Chapter 351

Chapter 351:

Stefan flinched as if struck. “I was blind. Manipulated. I didn’t see who Rose really was until it was too late.”

“And now Camille is paying for your blindness.” The words came out sharper than Alexander intended, driven by fear and exhaustion.

Stefan didn’t defend himself. “Yes. That’s why I have to help find her. Why I have to make this right.”

A heavy silence fell between them, broken only when Victoria called them back to the tactical planning.

The FBI team reported in again as they prepared to depart. The Catskills property had been another dead end—empty except for a laptop playing a continuous video feed of the cabin in the Adirondacks. Rose had been watching them chase false leads all along.

“She’s playing a game,” Agent Chen said through the speakerphone. “Leading us exactly where she wants us to go.”

“Then we change the rules,” Alexander replied. “Radio silence from this point forward. We go dark.”

Victoria nodded approval. “If she’s monitoring our communications, she won’t know we’re coming.”

As they moved toward the helipad on the roof, Richard Lewis pulled Alexander aside.

“Bring my daughter home,” he said, his voice breaking. “Please.”

Alexander clasped the older man’s shoulder. “I will. Whatever it takes.”

The helicopter flight passed in tense silence. Alexander reviewed the tactical plan on his tablet, while Stefan stared out the window at the darkening landscape below. Victoria sat with her eyes closed, gathering her strength for what was to come.

They landed three miles from the cabin, in a clearing scouted by Alexander’s advance team. Vehicles waited to transport them the rest of the way.

“Thermal imaging shows five heat signatures in the cabin,” the team leader reported as they gathered around a portable display. “Four moving, one stationary in what appears to be the main room.”

“Camille,” Alexander murmured, staring at the glowing figure on the screen.

“Rose and three others,” Stefan added. “Hired muscle, most likely.”

Alexander turned to the assembled team, his own security personnel plus FBI tactical units who had arrived from the nearest field office. “We move in quiet. Two teams. Alpha team creates a diversion at the rear of the property. Beta team enters through the front and extracts Camille. No one engages Rose unless absolutely necessary.”

The team leaders nodded, distributing night vision equipment and tactical gear.

“What about me?” Victoria asked quietly.

Alexander had expected this question. “You stay in the command vehicle with Agent Chen. We’ll be on comms the entire time.”

Victoria looked ready to argue but then nodded, understanding the logic.

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