Page 107 of Obsession & Oath

Luckily, Mia and I make one brutally efficient team, dropping anyone who gets in our way. No hesitations, no prisoners. Moving quickly so that no one has time to notice us?—

“They have her!” someone shouts in Spanish.

Shit.

The second they realize that Carmen is with us, the fight shifts its focus. Suddenly, the Cartel stops putting out fires and starts rounding on us in alarming numbers.

“Move!” Mia barks.

We push forward, cutting through the bloodied hallways. Every room we pass is another wrecked battlefield.

We’re almost to the outer corridor when a monstrous-looking bastard barrels out of a side door and slams into Mia.

She grunts, staggering back as he throws her against the wall. She recovers fast, driving her elbow into his throat, but he’smassiveand barely reacts, slamming his fist into her ribs with enough force to send her to her knees.

“Mia!” Carmen cries.

I pivot, ready to step in, but Mia snarls, yanking her knife from her belt. She stabs the bastard in the thigh, twisting viciously before wrenching it free. He howls in pain, but he’s still standing.

“Run!” Mia orders. “I’ll hold them off!”

“No!” Carmen tries to move toward her, but I grab her wrist and pull her back.

“We don’t have time for this,” I snap, my grip firm but not unkind. “We have to go.”

Carmen struggles against me, panic in her eyes. “We can’t leave her!”

Mia meets my gaze over Carmen’s shoulder, her breathing ragged. There’s no fear there, only ironclad determination. She knows what she’s doing.

“Go,” she says, softer this time.

It kills me to leave her behind. It kills me to drag Carmen away when she’s fighting me every step. But I don’t hesitate. I have to trust that Mia can handle herself.

With Carmen’s choked protests ringing in my ears, I pull her down the hallway toward the exit.

Just a few more steps, just a little further, and we’ll be out of this hellhole for good. I keep my grip tight around Carmen’s wrist, my body tense, ready to gun down anyone who tries to stop us.

We run into the foyer, the front doors already half-blasted open. I can see Teo in the distance, beckoning us over. As long as we keep moving, as long as nothing gets in our way…

Then—

“Carmen.”

A single word, deep and booming, cutting through the gunfire and chaos like a blade to the throat.

And Carmen stops.

I nearly yank her off her feet with the force of my momentum, but she plants herself, body frozen, head turned toward the voice.

I already know who it is before I even look.

Amos Rubio.

He stands at the top of the grand staircase, his dark eyes locked on his daughter as he descends. Slowly. Deliberately. The chaos around us feels distant as if the entire mansion is holding its breath.

I shift in front of Carmen, angling my gun toward him, but he doesn’t evenlookat me.

This is between him and his daughter.

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