Chapter six

Smoke burned Damon’s lungs as Luca dragged him down the emergency stairwell.

Gunfire echoed above.

Below.

Everywhere.

“You killed her.”

The words came out hoarse.

Luca didn’t slow.

“Yes.”

Damon’s heart cracked open and bled.

He should have pulled away.

Should have fought him.

Should have let Matteo’s men take him.

Instead, his fingers tightened in Luca’s jacket.

“Why?” Damon demanded.

They reached the landing between floors. Luca shoved open a maintenance corridor and pushed Damon inside.

Dark.

Concrete.

Narrow.

“Because I was ordered to,” Luca said quietly.

“That’s not an answer!”

Luca turned to him then, eyes blazing in the dim emergency light.

“I was a weapon. I didn’t ask questions.”

“You don’t get to say that like it makes it clean!”

“I know.”

The admission wasn’t defensive.

It was wrecked.

Damon staggered back against the wall.

“My mother trusted you.”

“I know.”

“You were at the house for three weeks.”

“I know.”

“You had dinner with us.”

Luca swallowed.

“I know.”

Damon shoved him.

Hard.

Luca didn’t resist.

Didn’t block.

Didn’t even flinch.

“You looked me in the eye,” Damon whispered. “You shook her hand.”

Luca’s voice broke for the first time.

“She wasn’t supposed to be there.”

The world tilted.

“What?”

“The order was surveillance escalation. Not termination.”

Damon’s breathing faltered.

“She uncovered something,” Luca continued. “About offshore routing. Arms laundering through tech subsidiaries. She got too close.”

Damon’s stomach dropped.

“Matteo.”

“Yes.”

Footsteps thundered above them.

Voices shouting.

They didn’t have time.

But Damon couldn’t move.

“You could have refused,” Damon said.

Luca’s laugh was hollow.

“You think men like me get that option?”

Damon stared at him.

And for one horrifying second

He imagined it.

Luca standing in their kitchen.

Gun raised.

Evelyn turning slowly.

Shock in her eyes.

The sound.

The blood.

Damon blinked.

The corridor shifted.

Luca was gone.

Men in black tactical gear dragged him down the opposite hallway.

Luca struggling.

Bleeding.

Shouting Damon’s name.

“NO!”

Damon lunged forward

And slammed into empty air.

The hallway was silent.

Still.

Luca stood exactly where he had been.

Watching him.

Concern cutting through the anger.

“Damon.”

Damon’s chest heaved.

He gripped the wall.

“They took you.”

“No one took me.”

“I saw it.”

“You imagined it.”

Damon closed his eyes.

The smoke.

The adrenaline.

The confession.

His brain was fracturing under pressure.

Luca stepped closer, slow and careful.

“Look at me.”

Damon didn’t want to.

But he did.

“I’m here,” Luca said. “They haven’t breached this level yet.”

Damon nodded once, shaky.

The hallucination faded.

But the fear lingered.

Because the vision hadn’t felt like imagination.

It had felt like prophecy.

They moved again.

Down two more floors.

Into a secure server room Luca had flagged weeks ago as a fallback.

Inside, reinforced steel doors sealed automatically.

For the first time since the attack began—

Silence.

Damon leaned against a rack of humming machines.

He laughed once.

Bitter.

“I’m hiding in my own building.”

Luca scanned security feeds through his wrist display.

“They’re isolating upper floors. Matteo wants you cornered, not dead.”

Damon studied him.

“You knew.”

“I suspected.”

“You stayed.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Luca finally looked at him fully.

“Because you weren’t supposed to matter.”

The words hit harder than the confession.

Damon swallowed.

“And now?”

Luca stepped closer.

“Now you’re the only thing that does.”

That shouldn’t have fixed anything.

It didn’t erase blood.

It didn’t undo grief.

But it shifted something.

Damon stepped forward too.

Their chests nearly touching.

“You don’t get redemption that easily,” Damon said.

“I’m not asking for it.”

“Then what are you asking for?”

Luca hesitated.

Then

“Let me protect you. Even if you never forgive me.”

The raw honesty in that request shattered something fragile inside Damon.

“You don’t get to decide when you’re punished,” Damon said softly.

Luca’s jaw tightened.

“I know.”

Damon’s voice dropped.

“If you die before I decide what to do with you, I will never forgive you.”

Luca blinked.

That wasn’t rejection.

It wasn’t acceptance.

It was something far more dangerous.

Claim.

A sudden pounding hit the outer door.

Metal vibrating.

Luca turned instantly, weapon raised.

“They found us.”

The reinforced door began to buckle.

Damon’s pulse spiked again.

And for one terrifying second

He saw it again.

The door bursting open.

Luca shot in the shoulder.

Dragged away.

This time Damon grabbed him first.

“You’re not leaving me.”

Luca looked startled.

“I’m not planning to.”

The door groaned.

Another hit.

And then

Silence.

Luca frowned.

The pounding stopped.

Security feeds flickered.

Then cut.

Total blackout.

Damon’s breath shortened.

“It’s happening again,” he whispered.

“What is?”

“You disappearing.”

“I’m right here.”

“No,” Damon said, backing up. “This is the part where they take you.”

Luca stepped forward.

“Damon.”

But Damon’s vision blurred.

The room shifted.

Luca’s outline flickered.

Gunshots echoed.

Hands grabbed Luca from behind

Damon lunged

And hit cold server metal.

The lights snapped back on.

The door stood intact.

No one had breached it.

Luca was gripping Damon’s shoulders.

“Look at me.”

Damon’s breathing was erratic.

“You’re still here.”

“Yes.”

“You’re not captured.”

“No.”

Damon shut his eyes.

His mind was replaying trauma before it even happened.

Loss was already living inside him.

And Luca realized something terrifying.

Damon wasn’t just grieving.

He was breaking.

The comm unit on Luca’s wrist buzzed.

Adrian.

Luca hesitated before answering.

“Status,” Adrian demanded.

“Compromised.”

“You had one job.”

“Plans changed.”

“Finish it.”

Luca looked at Damon.

Then back at the device.

“No.”

Silence.

Then a soft chuckle.

“You think you’re in love?”

Luca didn’t answer.

Adrian’s voice lowered.

“We’ll take him from you slowly.”

The line went dead.

Damon had heard enough.

“Who was that?”

“My past.”

Damon nodded slowly.

“They’re going to come again.”

“Yes.”

Damon’s gaze sharpened.

“Then we stop running.”

Luca stilled.

“That’s not safe.”

“I don’t care.”

Damon stepped away from the wall.

The panic had drained.

What replaced it was colder.

Stronger.

“They want control? Fine. We burn their leverage.”

“You’re not thinking clearly.”

“I am.”

Damon walked toward the server terminal.

“My mother didn’t die for me to hide.”

He began typing rapidly.

“What are you doing?” Luca demanded.

“Unlocking every financial file Matteo buried.”

Luca’s eyes widened.

“That will start a war.”

Damon didn’t stop.

“Good.”

Outside, sirens wailed.

But not police.

Press.

News drones circling the building.

The story was already spreading.

Corporate coup.

Armed takeover.

Affair scandal.

Damon looked at Luca.

“You don’t get to leave.”

Luca’s expression shifted.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

Damon stepped closer again.

“If you die, it’s on my terms.”

Luca let out a quiet breath.

“That’s the most romantic threat I’ve ever received.”

Despite everything

Damon almost smiled.

Almost.

Then the building speakers crackled.

Matteo’s voice echoed through every floor.

“Damon. Enough theatrics.”

Damon froze.

“Come upstairs. Alone. And I end this peacefully.”

Luca stepped forward immediately.

“You’re not going.”

Damon didn’t look at him.

“He wants a show.”

“It’s a trap.”

“Yes.”

Damon turned slowly.

“But he doesn’t know something.”

“What?”

Damon’s eyes locked onto Luca’s.

“You’re not my weakness anymore.”

The words hung between them.

Powerful.

Terrifying.

Strengthening something neither of them could name.

Chapter Six Cliffhanger

The elevator at the end of the corridor chimed.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Someone had overridden lockdown.

The doors began to slide open.

Damon reached for Luc

a’s hand.

This time, not out of panic.

Out of choice.

As the doors fully opened, a single silhouette stepped out.

Not Matteo.

Not security.

A woman Damon never expected to see again.

Alive.

And smiling.

“Miss me?” she asked.

Damon’s blood ran cold.

Because standing in front of him

Was his mother.