Chapter 24 - Gabriel #2
I stand up and pace, trying to find the words to tell Sera she can’t pursue the goal she’s been chasing for half a year.
“Ask that New York Rosetti brother,” Sera says. “Milo. He seems to know his way around a computer.”
I share a glance with Logan, while Gunner grunts in appreciation.
I snort. “Emilio Rosetti proposed to his wife by hacking every billboard in New York City.”
“After he’d cyber-stalked her for a few years,” Logan adds. “Yeah, you could say he knows his way around a computer.”
“And he’s based in New York anyway,” Sera adds. “So…”
A few beats of silence, and Gunner is the one to break it.
“Yes,” he says. “That‘ll work.”
"Where will you be?" Logan asks me, though he already knows the answer.
"I fly separately. Commercial, one hour ahead of them. Shadow position. If institutional weight is needed, I'm there. But I can't be seen with them. Reyes might recognize the Delgado face, and that blows Sera's cover instantly."
"So I go in alone with him," Sera says, the first time she's spoken. "Into a bank vault with a man we think might sell me out."
"Not alone," I correct. "The entire team is with you. Just invisible."
She nods, but I see the tension in her shoulders. She's done more dangerous things. Lived with Julian, navigated mob dinners, survived six months on the run. But this feels different. This is walking into a trap with our eyes open.
"The vault's in Midtown," Logan continues. "Forty-third and Madison. Ground floor of the Excelsior Building."
"And those black sedans that were following Sera in Homestead?" I ask, something clicking. "The early surveillance. That was Reyes's people, wasn't it?"
Logan nods. "Confirmed last week. He had eyes on her from the moment she started using the Marin alias in Miami. Probably hoping she'd lead him to the vault without his involvement."
"But she came to him instead," I say. "Which means he thinks he's in control."
"Let him think that," Sera says quietly. "Men like Reyes are easier to manage when they think they're winning."
More data flows across the screen. Building layouts, exit routes, traffic patterns.
Logan has been thorough. Gunner asks about service entrances.
Milo Rosetti confirms he is available to help and he can track Reyes's phone in real-time.
The operation takes shape with competence from people who've done this before, in different contexts, with different stakes.
"Questions?" Logan asks, but it's really directed at Sera.
She shakes her head. "It's solid. As solid as a plan built on trusting an untrustworthy man can be."
The meeting breaks up slowly. Gunner disappears first. There one moment, gone the next, already thinking about Manhattan logistics.
But Sera and Logan stay clustered at his desk, heads close together over the screen. They're refining details. Communication protocols, the exact phrasing she'll use with Reyes, how to handle his body language in the bank.
"If he starts to make a call, you create a distraction," Logan says. "Spill something, stumble, anything to break his concentration until I can confirm who he's contacting."
"And if it's them? If he's calling to confirm we're in the vault?"
"Then you're already compromised and Gunner moves. We'll have maybe ninety seconds to extract you."
My fingers drum against my thigh as they lean closer over the screen.
Logan points to something and Sera nods before he finishes speaking.
My jaw aches from clenching. She leans forward to see something better and her shirt rides up, exposing a strip of skin at her waist that I want to bite.
Logan doesn't notice. His attention is purely operational.
But I notice everything about her body, always.
"The secondary authentication might require a voice print," Sera says.
"I've been recording Reyes during your meetings," Logan responds immediately. "I can spoof that if needed."
Of course he has. Of course they've been thinking three steps ahead while I've been struggling to catch up.
I swallow the jealousy. Don't name it, don't act on it, just let it exist. This is growth. Feeling something difficult and not compartmentalizing it, not building a box for it. Just letting it burn while I choose to trust anyway.
Miami's lights bleed into darkness outside. Monday is hours away now. In the morning, she'll board a flight with Reyes, walking into a vault that might be a trap, while I follow in shadows.
The plan is solid. The team is deployed. Every contingency we can imagine has been addressed. But my gut churns with the knowledge that she'll be alone with him in a closed room, that I'll be miles away when it matters, that all I can do is trust.
Trust her competence. Trust Logan's surveillance. Trust Gunner's readiness. Trust Milo's intelligence. Trust everyone except myself to keep her safe.
Every instinct developed in twenty years of Delgado training says to take control, to be in the room, to handle the threat directly. Don't delegate her safety. Don't stand in shadows while she walks into danger. Don't let anyone else be her protection.
But that's not partnership. That's possession. And we've moved past that, past the split personality and controls and the architecture of keeping each other at distance. Now I have to actually live it.