Chapter 31 -Aftermath
Lucia Safe house protocols were putomatic now.
Check perimeter. Secure exits. Cour breaths until heart rate steadies.
I stood at the window of Dante’s private estate outside the city, watching security teams sweep the grounds for the third time. My arm throbbed where the bullet had grazed it, but I barely felt in. Adrenaline was still too high.
Movement. Southeast corner
My body tensed before recognizing Taylor’s distinctive gait. Just another sweep Just more security.
Breathe. Focus Stay sharp
“Clear” Taylor’s voice crackled through the radio on the desk. “All sectors secure. No suspicious activity detected.”
I should have felt relief. Instead, my fingers kept tapping restless p
parterns on the window frame. One–two–three. Check exits. One–two–three Count security positions. One two–three. Watch for shadows that moved wrong.
The door opened behind me.
I spun, every muscle combat–ready before recognizing Dante’s reflection is the glass. He moved with that liquid grace that should have been reassuring. Instead, it just reminded me how close we’d come to losing everything.
“Report“” My voice came out clipped, professional
“Three captured. Being questioned.” His words were equally sharp. Two dead. Rest scattered”
“Hired guns or family soldiers?
“Mised Profesonal core team, mercenary support”
I nodded. That fit the amack pattem Coordination suggested-
“Inside information.” He foushed my thought. “Yes.”
Silence stretched between us, heavy with implications. Someone had known our security protocols. Known exactly how to counter them.
My fingers kept tapping. One two three. Check exs. One–two–three. Count breaths
“Lucia” His voice was closer now. “You’re bleeding again.”
Iglanced down. Red had seeped through the hasty bandage on my arm. “Superficial.”
“I’m fine.”
“Lucia” Thu dangerous edge in lus voice made me rum. He stood closer than expected, close enough that I could smell gunpowder and expensive cologne and something miquely him.
My pulse, which had finally started to scaly, kicked up again
His hands were surprisingly gerale as he examined the wound. But I felt the tension in his touch, saw the muscle jumping in his jaw.
“You should have taken that bullet. His voice was too controlled. Too careful
“Better me than you.”
His fingers tightened slightly on my arm. “That’s not
“Yes, it is ” I met his dark gaze steadily. “You’re the primary target. Im just ”
“Don’t.” The word came out like a growl. “Don’t you dare say you’re expendable.”
Heat flared in my chest – anger or something else entirely. “It’s tactical reality. Your death destabilizes everything. Mine is just-”
His mouth crashed into mine, stealing the rest of that sentence with a kiss that was pure desperation. His hands tangled in any hair, still gritty with plaster dust from the firefight. My back hit the window as he pressed closer, like he was trying to prove I was real. That we were both alive.
I should have pushed him away. Should have maintained tactical focus.
Instead, I found myself pulling him closer letting him devour my protests with kisses that tasted of gunpowder and fear and relief so sharp it hurt His touch was brusing possessive, frantic with need to confirm life and presence and connection.
“Never again.” He marked the words into my skin between kisses that felt like brands. “Never risk yourself for me like that”
“Can’t promise that.” I gasped as his teeth found my pulse point.
He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes, his own dark with something that looked dangerous close to fear. “I can’t lose you‘
The admission hung between us, too honest for our careful game of control and distance. My heart hammered against my ribs as his thumb traced my lower lip, surprisingly gentle after such desperate kisses.
“Dante-” I started, but movement outside caught my eye. Shadow where there shouldn’t be one.
We both tensed, bodies shifting automatically into defensive positions. His hand went to his gun while I calculated angles to the nearest exit.
Glupter 3–Aftermath
False alarm. Just benches in the wand.
But the moment had shattered. Reality crashed back like ice water.
“We should check the security feeds” My voice was steadier than my hands. “Look for patterns in the attack formation.”
He stepped back, rebuilding his walls of control. But his ryer stayed dark with everything we weren’t saying.
“Yes.“The word came out rough “We should”
Gunfire erupted from somewhere on the grounds.
We moved as one my hand finding the spare gius strapped under the cleak while he hit the panic bamon that would seal all entrances. Back to survival mode. Back to the dier of violence and protection we knew on well
But as we took defemive positions his land found me for just a moment. A squeeze that said everything we couldn’t voice.
“I can’t lose you rither.”
The thought came
bidden, unwanted, but undeniable. Because somewhere between the hulls and the blood and the desperate kisses. something had shifted. Something terrifying and inevitable that we both refused in name.
Footsteps in the hallway. We tensed, weapons ready.
“Clear” Taylor’s voice. Perimeter breach contained. Target neutralized.”
I released a breach hadn’t realized I was holding. Danic’s hand found my lower back, steadying, grounding
“We should move to the panic room a voice was professional again, his touch burned through my mised dress. Until full sweep is complete.
I nodded, not trusting my voice. We moved through shadows toward safety, bodies in perfect syne despite everything. Or maybe because of everything
The panic roo
room was steel and concrete and careful preparation. Multiple monitors showed security feeds, Weapons lined reinforced walls Everything needed for surv
But as the heavy door sealed behind us, as layers of protection locked into place, something cracked in my carefully maintained control. My lunds started shaking
Donte noticed immediately. Of course be dil. He noticed everything
Lucia” He started, reaching for me.
Linet him halfway, letting him pull me to an embrace that had nothing to do with protection and everything to do with desperate need to confirm life and presence and connection.
His heartbeat thundered under my palms I pressed closer, needing to feel him alive and whole. His hands moved over me with frantic precision, checking every mchi Inres. For pool of airwal
No words. We didn’t end chirm
Just touch and breath and the grachal realization those made it. That we were both still here. Still alive, Stille
together
His mouth found mise again, sutter now but no less desperate, I tasted relief and fears something dangerously close to
No, I couldn’t think that word. Couldn’t admit how clow I’d come to losing him. How that thought hurt worse than any bullet. “Sleep.” he murmured agerer my lips. “Til ke in watch
I should have argued, Should have insisted on sharing
Instead. I let İsim quite me to the sull cot in the corner. let him to me in his suit jacken that selled of gunpowder and safety.
His hand mouthed my hair an exhaustion finally caught up. The got you, cara ”
“I know.” The words slipped out before I could mop the
His kiss brushed my forehead, surprisingly tender after so much violence. I fell asleep to the inund of his heartbeat and the weight of words we still couldn’t way.
But as consciousness faded, one thouglu remained.
