CHAPTER 15

The handle turned slowly, like whoever was outside wanted to keep it quiet. Abigail’s breath froze in her lungs, her back pressing against the wall showing how tired she is. Every muscle in her body screamed to run, but her legs felt like lead.

Luke raised the gun, his face a mask of cold precision. “Move behind the couch,” he murmured without looking at her.

She hesitated. “Luke”

“Now, Abigail,”he said with his voice dripping of command 

The steel in his voice jolted her into action. She ducked low and scurried behind the heavy velvet couch, her pulse thundering in her ears. Her palms were slick, her throat dry. She pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle the shaky breaths threatening to give them away.

The handle stopped moving. Silence.

Then three sharp knocks.

Luke’s finger tightened on the trigger. His body was still as stone, but Abigail could see the tension in his shoulders from where she crouched.

“Mr. Vandell?” a voice called softly. Male. Calm. Almost too calm.

Luke didn’t answer.

Another knock. “Sir, it’s urgent. They’ve asked us to evacuate the east wing.”

Luke tilted his head slightly, listening. Abigail caught it too something was sounding off in the tone. Too even. No background noise, no radio chatter, nothing to suggest a real evacuation.

The voice came again, lower this time. “Sir, please. Time is running out.”

Luke’s jaw flexed. He glanced toward Abigail briefly, and in that single look, she saw everything he wasn’t saying: Don’t move. Don’t make a sound.

Then, without warning, Luke stepped sideways, pressing himself flat against the wall beside the door. Gun raised, breathing steady.

The handle turned again this time, fast.

The door burst open.

A man in a black suit stepped in, his movements sharp, deliberate. Too deliberate. His right hand was buried in his coat.

Luke didn’t hesitate. He slammed his forearm into the man’s wrist, knocking whatever weapon he was reaching for loose. It clattered to the floor a small penknife, glinting under the dim light.

Abigail gasped scared was an understatement to express what she felt at the moment 

The intruder swung at Luke with his other hand, but Luke caught the punch mid-air, twisting the man’s arm behind his back in one brutal move. The man grunted, struggling, but Luke drove him forward, slamming him against the wall with enough force to rattle the frame.

“Who sent you?” Luke growled, voice low and lethal.

The man said nothing, jaw clenched tight.

Luke shoved his face harder against the wall. “Answer me.”

Still nothing.

Abigail flinched as Luke shifted, his gun now pressed to the man’s temple. “Last chance.”

The man spat blood onto the floor, laughing hoarsely. “You really think it matters? By the time this storm clears, you’ll be nothing but a name on a gravestone.”

Abigail’s stomach dropped. A chill ran down her spine so fast her her entire body went numb 

Luke’s eyes darkened, but his voice stayed calm, controlled. “Not if I put you in the ground first.”

“Luke!” Abigail’s voice cracked, the fear breaking through.

He didn’t look at her. His focus stayed on the intruder, whose smirk didn’t waver even with a gun digging into his skull.

“Tell me who else is here,” Luke demanded.

The man just laughed again a dry, empty sound. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Luke’s finger twitched on the trigger, but then heavy footsteps thundered in the hall. More than one pair. Three, maybe four.

“Luke…” Abigail whispered, her heart hammering.

He shoved the man forward, knocking him out cold with one swift blow to the back of the head. The body crumpled to the floor like a discarded rag. Luke grabbed Abigail’s arm, pulling her up.

“We’re leaving. Now.”

“Leaving? Where”

“Somewhere they won’t find you.”

He dragged her toward a side door she hadn’t even noticed before, hidden behind a tall cabinet. He shoved it open, revealing a narrow passageway lit by a single flickering bulb.

Abigail’s breath caught. “What is this?”

“Service corridor,” he said shortly. “Leads to the maintenance wing. Fewer cameras, fewer exits anyone would think to check.”

They slipped inside, the sound of rushing footsteps growing louder behind them. Luke slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside, then turned and started moving fast down the passageway, his grip firm on her wrist which were already getting weak 

Abigail struggled to keep up in her heels. “Luke, what is happening? Why are they..”

“Not now.” His voice was tight, clipped, but not unkind. “We’ll talk when we’re safe.”

“Safe?” she choked out, nearly tripping as they rounded a corner. “Are we even going to make it that far?”

He didn’t answer. Just kept pulling her deeper into the hall of corridors, his gun always in his free hand, his eyes scanning every shadow like death might leap from it any second.

Finally, they reached a heavy metal door at the end of the hall. Luke entered a code on a keypad so fast her brain barely registered the numbers. The lock clicked open, and he pushed her inside.

The room beyond was small, a maintenance storage space with shelves lined with tools and cleaning supplies. But it was solid, secure.

Luke shut the door behind them and engaged another lock, this one manual. Only then did he lower his gun, his chest rising and falling with controlled breaths.

Abigail stood frozen, her back against the wall, her heart pounding like a drum.

“Luke,” she said finally, her voice trembling. “You need to tell me the truth. Right now.”

He turned slowly, his eyes finding hers. In the harsh light, they were darker than she’d ever seen them stormy, dangerous, but something else too. Something that made her breath hitch.

“I will,” he said quietly, stepping closer. “But you need to understand something first.”

“What?” she asked her voice was barely a whisper.

He stopped in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of his body, the tension radiating off him in waves. His hand lifted, brushing a strand of damp hair from her cheek. The touch was almost gentle. Almost.

“From the moment you walked into my life, Abigail,” he said softly, “you stopped being just a guest in my world. You became the reason someone wants me dead.”

The words slammed into her like a freight train. She stared at him, speechless, as the storm outside roared on louder, wilder, like it was echoing the chaos inside her chest.

Before she could respond, a loud metallic clang echoed from somewhere beyond the door. Then another. Closer this time.

Abigail’s breath caught. “Luke I think..”he cut her short

He raised his gun again, his jaw tightening. “They found us.”

And just like that, the fragile space between them shattered, replaced by the sharp edge of survival.