Updated Apr 20, 2026 • ~2 min read
Chapter 19: Together
Riot
“We’re going to take him down,” Riot says two hours after the screaming match has burned itself out and they’re sitting at the table with coffee and Marcus on speakerphone. “Together. Properly. With planning and backup and you wearing a wire.”
“Riot—” Nadia starts, but he talks over her.
“Not negotiable. You want to face Viktor? Fine. But we do it my way, not as a suicide mission.” He looks at Marcus through the video feed. “What do we need?”
Marcus doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t question the plan or suggest alternatives—he just launches into logistics like he’s been waiting for this moment. “Team of six including me and Riot. Surveillance on Viktor’s location—he’s got a warehouse in industrial Seattle, uses it for meetings. We get Nadia wired, send her in for the meeting, record him confessing to the murders and threats. FBI arrests him on tape, and she’s protected the whole time.”
“How protected?” Nadia asks, her voice small. “Because if he detects the wire—”
“Then I’m inside the building before he can hurt you,” Riot says flatly. “Marcus and the team surround the perimeter. You’re never more than thirty seconds from extraction. And Nadia—” He reaches for her hand. “I won’t let him touch you. I promise.”
She looks at him for a long moment, and Riot watches the war play out on her face—fear versus trust, instinct to run versus determination to stay.
“Okay,” she finally says. “We do it your way. Together.”
The relief that floods through Riot is visceral and overwhelming, and he pulls her into his lap despite Marcus watching from the screen, needs to hold her for just a moment before the planning consumes them.
“Together,” he agrees against her hair. “No more running.”
“No more running,” Nadia echoes, and Riot thinks maybe, finally, she’s starting to believe that trusting him won’t end in loss.
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