Good.
That means she’s not panicking or trying something stupid. A sleeping captive is easier to manage than one who’s awake and plotting.
I watch the steady rise and fall of her chest, the way her hand is curled under her cheek.
There are dried tear tracks on her face and part of me registers that she cried herself to sleep.
Not my problem.
She’s Connor Brennan’s daughter.
She’s supposed to be suffering.
That’s the whole point of this.
Except the point was supposed to be makingConnorsuffer, not watching a twenty-four-year-old woman cry alone in a locked room because her father’s rescue attempt failed.
I finish my whiskey and pour another, feeling the burn.
The Corsican involvement bothers me.
Two million dollars is serious money, the kind of money that means someone has bigger plans than just facilitating Connor’s revenge.
And if someone’s manipulating this situation, keeping the conflict going deliberately, then Emma is in more danger than just being caught between two families at war.
Which means she’s safer here where I control the variables and I know exactly who has access to her and who’s guarding her door.
It’s strategic.
That’s all.
Keeping Emma here isn’t about her, it’s about maintaining control of the situation until I figure out what the Corsicans want and who else might be involved.
I review the security footage from the attack again, freeze-framing specific moments in my mind.
Connor’s men knew where to breach, and where the guard posts were.
But if they had such good intelligence, why didn’t it work better?
We’re good, but we’re not that good.
Connor should have at least made it to the house.
Unless Zima gave him incomplete information on purpose.
Unless someone wanted the attack to fail just enough to keep both families angry and engaged.
The thought solidifies into certainty.
Someone’s playing us.
Both of us.
And until I know who and why, Emma stays exactly where she is.
On the monitor, Emma shifts in her sleep, turning toward the camera.
Even through the monitor, she just looks like what she is—a woman who’s been through hell because of choices other people made.