Chapter Seven: The Games Begin

The first move came on a Thursday.

Sarah was in surgery when her phone rang. Again. Again. Again.

By the time she finished, she had seventeen missed calls.

All from Luca.

Her heart stopped.

She called back.

“Where are you?” His voice was tight. Controlled.

“The hospital. What’s wrong?”

“Stay there. Don’t move. I’m sending a car.”

“Luca.”

“Romanov just firebombed my warehouse. Three men are dead.”

Sarah’s blood ran cold.

“Are you hurt?”

“No. But he’s sending a message.”

“What kind of message?”

“That he’s not afraid of me.” Luca paused. “That he knows about you.”

The line went dead.

Sarah stood in the middle of the hospital corridor.

Surgeons and nurses rushed past her. Patients waited. The world kept moving.

But she couldn’t move.

Because Victor Romanov knew her name.

And that meant she was no longer safe.

The car arrived in seven minutes.

Black. Bulletproof. Two guards in the front seat.

“Dr. Matthews,” the driver said. “Mr. Vieri is waiting. He instructed me to take you to a safe location.”

“Take me to the mansion,” Sarah said.

“I can’t. Mr. Vieri’s orders—”

“I’m a surgeon. I make life-or-death decisions every day. Take me to the mansion, or I walk.”

The driver hesitated.

Then he nodded.

The drive was silent. The city blurred past. Every shadow looked like a threat.

By the time she arrived, Luca was pacing.

His men surrounded him. Maps covered the table. Guns were laid out like silverware.

“You were supposed to go to the safe house,” he said, anger and relief warring in his voice.

“I told you. I’m not running.”

“Sarah.”

“I’m not leaving you to face this alone.”

Luca’s jaw clenched.

His hands were shaking.

“If he hurts you—”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Neither do you.” She took his face in her hands. “But I’d rather be here. With you. Than safe somewhere else, wondering if you’re alive.”

Something broke in his expression.

“I can’t lose you,” he whispered.

“You won’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

He kissed her.

Hard. Desperate. Like she was the only thing keeping him human.

Around them, his men looked away.

But Sarah didn’t care.

Let them see.

Let them know that Luca Vieri loved someone.

That he had something worth fighting for.

That he had everything to lose.

---

It happened at midnight.

Sarah was asleep when the explosion rocked the mansion.

She woke to glass shattering. Alarms blaring. Luca’s voice shouting orders.

“Stay down!”

He was already across the room. Gun in hand. Body blocking the door.

“What’s happening?”

“Romanov. He’s here.”

More explosions. Gunfire. Screaming.

Sarah crawled to the closet. Grabbed the gun Luca had taught her to use.

Her hands were steady.

Six years of surgery. Six years of keeping calm when everything went wrong.

She was ready.

The door burst open.

A man filled the frame. Not Luca. Someone else. Someone with a gun aimed at her chest.

Sarah fired first.

The man dropped.

She didn’t look at his face. Didn’t check if he was breathing. Just stepped over him and into the hallway.

Chaos.

Smoke. Fire. Bodies everywhere.

She moved through it like she moved through the ER. Assessing. Prioritizing. Surviving.

Luca found her at the bottom of the stairs.

“You’re supposed to be hiding.”

“I’m not good at hiding.”

He grabbed her hand. Pulled her toward the exit.

“We need to go. Now.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere safe.”

They ran.

Behind them, the mansion burned.

Romanov’s men poured through the gates. More than Luca’s people could handle.

This wasn’t a fight.

It was a massacre.

The car was waiting at the back gate. Luca shoved her inside. Slid in beside her.

“Drive!”

The tires screeched.

Bullets hit the back windshield. Cracked but didn’t break.

Sarah grabbed Luca’s hand.

“Is everyone out?”

“I don’t know.”

His voice was hollow.

She’d never heard him sound like that.

Broken.

Defeated.

“We’ll come back,” she said. “We’ll rebuild.”

“He knew.” Luca stared out the window. “He knew every exit. Every guard rotation. Every weakness.”

“Someone told him.”

“Someone on the inside.”

Sarah’s stomach turned.

A traitor.

In Luca’s own house.

“Who?”

“I don’t know yet.” He turned to her. “But I’m going to find out.”

His eyes were dark.

Cold.

The same look she’d seen the night he’d carried her out of her apartment.

This wasn’t over.

It was just beginning.

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