Aria’s POV
Your turn is next.
The words sat on the tablet screen long after the secretary lowered it, long after Romanov’s jaw had gone tight enough to ache just looking at it.
“Lockdown,” Romanov said. “Full protocol. Everyone into the safe room until I know what we’re dealing with.”
Nobody argued. Not even Romeo, who was finally cut loose from his restraints and half-carried down the hall by two guards who clearly still weren’t sure whether to treat him as a victim or a threat.
The safe room felt smaller with four of us crowded into it—Romanov pacing near the door, Romeo slumped against the far wall nursing a split lip, the secretary hunched over a laptop tracking security feeds, and me sitting on the steel bench trying to keep my hands from shaking.
“We need to talk about what tha
