Morning broke, pale and cold, over the coast. Waves crashed against jagged rocks below the safehouse, a relentless rhythm that mirrored the pounding in Selena's chest. She woke wrapped in Jace's arms, their bodies still entwined under the worn blankets. The soft warmth of his breath tickled her neck, and for a moment, everything else faded. The betrayal. The pain. The danger. All melted away under the tender pressure of his embrace.
But only for a moment.
Jace stirred, eyes fluttering open. "We need to move today."
Selena nodded, brushing his tousled hair from his forehead. "Do you think Vivienne will come for us?"
He frowned. "She's the only one who could finish what Adrian started."
They dressed quickly, tension thick between them. Outside, a battered black SUV waited like a loyal soldier. The drive to their next hideout stretched four hours, filled with silence, stolen glances, and the occasional hum of static from the broken radio.
At the edge of a forgotten town nestled in the Italian Alps, they arrived at a crumbling villa, an old safehouse Jace had used years ago during a sting operation. The walls smelled of damp stone and aged secrets. Vines clawed their way up the stucco, and time had cracked the windows. But it was perfect. Remote. Secure.
Back in the city, Adrian was alive and livid. His hand, now bandaged from where Selena had slashed him, throbbed with more than pain. Betrayal had always been a knife he wielded not one that ever turned back on him.
He sat before a long oak table where his remaining loyalists gathered, shadows flickering across their anxious faces. His empire was crumbling, but not yet ashes.
"We find them. We burn everything they touch. And Vivienne? Bring her to me alive. She'll explain her betrayal."
Vivienne was already far ahead. In a penthouse overlooking Rome, she examined her chessboard, the digital kind. Every piece was in motion. Adrian had underestimated her for too long. She hadn't just betrayed him. She had orchestrated his undoing.
A man entered the room , sharp suit, sharper smile. "They're in Italy. Alps. Our contact confirmed."
Vivienne looked up. "Good. Dispatch Lior."
"The assassin?"
She smiled, lips curling like smoke. "Yes. It's time Selena understands who she's truly up against."
The villa had its own secrets. Jace searched through dusty documents and hidden safes, while Selena explored the surrounding woods during the day. She returned with pine needles in her hair and worry in her eyes. At night, the darkness closed in. She couldn't sleep. The image of Adrian's bloodied lips haunted her. And Vivienne's knowing smirk.
One night, Selena stood on the balcony wrapped in a robe, the breeze teasing her skin. Jace came behind her, his hands slipping around her waist. His touch was warm, grounding.
"You okay?"
She leaned back into him, letting her head rest against his shoulder. "No. But I'm here."
He turned her gently. "Let me remind you how alive you are."
Their lips met, tender at first, then with growing urgency. He carried her inside, cradling her like something precious. The bed creaked under their weight, but they moved slowly, deliberately. Each kiss, each caress, was a salve to the wounds that hadn't yet scarred over.
"I want to forget," she whispered against his chest.
"No," he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers. "You'll never forget. But I'll make you feel alive again."
He traced the curve of her spine, then her ribs, until his palm rested over her belly. She sucked in a breath as he kissed her collarbone, her shoulder, down her chest. Reverence in every touch.
Their cries were muffled against each other's skin, their rhythm like waves crashing and retreating. It was slow, aching, emotional. Afterward, tangled in sweat-dampened sheets, Selena whispered, "Do you think love can survive this?"
Jace didn't answer right away. He just tightened his arms around her. "If it's real it has to."
The next day, the first shot rang out just after dawn. A sniper.
Selena ducked instinctively. Jace tackled her to the ground, rolling behind the staircase.
"Lior," he muttered, peering through the broken slats. "Vivienne's hired hand."
"How do we survive an assassin?"
He smiled grimly. "We don't run. We outsmart."
The villa became a maze of shadows and danger. Hours passed in tense silence as they laid false traps, shifted furniture for cover, and calculated every step. Selena, once a mistress cloaked in luxury, moved like a warrior. She lured Lior into the wine cellar, baiting him with whispers and soft footsteps. Jace circled behind, a knife in hand.
Gunfire erupted. Wood shattered. Glass exploded. The cellar echoed with violence.
Jace emerged with a bruised jaw but victorious. Lior was unconscious, restrained by curtain cords and Jace's belt.
They had one night before they'd have to disappear again. Selena lit candles as the power flickered. Jace sat shirtless, dressing his wounds.
"You could've died," she said, approaching him.
"I didn't."
She crouched before him. "I can't lose you."
"You won't."
She stood, fingers slipping under the waistband of her robe. "Prove it."
Their lips met again no slow seduction this time. It was fire reckless, hungry, raw. She straddled him on the antique sofa, her hands weaving through his hair as his mouth traveled lower.
He kissed down her stomach, pausing at her navel, whispering to the life growing within. "You are why I fight," he murmured.
Tears burned in her eyes.
They made love like they were daring death to take them. Each thrust was a promise. Each moan, a rebellion. His hand gripped the edge of the sofa while her body rocked above him like a storm unchained.
She collapsed against him afterward, skin slick with sweat. "What if this ends badly?"
Jace kissed her temple. "Then we go down fighting."
Later that night, they made love again this time on the stone floor before the fireplace. Blankets softened the cold beneath them, and flames cast dancing shadows across their naked skin. Jace kissed every inch of her like she was a prayer he hadn't dared say aloud. Selena wept, not from sadness, but from the overwhelming intimacy of being seen, touched, and loved so completely.
"I don't deserve this," she whispered.
"You deserve everything," he replied, lifting her hand to his lips. "Everything I have, everything I am, it's yours."
When the embers dimmed and they lay in the glow of afterglow and danger, Selena whispered, "No matter what happens next... I choose you."
And Jace, fierce and raw, whispered back, "Then we've already won."
Outside, the wind howled. Inside, war raged yet their love blazed hotter than the fire that surrounded them.