Chapter 92: The Breaking Point

The transport van hurtled through the dark streets of Naples, the engine's hum the only sound filling the tense silence. Ava sat in the back, her heart still racing from the firefight. Her body was drenched in sweat, her muscles aching, but none mattered. What weighed most heavily on her was Lucas—how close he had come to losing himself in the heat of battle. She glanced at him now, sitting rigidly beside her, his face a mask of cold anger. His jaw was clenched, his fists still curled tightly at his sides. Lucas hadn’t spoken since they’d escaped the warehouse, and Ava could feel the storm brewing inside him. The rest of the team sat silently, faces drawn with exhaustion and tension. They had narrowly escaped Meridian’s trap, but the mission had shaken them. Jess was tapping furiously on her tablet, already analyzing what little data they had managed to collect, while Callum sat quietly, staring out the window as the city lights blurred past. “We need to talk about what happened bac