Page 74 of Blood Debt
I wipe the tear from my face.
I say softly, “I quit.”
He takes a step toward me.
I step back.
“I’ll pack tomorrow,” I say. “You won’t have to see me again.”
I was done with the mission after all.
I turn, walk down the hallway, heart pounding, limbs trembling.
I make it to my room.
The door shuts behind me. I slide down the back of it and sob. I don’t know how long I sit like that before the receiver in my cabinet beeps, two short pulses.
My breath freezes.
I rise slowly and walk into the bathroom. I lock the door. Retrieve the device.
It lights up with a coded pulse.
A pre-recorded voice message from Tony.
His voice is tight, low.
“Serafina. The safe house was breached. Unknown men—likely Bellarosa’s—forced entry. Your mother and daughter are alive, but shaken. They left a message.”
The audio crackles.
“They said if you don’t end the investigation, next time there will be no survivors.”
The device goes silent.
And so do I.
My hands clench around the receiver until my knuckles crack.
My throat stays still, even as my lungs tighten. Even as my whole body goes stiff, like I’m made of wire drawn too tight.
He tried to touch my daughter.
Twice.
I unlock the comms panel and press the call channel.
It buzzes once.
Tony picks up on the second chime.
“Serafina?”
My voice comes out calm. “Did your people find anything in the files I sent?”
He exhales. “They’re pushing. We’ve got the logs, shipment manifests, financial threads. My team’s decoding everything.”
“Can it bring him down?”
