ruthless precision.Felt her nails tear open my back while she came apart beneath me.Fragile wasn’t the right word for what Caterina was.
Dangerous, maybe.To herself as much as to anyone else.
I glanced at Caterina, found her watching the warehouse with an intensity that reminded me of Giuseppe studying an enemy before ordering their elimination.Her jaw was set, her breathing controlled despite what had to be terror churning in her gut.She’d listened to every word of the tactical briefing during the drive over, absorbed the hand signals I’d taught her, memorized the contingency plans without asking questions.
She was trying to be an asset instead of a liability.Trying to prove I’d made the right call letting her come.
I still wasn’t sure I had.
