Chapter 25 Plan B: Paris.

Chapter 25 Plan B: Paris.
Aria's POV.
"We don't make deals with you," Enzo said. "You will when you hear what I'm offering." She pulled out a tablet, showing us a map of Paris. "Luca's estate. Complete security layouts, guard rotations and blind spots. Everything you need to infiltrate and kill him."
My heart stuttered. "Why would you give us that?" "Because Luca promised me half of Enzo's empire in exchange for delivering you both," Sofia said. "But I've realized something: why settle for half when I can have it all? Luca dies, Enzo dies and I step in to fill the power vacuum. The five families bow to me, not to some Italian psychopath."
"You want us to kill Luca, then you kill us," I said flatly. "Eventually." Her smile widened. "But first, I will help you rescue your mother. You get what you want and I get what I want. Everyone wins."
"Except the people you murder," I said. "Semantics." She waved a hand dismissively. "Do we have a deal?" I looked at Enzo and saw the tension in every line of his body. This was his nightmare, the past he'd tried to bury coming back to haunt him.
"No deal," I said. Sofia's smile faded. "Excuse me?" "You heard me. No deal." I raised my weapon, pointing it at her chest. "We don't need your help. We'll get my mother back ourselves."
"Aria," Enzo warned. "No, Enzo. This is a trap. She offers us information; we walk into Luca's estate and either he kills us or she does. Either way, she wins." I kept my eyes on Sofia. "I'm done being a pawn. For anyone."
Sofia's expression went cold. "That's unfortunate. I was hoping we could do this the civilized way."
She made a gesture and her men raised their weapons. "Cover!" Enzo shoved me behind a concrete pillar as bullets tore through the air.
We returned fire, the warehouse exploding into chaos. Sofia disappeared back up the stairs, her laughter echoing over the gunfire.
"North exit!" Marco's voice in my ear. "You've got a clear path..." The communication cut to static.
"Marco? Lucia?" Enzo tried his own comms. "Dahlia, respond!"
Nothing. "They're jamming us," I said, firing at a guard trying to flank us. "We're on our own." "Then we fight our way out." Enzo's expression went deadly. "Stay close to me."
We moved through the warehouse like a unit, covering each other and taking down guards with brutal efficiency. But there were too many and they kept coming.
"There!" I spotted a stairway leading up. "If we can get to the roof..."
"Go!" Enzo laid down covering fire and I ran, taking the stairs two at a time.
The roof access was locked, but I shot out the mechanism and kicked the door open. Cold air hit me as I emerged onto the rooftop and found Sofia waiting.
She stood at the far edge, weapon trained on me, her men behind her. "End of the line, little girl." "Where are my friends?" I demanded.
"Safe. For now." She smiled. "Enzo will be here any second and then we'll see who he values more, his team or his latest fuck toy."
Rage exploded through me. I raised my weapon, finger on the trigger,
Enzo burst through the door, saw the standoff and fired without hesitation. Sofia's men scattered, returning fire and the rooftop became a war zone.
I dove behind a ventilation unit, bullets sparking off metal. Through the chaos, I saw Enzo moving toward Sofia with deadly purpose and saw her smile as she aimed at his chest.
I fired first. The bullet caught her in the shoulder, spinning her around. She dropped her weapon, clutching the wound with blood seeping between her fingers.
"Bitch," she hissed. Enzo was on her in seconds, pressing his gun to her temple. "Where's Dahlia?"
"Go to hell." "Wrong answer." He pressed harder. "Where. Is. She?"
Sofia laughed out loud with blood on her teeth. "You think you've won? This was always Plan B. Dahlia's already in transit. Luca has her and by the time you figure out where..."
Enzo's phone buzzed. He checked it with one hand, keeping the gun on Sofia with the other. His face went white.
"What?" I moved closer. "What is it?"
He turned the phone toward me. A photo of Dahlia, bound and gagged, a knife at her throat and a message: You have 12 hours. Come to the estate alone, or she dies screaming. - Luca.
"No," I breathed. Sofia laughed harder, despite the pain. "Plan B, Enzo. Always have a Plan B."
Enzo pistol-whipped her and she dropped unconscious. Then he turned to me and I saw something in his eyes I'd never seen before: pure, helpless rage.
"He has Dahlia," he said unnecessarily. "We get her back." I grabbed his arm. "Whatever it takes, we get her back." "He'll kill her the moment we show up."
"Then we don't show up how he expects." My mind was already racing through possibilities. "We use Sofia's information. The security layouts and the blind spots. We go in smart, we get both Dahlia and my mother and we kill Luca on our way out."
"That's suicide." "Everything we do is suicide." I pulled him closer, forcing him to look at me. "But we're still breathing and still fighting. So let's finish this... tonight."
For a long moment, he just stared at me. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Tonight." Behind us, Sofia's men were regrouping. We needed to move, needed to get off this roof before they got organized.
"One thing first," I said. I pulled Enzo into a hard kiss, tasting blood and smoke and desperation all at the same time. When I pulled back, I saw surprise in his eyes.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"Asserting dominance," I said. "Sofia wants you? She can't have you. Luca wants me? He can't have me. We belong to ourselves and right now, we belong to each other. Got it?"
A fierce smile crossed his face. "Got it." "Good." I checked my weapon. "Now let's go save our friend and end this nightmare."
We ran for the fire escape, bullets chasing us and Sofia's unconscious body left behind. Twelve hours... We had twelve hours to plan an impossible rescue, infiltrate a fortress and kill the man who'd been hunting us for weeks.
It wasn't enough time, but it would have to be, because Dahlia was counting on us. My mother was counting on us and I was done letting the people I cared about pay for this war. Tonight, in Paris, everything ended. One way or another.