Chapter 33 Chapter 33

Chapter 33 Chapter 33
Marcus had betrayed us. The truth hit me like a punch to the gut and I stumbled backward. Victor caught my arm to steady me but I jerked away from his touch. "Marcus works for you?" I whispered.

"Worked," Victor corrected. "Past tense. He served his purpose."

My mind spun. Marcus had been there from the beginning. He had warned me about Victor's target list. He had told me about Mia. He had listened to my argument with Damien. Everything had been a setup. Every word. Every warning. "Why?" I asked.

"Because men like Damien think loyalty can be bought," Victor said. "But everyone has a price. Marcus wanted his brother released from one of Damien's prisons. I made it happen." He checked his watch again. "Forty-nine minutes. Clock is ticking."

I looked at Mia and saw the timer counting down on her chest. Forty-eight minutes. Forty-seven. I could not get to the mansion and back in time. But maybe I could buy more time. "What if I give you something else?" I said quickly. "Something worth more than the flash drive."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "I am listening."

"Me. Let Mia go and I will stay. I will tell you everything I know about Damien's operation. His contacts. His safe houses. His plans."

"Tempting. But I already have you. And in forty-six minutes, I will have the flash drive too because Damien will bring it to save you both."

"He does not know where it is."

"Then you better hope he is a fast learner."

Victor walked away and left me standing there with my heart breaking. I ran to Mia and dropped to my knees beside her chair. Her eyes were wild with fear. I peeled the tape off her mouth gently and she gasped for air. "Lisa, what is happening?" she sobbed. "Why is there a bomb on me?"

"I am so sorry," I whispered. "This is my fault. All of it."

"Just get it off me. Please."

I looked at the device strapped to her chest. Red wires. Blue wires. A small digital screen counting down. Forty-four minutes. I had no idea how to disarm a bomb. If I cut the wrong wire, we would both die. "I do not know how," I said. My voice cracked. "I do not know what to do."

Mia started crying harder. "I do not want to die. Please, Lisa. I do not want to die."

I grabbed her face in my hands. "Look at me. You are not going to die. I promise." But even as I said it, I knew it might be a lie. I looked around the factory for anything that could help. Tools. Wire cutters. Something. The space was empty except for broken machinery and shadows.

Victor's men stood guard near the exits. Three of them. Armed. Watching. I counted the minutes ticking away and felt panic rising in my throat. Forty-two minutes. I needed a miracle. I needed Damien.

And then I heard it. Gunfire. Sharp cracks echoing through the night. Shouting. The sound of cars screeching to a stop outside. Victor's men tensed and raised their weapons. "Positions," Victor barked. He looked at me with cold eyes. "Looks like your knight in shining armor just arrived."

More gunfire erupted. Closer now. The windows exploded inward and glass rained down on the concrete floor. I threw myself over Mia to shield her. Bullets tore through the air above us. Men screamed. Bodies hit the ground. The factory became a war zone.

I looked up and saw Damien charging through the entrance with his men behind him. His face was a mask of fury and focus. He fired twice and dropped one of Victor's guards. Then he spotted me and his expression changed. Relief. Terror. Rage. All at once. "Lisa," he shouted. "Get down."

I stayed low and pulled Mia's chair to the ground as gently as I could. She screamed but the bomb stayed stable. Thirty-nine minutes. The fighting intensified around us. Damien's men pushed forward and Victor's men retreated. Blood pooled on the concrete. The smell of gunpowder filled the air.

Damien reached us and dropped to his knees. He looked at the bomb strapped to Mia's chest and his jaw clenched. "How much time?" he asked.

"Thirty-eight minutes."

He pulled out a knife and started cutting the ropes binding Mia to the chair. "I need you to stay very still," he told her. His voice was calm. Steady. Like he disarmed bombs every day. Mia nodded and held her breath. Damien worked fast and freed her from the chair but the bomb stayed strapped to her body.

"Can you disarm it?" I asked.

"Not here. Too complicated." He looked around and assessed the situation. His men had pushed Victor's forces back but more gunfire came from the lower floor. "We need to move. Now."

He lifted Mia carefully and carried her toward the exit. I followed close behind. We made it down the stairs and out into the night. Damien's cars waited outside with engines running. He placed Mia in the back seat and turned to one of his men. "Get her to the safe house. Call Rodriguez. Tell him we need a bomb specialist. Go."

The car sped away and I watched it disappear into the darkness. Relief flooded through me but it was short-lived. Damien grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. His eyes blazed with anger. "What were you thinking?" he shouted. "What the hell were you thinking coming here alone?"

"I was thinking about saving my friend."

"You almost got yourself killed."

"Better me than her."

He pulled me close and his grip was tight enough to hurt. "You do not get to make that choice," he said. His voice shook. "You do not get to throw your life away like it means nothing."

"It does not mean nothing," I said. "But Mia is innocent. She should not die because of me."

Damien stared at me and something broke in his expression. The anger drained away and left only exhaustion. Fear. "I cannot keep doing this," he whispered. "I cannot keep saving you from yourself."

"Then stop. Let me go."

"I cannot." He pressed his forehead against mine. "I have tried. God knows I have tried. But I cannot."

We stood there in the darkness with gunfire still echoing behind us and blood on our clothes. His hands trembled as they held my face. "When I realized you were gone," he said quietly, "when I saw your window open and your bed empty, I thought I had lost you. I thought I was too late."

"You were not too late."

"This time. What about next time?"

I did not have an answer. He kissed my forehead and pulled me toward his car. "We are going home," he said. "And you are not leaving that mansion again until this war is over."

"Damien."

"I mean it, Lisa. I will lock every door and bar every window if I have to. You are not doing this again."

We drove back in silence. His hand stayed on mine the whole way. When we reached the mansion, he walked me upstairs to my room. "Stay here," he said. "I will post guards outside your door."

"So I am a prisoner again."

"You are alive. That is what matters."

He left before I could argue. I heard the lock click from the outside. I sat on my bed and felt the weight of everything crash down on me. Mia was safe. That was all that mattered. But Marcus had betrayed us and Victor was still out there and I was trapped again.

Hours passed. The sun started to rise outside my window. I heard footsteps in the hallway and then my door opened. One of Damien's men stood there. Young. Maybe twenty-five. I recognized him from the factory. "Miss Lisa," he said. "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

He glanced over his shoulder and then stepped inside and closed the door. "The bomb," he said quietly. "I planted it."

My blood turned to ice. "What?"

"Victor paid me. Told me it was just supposed to scare Damien. Make him negotiable. I did not know someone would actually be strapped to it. I swear I did not know."

I stood up slowly. "You work for Victor?"

"Worked. He is cutting loose ends now. I think I am next." He pulled an envelope from his jacket and handed it to me. "This is everything. Names. Accounts. Proof that Victor has more people inside Damien's operation. I am giving it to you because I think you are the only one who can stop this."

I took the envelope with shaking hands. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because if I wanted you dead, you would be." He opened the door and looked back at me. "Victor is planning something big. Something that will end Damien for good. And it starts with taking you."

He left before I could respond. I opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of photographs and documents. My hands trembled as I flipped through them. Bank transfers. Meeting notes. Security schedules. And at the bottom, a photograph that made my heart stop.

It was me and Damien. Taken through a window. We were standing close and his hand was on my face and we looked like lovers. Written across the bottom in red ink were four words that chilled me to the bone.