POV: Sofia
---
The days after Derek were strange.
Not bad,strange. Like the world had shifted slightly on its axis, and everything looked the same but felt different. Lighter. Like I'd been carrying something for so long I'd forgotten it was there, and now that it was gone, I kept reaching for it anyway.
Antonio noticed.
"You're quiet," he said one evening. We were on the couch in our apartment, his arms around me, a book open in my lap that I hadn't turned a page of in twenty minutes.
"Just thinking."
"About?"
"Derek. The past. How strange it feels to have it... done."
He was quiet for a moment. Then: "Is it strange in a bad way?"
"No." I turned to look at him. "Strange in a good way. Like I'm finally free of something I didn't even realize was still holding me."
"Good." He kissed my forehead. "That's how it should feel."
"How do you know?"
"Because I felt it too. After I told you about the nightmares. About the first man I killed." He shrugged. "Like putting down a weight I'd been carrying since I was fourteen."
I stared at him. "You've never told anyone that."
"No."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the only person who's ever made me feel like I could put it down." He cupped my face. "You see me all of me and you don't run. You stay. You hold on."
"I love you."
"I know." He smiled. "That's the miracle."
---
ANTONIO
Something shifted after that night.
Sofia was different. Not in a dramatic way she still ran her bookstore, still argued with me about books, still woke up tangled in my arms every morning. But there was a new ease to her. A confidence. Like she'd finally stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I understood. I felt it too.
The nightmares hadn't stopped completely, but they were fewer. Further between. And when they came, she was there steady and warm and completely unafraid of the man who woke gasping beside her.
"You're staring," she said one morning, catching me watching her make coffee.
"You're worth staring at."
"That line didn't work the first time."
"It worked fine. You just didn't want to admit it."
She laughed that real laugh, the one that made my chest ache and brought me coffee.
"I love you," I said, because I could now. Because saying it felt as natural as breathing.
"I love you too." She kissed me. "Now drink your coffee. You have a war to plan."
"Romantic."
"I'm very romantic. I'm also practical." She sat beside me. "Tell me about the plan."
I hesitated. Not because I didn't trust her ,I trusted her with my life. But because the plan was violent, dangerous, and likely to get people killed. Including me.
"Sofia"
"Don't." She held up a hand. "Don't protect me from this. I'm your wife. Your partner. If something happens to you, I need to know what's coming. I need to be ready."
"You shouldn't have to be ready for that."
"I shouldn't have to do a lot of things. But here we are." She took my hand. "Tell me."
So I did.
---
SOFIA
The plan was terrifying.
Viktor was planning a coordinated strike on multiple Matteo locations. Warehouses, safe houses, even Vincent's estate. The kind of attack designed to cripple them permanently.
Antonio's counter-strike was equally ambitious: let Viktor think his plan was working, let him commit his forces, and then hit him from all sides. Tomas and Carlo would feed false intelligence, leading the Russians into a trap. Marco would lead one assault team. Antonio would lead another.
And somewhere in the middle of all that violence, my husband would be in the crossfire.
"When?" I asked.
"Three days. Viktor's moving on the full moon thinks it'll give him cover." Antonio's jaw tightened. "He doesn't know we're waiting."
"And you? Where will you be?"
"Leading the team that hits his headquarters. Cut off the head, the body dies."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to beg him to stay safe, to send someone else, to not be the one walking into the lion's den.
But I'd married Antonio Matteo. I knew who he was.
"Come back to me," I said instead.
"Always."
"I mean it, Antonio. Whatever happens out there..you come back."
He pulled me close. "I will. I promise."
We held each other in the quiet apartment, and I tried not to think about all the ways promises could be broken.
---
ANTONIO
The next two days were a blur of planning and preparation.
Meetings with Marco, Dominic, and the team leaders. Final intelligence from Tomas and Carlo. Weapons checks, route planning, contingencies for every possible outcome.
Through it all, Sofia was my anchor.
She brought me coffee at midnight. Sat in on meetings when I needed her there. Stayed quiet and supportive when I needed space. And every night, she held me like I was precious, like she could keep me safe through sheer force of will.
"You're amazing," I told her the night before.
"I know." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm also terrified."
"Me too."
"Good. Then we're even."
I laughed..actually laughed, in the middle of the terror..and pulled her close.
"Tomorrow night, this will be over. Viktor dead. War ended. And then..." I trailed off.
"Then?"
"Then we start our real life. The one without guns and bodies and constant fear."
She looked at me. "You really think that's possible?"
"I have to. Otherwise, what's the point of any of this?"
She didn't answer. Just kissed me, slow and deep, like she was memorizing the feel of me.
We made love that night like it was the last time.
Because it might have been.
---
SOFIA
I watched him leave at dawn.
He looked like a soldier..black clothes, weapons hidden, face carved from stone. But when he turned to me, the stone cracked.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too. Come home."
"I will."
He kissed me once, hard, and then he was gone.
I stood in the doorway for a long time, staring at the empty hallway.
Then I went inside, made coffee I didn't drink, and waited.