Chapter 24 Sofia's Claws.

Chapter 24 Sofia's Claws.
Aria's POV.
The safe house felt like a cage. We'd been holed up for six hours, waiting for intel, waiting for a plan and waiting for something that would give us an advantage we didn't have.
I stood at the window, watching Paris wake up below us, ordinary people going about their ordinary lives while my world burned down around me.
"Anything?" I asked as Dahlia typed furiously on her laptop.
"Maybe." Her fingers flew across the keyboard. "I've been tracking Sofia's digital footprint. She's been careful, but not careful enough. Three hours ago, she made a cash withdrawal from a bank near the 19th arrondissement."
"Industrial district," Marco said from where he sat cleaning his weapon. "Warehouses, abandoned factories. Good place for a meeting."
"Or a trap," Lucia added, pressing a fresh bandage to her ribs. "It's always a trap," I said. "The question is whether we spring it or let it spring us."
Enzo emerged from the bedroom, his phone pressed to his ear, speaking rapid Italian. When he hung up, his expression was grim.
"My contact in Luca's organization just went dark," he said. "Either dead or compromised. We're completely blind to his movements now."
"But we have Sofia's location," I said. "Or at least a starting point."
"Sofia." He said the name like it tasted bitter. "I should have known she'd resurface eventually."
"You want to tell us about her?" Lucia asked. "Or do we walk into this blind, too?"
Enzo sat, his jaw tight. "Sofia Conti. Russian mafia princess. We were... involved... like we used to be lovers, years ago, before I took over the family. It ended badly."
"How badly?" I demanded. "Badly enough that she swore she'd destroy everything I ever cared about." His eyes met mine. "And now she's in Paris, allied with Luca and hunting both of us."
"Why would Luca ally with your psycho ex, Boss?" Marco asked. "Because she has resources he needs," Enzo said. "Russian connections, weapons pipelines, and mercenaries, and she has one thing Luca doesn't: personal knowledge of how I think, how I operate and where my weaknesses are."
"And what are those weaknesses?" I asked quietly.
His eyes held mine. "You. Right now, you're the only weakness I have that matters." The weight of that statement settled over the room. I was his vulnerability, his exploitable point and Sofia knew it.
"Then we find her first," I said. "Before she finds us." "Aria..." "No." I cut him off. "I'm done hiding and done reacting. If Sofia wants to play games, let's play, but on our terms."
Dahlia pulled up a map on her laptop. "The bank she used is here. Within a three-kilometer radius, there are a dozen warehouses and most are abandoned. If I were setting up a temporary base, I'd choose..." She zoomed in. "Here...old textile factory. It has multiple exits, good sight lines and is isolated enough for privacy."
"That's where we start," I said. "We need a plan," Enzo said. "We can't just walk in there..."
"Why not?" I stood, checking my weapon. "She's expecting us eventually. Let's not keep her waiting." "This is reckless..." "Every damn thing we do here is reckless!" My voice rose. "The plane was reckless. The lab was reckless and this entire situation is reckless. At least this way, we're taking initiative."
Enzo studied me for a long moment and I saw the calculation in his eyes. Finally, he nodded. "Fine. But we do it smartly. We will go with recon first, then engagement. Marco and Lucia, you're on overwatch. Dahlia, you monitor communications. Then Aria and I go in."
"I'm coming too," Dahlia said. "No." Enzo's voice was firm. "We need you on tech support. If this goes sideways, you're our lifeline out."
She looked like she wanted to argue but finally nodded. "Fine. But I'm tracking all of you. First sign of trouble, I'm calling in every favor I have."
We geared up with weapons, armor and communications equipment. I caught my reflection in a mirror and barely recognized myself. The woman staring back looked hard and dangerous, nothing like the girl who'd been traded away a few weeks ago.
"Ready?" Enzo appeared beside me. "No," I admitted. "But let's do it anyway."
The warehouse district was exactly as bleak as I'd imagined, with crumbling buildings and broken windows and the smell of rust and abandonment. We approached the textile factory from the south, using shadows and debris for cover.
"Two guards at the main entrance," Marco's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Three more on the roof. Professional spacing." "She knows we're coming," I said.
"Of course she does," Enzo replied. "The question is what she wants."
We circled to a side entrance, an old loading dock with a rusted door hanging off its hinges. Enzo went through first, weapon raised and I followed.
Inside, the factory was a maze of old machinery and abandoned equipment. Fabric scraps still hung from rusted looms, ghosts of the industry that had once thrived here. "Second floor," Lucia's voice. "I've got thermal signatures. At least eight bodies, maybe more."
"Fall back if it gets hot," Enzo ordered. "Don't be heroes."
We moved deeper into the building, every shadow a potential threat. Then, from the darkness ahead, a woman's voice, accented and amused.
"Enzo. Always so predictable." Lights blazed on, blinding us momentarily. When my vision cleared, I saw her.
Sofia Conti stood on a catwalk above us, flanked by armed men. She was beautiful in a cold, sharp way, with platinum blonde hair, ice-blue eyes and the kind of face that could sell diamonds or order executions with equal ease.
"Sofia," Enzo said, his weapon trained on her. "This is between us. Let Aria go."
"Let her go?" Sofia laughed. "My dear Enzo, she's the whole point. The girl who stole what was mine."
"I never belonged to you," Enzo said. Besides, we have known each other even before I met her. "No?" She descended the stairs, her men moving with her in perfect formation. "We had plans, Enzo. Empire plans and you threw it all away for what? For family honor? For revenge against Luca?"
"For sanity," he shot back. "You were unstable then. I see you still are."
"Unstable." She smiled and it was all teeth. "I prefer 'decisive.' And I've decided that working with Luca serves my purposes better than fighting him."
"He's using you," I said, finding my voice. "He'll throw you away the moment you're no longer useful."
Her eyes cut to me, assessing. "And you think Enzo is any different? Tell me, girl, how many times has he lied to you? Sleep or claim you? Used you? Put you in danger for his own ends?" I didn't answer because she wasn't wrong.
"I thought so." Sofia stopped a few meters away, close enough that I could see the calculation in her eyes. "But I'm not here to kill you. No no no... Not yet. I'm here to offer a deal."