Chapter 34

(Enzo's POV)

The air inside the safe house was thick with tension, the kind that suffocated you slowly. Nico paced back and forth like a caged animal, his agitation palpable. Isabella sat at the edge of the worn couch, her face pale but her eyes sharp and unyielding.

"We need to leave," Nico barked, breaking the silence. "Now. Staying here is suicide!"

"And running isn't?" I shot back, standing my ground near the window. My hand rested instinctively on the gun at my hip, though I wasn't entirely sure if it was for reassurance or control. "They'll find us no matter where we go. The only chance we have is to face them head-on."

"Face them? Do you hear yourself?" Nico's voice rose, his anger barely contained. "You're going to get her killed!"

"Enough!" Isabella interjected, but Nico wasn't listening.

"You've been reckless since the start," Nico continued, his finger jabbing in my direction. "Dragging Isabella into your mess, keeping secrets-"

I crossed the room in two strides, my fist colliding with Nico's collarbone as I shoved him back against the wall. He recovered quickly, shoving me back with equal force, and for a moment, we were inches away from tearing each other apart.

"You think I'm keeping secrets to protect myself?" I snarled, my voice low and venomous. "Everything I've done has been to protect her. Everything."

"Stop it! Both of you!" Isabella's voice cut through the chaos, and when I turned to her, I saw something in her eyes I wasn't prepared for: anger.

"Are you serious right now?" she snapped, stepping between us and forcing us apart. "You're fighting each other while the Syndicate is out there planning God-knows-what? How is this helping?"

I backed off, breathing hard, but her words didn't stop there. She turned her fury on me, and I felt the full weight of it.

"And you," she said, pointing at me. "You're no better. You think I don't see it? The half-truths, the cryptic answers. You're still hiding things, Enzo."

"I'm trying to protect you," I said, though the words felt hollow even as I said them.

"Protect me from what? The truth?" She shook her head, her voice trembling with frustration. "I can't keep doing this-living in the dark, wondering what else you're not telling me."

Her words cut deeper than I wanted to admit, but I couldn't back down. "You don't understand," I said quietly. "If you knew the full truth, you wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't what?" she demanded, stepping closer. "Wouldn't trust you? Wouldn't care? Stop treating me like I'm some fragile thing that needs protecting, Enzo. I'm here, aren't I? I chose this."

The silence that followed was deafening. I looked into her eyes and saw something I hadn't expected-betrayal.

But before I could say anything else, the lights flickered once and then went out completely, plunging the safe house into darkness.

The sound of Isabella's sharp intake of breath echoed in the room, and I felt my heart rate spike. The blackout wasn't random. It couldn't be.

"They're here," Nico muttered, his voice barely audible.

(Isabella's POV)

The darkness was suffocating. My eyes strained to adjust, but all I could see were faint outlines of the furniture and the shadows of the people around me.

"Stay close," Enzo's voice came from somewhere to my left, calm but firm. I heard the familiar click of a safety being released, and my hand tightened around my own gun.

Then came the sound.

Footsteps. Faint but deliberate.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as the soft thud of boots echoed in the hallway outside the living room. My heart pounded so hard it drowned out the silence.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered, my voice shaking.

"Yeah," Nico muttered. "I heard it."

Enzo motioned for us to fan out, his movements precise and controlled. "Check the cameras," he ordered Nico. "Find out how they got in."

As Nico disappeared toward the control room, Enzo turned to me. "Stay behind me."

I nodded, gripping my gun tightly as we moved toward the hallway. The dim emergency lights cast faint red glows along the walls, making the shadows dance in unnerving ways.

The control room door creaked open, and Nico's voice came through the radio clipped to Enzo's belt. "The cameras are down. Someone disabled them."

Of course they did. Whoever was here knew exactly what they were doing.

"We need to split up," Enzo said, his tone reluctant but resolute.

I hesitated. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No," he admitted. "But we don't have a choice."

Reluctantly, I nodded and headed down the opposite hallway, my footsteps muffled against the carpet. The silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional creak of the old floorboards.

I held my gun in front of me, my finger hovering over the trigger as I scanned every shadow, every corner. My breath was shallow, my heart pounding in my chest like a drum.

Then I felt it-a presence behind me.

Before I could react, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

I spun around, my finger already on the trigger, only to find Enzo staring at me, his expression as tense as I felt.

"It's me," he said quickly, raising his hands in a calming gesture.

My heart was still racing, but I lowered my gun. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"We need to move," he said, his voice urgent. "It's not safe here anymore."

Before I could respond, a deafening explosion ripped through the air, the force of it throwing us both to the ground. My ears rang as debris rained down around us, the acrid smell of smoke filling my lungs.

"Isabella!" Enzo's voice was muffled but frantic as he helped me to my feet. "We have to go-now!"

The safe house was in chaos, the once-secure walls now crumbling around us. Flames licked at the edges of the hallway as we stumbled through the wreckage, coughing and choking on the thick smoke.

We found Nico near the back entrance, his face pale but determined. "I saw someone," he said as we regrouped. "A woman, just before the explosion. She was watching the building."

"Who?" I demanded, but the look on Enzo's face told me he already knew the answer.

"She's Syndicate," Nico said, his voice grim. "An assassin. I've seen her before."

Enzo's jaw tightened, his eyes dark with something I couldn't quite place. Anger? Fear? Guilt?

"Who is she, Enzo?" I demanded, my voice rising. "What aren't you telling me?"

Before he could answer, a crackling sound came from the small radio clipped to Nico's belt.

A woman's voice, smooth and chilling, echoed through the static. "You can run, but you can't hide."

The message ended with a burst of static, leaving us in stunned silence.

I turned to Enzo, my patience finally snapping. "Who is she?" I demanded again.

His expression was unreadable as he looked at me, the firelight casting flickering shadows across his face.

"She's part of my past," he said finally. "And now, she's part of ours."

The group is forced to flee, but Enzo's cryptic response leaves Isabella with more questions than answers. The woman's voice lingers in her mind, a chilling reminder that their enemies are always one step ahead.