Chapter 40 40

• I had to make it happen. I had to break free, even if it meant doing the unthinkable. The plan had been in my head for days, the details etched in my mind, but tonight... tonight was the night I would execute it.
• Romero, as always, was too trusting. Too easy to manipulate. When I convinced him to join me for dinner, the restaurant was conveniently located just a five-minute walk from the address Cosima had slipped into my hands. I could feel the weight of the small gun I had hidden in my purse, nestled deep inside the side pocket, its cold presence a reminder of what I was about to do.
• Lorrenzo, in his arrogance, had underestimated me. He thought I was weak, thought I’d fall in line. But I’d learned, even in this cage of gilded walls he kept me in, how to protect myself. I wasn’t a fool. I knew enough about guns from books, from whispered stories. Better safe than sorry.