Chapter 30 "It has to be me." I spread the blueprints across the table in the command center, my hands still shaking slightly from the battle we just survived. Dante is quiet for a moment, and I can see him fighting his protective instincts, the old patterns warring with everything that's changed between us. His jaw tightens as he studies the plans, and I know he's thinking about all the ways this could go wrong, all the ways he could lose me. Then his expression clears, resolve settling over his features. "What do you need from us?" The simple question carries so much weight-trust, partnership, acceptance. He's not trying to protect me from this fight anymore. He's asking how he can help me win it. Marco studies the plans while applying fresh pressure to his wounded shoulder. "She's right. Lorenzo's arrogant. He thinks tonight broke us, scattered us. He'll never expect us to go on the offensive immediately." "But what contacts do you have?" Dante asks practically, his tone purely strategic now. "Lorenzo's people won't just turn on him because we ask nicely." I pause, realizing the flaw in my initial thinking. "You're right. I don't have connections inside his current operation." I pull up the intelligence we gathered during tonight's battle. "But I have something better. I have all of his communications, his financial records, his operational details. I know exactly how his network operates." "That's not the same as having people on the inside," Marco points out. "No, but it's better." I start pulling up files on my laptop. "I can predict his moves, anticipate his security, know exactly what he'll expect and do the opposite. During my captivity, I studied every detail I could access-layouts, protocols, security patterns. And now I have all his communications and operational data from tonight's hack." As I outline my strategy-using the intelligence we've gathered to turn Lorenzo's own security against him-I see both men's expressions shift from concern to reluctant admiration. "It could work," Marco admits finally, though his voice carries exhaustion from blood loss and the night's battle. "It will work." I gesture at the evidence scattered across multiple screens. "We have everything we need. Financial records to freeze his accounts, communication logs to anticipate his moves, security protocols to bypass his defenses." "But you'd still be walking into his stronghold," Dante argues, crushing papers in his grip. "If anything goes wrong⁠-" I silence him with a kiss, sudden and fierce. After a moment's hesitation, he pulls me close, desperate and needy, the fear of losing me written in every touch. Marco clears his throat pointedly. "I'll...go coordinate with the cleanup teams upstairs. Make sure we're secure here." Once we're alone, Dante's careful control finally snaps. He lifts me onto the planning table, scattering intelligence files as his mouth claims mine with desperate hunger. We're both frantic, hands pulling at clothes, needing to feel alive after coming so close to death. "We should focus on the mission," he breathes against my neck, even as his hands contradict his words. "We are focusing." I wrap my legs around him, drawing him closer, needing this connection after everything we've been through. "We're focusing on right now. On us. On being alive when we almost weren't." Dante pushes me down onto the table, standing between my thighs and pressing his groin into my core through our clothes. It makes me groan, my head flopping back against the wood. His hands work quickly, pulling on my leggings until they're sliding off my ankles and feet. He groans at the sight of my underwear. I laugh lightly. "It's just panties, Dante," I say, fingers working alongside his to push his pants off his hips and pull his shirt off. His underwear is shucked off as well. "Yeah but they look so good on you." His fingers grip my legs. "Knees up. Let me see you." I sigh, pulling my knees up until my heels are pressed to the table. I feel like I have a little more control this time in this position even though I'm on my back. My hips feel wider, like there's more room for him to slide inside me, but my breath still feels like it's being punched out of my lungs when he pushes in. "Fuck, Dante." "Good girl," he mumbles, pressing my thighs down, legs dangling off his shoulders. "So tight for me." And I am. I'm squeezing around him even when I try to relax my muscles. He fills every single space inside me, molding my pussy to the shape of his cock without even trying. He fucks me slow this time with long, even strokes, brushing against every sensitive spot inside me. His thumb finds my clit, rubbing in soft circles as he bends low over me, his lips close to my ear. "Are you going to be good for me? Huh?" "Yes," I whine in response, pelvic muscles tensing. I'll do just about anything he asks me so long as he keeps fucking me at this pace. Part of me wants him to move faster, to get me to the end quicker just in case Marco comes back in, but a larger part of me loves this. I love how close we are, how intimate this is, the thrill of potentially getting caught, how I can feel every ridge of his cock and callous on his thumb. It's overwhelming, almost more so than any other time. His hands grip my hips, holding me in place while he moves inside me. "You see that?" he asks me suddenly. I push myself up on my elbows so I can see his face, shaking my head. The angle has him rubbing harder against my G-spot, pushing firmly against my cervix. Moving his hand up to my hip, he caresses my stomach, drawing a line down my belly button with two fingers, pressing firmly. I gasp, my head tipping back onto the table again. Dante tuts, "No, Sofia, back up," and snakes his hand into my hair, pulling my head back to force me to look at our joined bodies. "Look at that," he says to me roughly. "Look at how I'm fucking you." And I see it. His thick, hard cock sliding in and out of me, slick and glistening with my juices. I groan and close my eyes, inadvertently squeezing my muscles at the same time. Dante curses as I do and his pace quickens, rubbing my clit in time with his thrusts. "I wanna come," I moan, eyes once again locked on his cock moving inside me. "Oh fuck, I want to come so bad." Dante chuckles, gripping my hair tighter and pressing his forehead against mine. We breathe heavily against each other as he nods his head. "You don't need to ask for my permission. You can come whenever you want." I've never needed his permission, but my body seems to take his words quite seriously and I devolve into a full body shudder, my orgasm sneaking up on me without warning. There's no inflating ball of pressure in my belly, no gradual stretch in my calves. It's just an explosion of pleasure in my pussy, my vision basically going black. I can feel Dante still fucking into me, harder and faster, but my eyes remain closed while his hips stutter against mine. "Good girl," he rasps beside my ear, hips still grinding against mine. "So good for me-fuck." His hips stutter, slapping faster against mine, a sign of his own impending orgasm. He ruts into me a few more times before groaning loudly near my ear and sinking his teeth into my shoulder. The only sound in the room is our panting while he grinds his hips against mine. My body feels limp, my mind in a comfortable fog as I focus on the feeling of his skin against my skin. As he comes down from his high, I see the moment he accepts what has to happen. "I can't lose you," he says roughly, his forehead pressed against mine. "You won't." I cup his face, seeing the fear and love warring in his gray eyes. "But I need you to trust me. To let me finish this." His hands frame my face. "I always trust you." We dress quickly, masks sliding back into place, though his touch lingers on my skin like a promise for later. I pull up what intelligence I can gather about Lorenzo's current location from his communications. "According to his messages, he's moved operations to an abandoned warehouse in the industrial district. I don't have building schematics yet, but I can see from his coordination texts that it's a temporary setup-not as sophisticated as his old facility." "How do we know he's actually there?" Marco asks, returning with fresh coffee and updated casualty reports. "Because I'm going to make him think he's won." I start typing rapidly, accessing Lorenzo's communication networks. "I'm going to send him exactly what he wants to hear-a message saying I'm coming to surrender, to trade myself for our family's safety." "Then think about this." Dante hands me a tablet showing real-time surveillance feeds he's accessed through our captured intelligence. "Security footage from his new facility. Thirty minutes ago." Lorenzo walks through sterile hallways, inspecting preparations for what appears to be a hasty but functional setup. His confidence is evident in every gesture, every smile. He really believes tonight's attack succeeded in breaking us. "Smug fucker," I say softly, studying his body language, his positioning, his obvious satisfaction. "He thinks tonight proved he was right about our family being weak." "Was he?" Marco asks quietly. "No." I stand straighter, feeling the strength that's carried me through everything since the auction. "He made me stronger. Made me who I needed to become to stop him." I look between Dante and Marco. "Just not in the way he intended." The secure phone buzzes-an encrypted message from Mario confirming our parents are safe and that additional backup is moving into position around the city. "Time to move," Marco says, checking his weapon despite his injured shoulder. I run through final equipment checks. "Remember, no one moves until I give the signal. Lorenzo needs to believe he has me exactly where he wants me. He needs to think he's won." "Sofia." Dante catches my arm, his grip gentle but firm. "If anything goes wrong..." I kiss him softly, tasting the promise of our future in that brief contact. "Then you'll be there. Like always." His smile makes my heart stutter. "Like always." In a romance-themed observation show, several participants undergo a series of interactions and conflicts filled with love, misunderstandings, and power struggles. In the end, one couple rises to over...