“Answer your fucking phone,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
The next call picked up.
“How many omega sites?” he demanded. “All of them?You’re telling me they’re hittingall of them?”
His voice rose, disbelief bleeding into anger.
“Who’s down?—No, I said who’s fucking down?”
Another pause.
“Dead?” he repeated, quieter now, like he couldn’t quite process it. “And the rest?”
His pacing stopped.
“Taken!?” he screamed. “You let them get taken?”
Silence stretched, then—
“Don’t you move. Don’t do anything until I hear from Marco.”
He ended the call, breathing harder now, the room thick with the shift in his energy.
A second later, his phone rang again.
“Yeah,” he answered quickly. Then, more controlled, “Marco.”
My pulse spiked.
The raids.
They’d done it.
Knox and Silas had gotten Command to approve our operational plan, and now AIED was hitting every site at once. Doors being kicked in. Guards taken down. Omegas pulled out.
All across the city, Marco’s network was collapsing.
And Luca…
He was hearing it happen in real time.
I had a front-row seat to listen as he lost his shit.
And all of this was because ofme.
Luca paced hard across the room, boots dragging,words coming faster now as he spoke with Marco.
“Boss—yeah, I know, I know,” he rushed, words tripping over each other. “They’re hitting everything. I’m getting calls from all sides—no, I didn’t move her, you told me to hold—”
“Yes—yes, boss. I hear you. I hear you.”
“I’ve got her. She’s here. No one’s touched her. I swear.”
A beat.
“…All of them?”
His voice cracked.
