Page 74 of Bound

Rafe’s voice snaps through radio. “Outer team holds. No one enters until Gregory confirms the relay.”

Blaze takes one step forward.

“Blaze,” Rafe warns.

“What did I do? Breathe too soon?”

“Do less.”

Gregory’s fingers fly over his keyboard. “The smoke isn’t fire. It’s triggering safety protocols. He’s recreating the fire without burning the Village down.”

Memory, not destruction. That is worse. Carlos doesn’t want rubble.

He wants me standing in fear, making mistakes.

Every instinct in me screams to put Erin in the SUV. Send her to Norway. Lock countries and steel between her and that smoke. But I don’t, and the restraint feels like it’s carving me open.

“Gregory, Rafe,” I say. “Find him.”

“I can, but I need the old route to answer once more,” Gregory hisses. “We are so close.”

Rafe’s eyes cut to mine. “Not the gate.”

“No,” Gregory says quickly. “A ghost knock. We make the system think the family entered the perimeter, but not through the door Carlos wants. Then I can trace his exact location, and we can send in the troops. So. Close.”

Erin’s voice is quiet. “Make him think he has the play without giving him the stage.”

Gregory points at her. “Exactly.”

Pride hits me hard enough to hurt. Carlos wanted a pawn. But he gave me a queen that night.

Dressed in an inadequate coat.

“Do it,” I say.

Gregory hits the key.

The Village answers beneath our feet. One low pulse. Old stone recognizes old blood.

Carlos’s voice returns through every radio. “You always were sentimental, Lucian.”

I turn toward the speaker above the gate. “Still hiding?”

A soft laugh. “Still pretending she is not bait?”

Carlos wants proof that he can still reach inside me.

I give him nothing.

“She isn’t bait,” I say. “And she’s not my mistake. It was your mistake to send her. Now, we’re all stronger.”

Silence. Small. Sharp.

Then Carlos says, “Love does make men stupid.”

“No,” Erin answers before I can. “Ego does.”

Blaze mutters, “God, I love her.”