Page 38 of The Silent War
Rome stayed still beside me, phone at his ear. He didn’t try to stop me. He never did when I burned like this. He knew better. His job wasn’t to pull me off—it was to make sure I didn’t burn the whole city with me.
I stood over what was left of the man. Blood dripped steady from my knuckles, dropping into the puddle around him.
Footsteps echoed through the tunnel. Calm, steady.
Luca.
He walked into the tunnel like it was just another meeting. He looked at the bodies, then at me. Didn’t say a word.
The tunnels were red. My hands were wrecked.
And for the first time, I felt the weight hit.
I slid down the wall, body too heavy to hold up. Stone rough against my back, blood smearing down with me. My chest heaved, breaths coming sharp and uneven.
Luca lit a cigarette. Then another. Walked over, sat beside me like this was nothing more than another night. Handed me one.
I took it. Fingers shaking too much to hide. His foot touched mine once. A reminder.
We sat in silence.
He took a slow drag, eyes on the red walls.
My body was wrecked.
Hands shredded raw, fingers split until they felt like someone else’s. The kind of hurt that should’ve slowed me—except my chest kept aching like it wanted more.
I slid lower against the wall, holding the smoke in my lungs, and stared at what was left of the De’Valours. The walls dripped steady.
Rome paced the far end, phone still in hand, calm in a way only he could manage after a gun had been pointed at him.
And still my head wouldn’t stop circling back. Two contracts. Sitting on Alexander’s desk. Waiting. Names of men who thought they could buy her, fuck her, parade her under dynasty lights as if she hadn’t been ours first.
I wanted them gone. Wanted her brother bleeding on the same stone these bastards were.
My fists clenched again, pain hot enough to blur my vision.
“Don’t.” Luca’s voice cut through my anger. Pulling me back.
He said it like he’d been waiting for the thought to hit me. He’d already read it in the tension of my shoulders.
Luca leaned back against the wall beside me. “Crows take. We live. She’ll be ours.”
He slid his phone out. Tapped once. Handed it to me without looking.
And there she was. Not her face. Just the sound. Soft, steady breathing through the speaker.
I shut my eyes and listened.
Peace. That’s what it was. A rhythm steady enough tomake the rage fade in my chest. Only Emilia could make sleep sound like something holy.
The walls were painted red. My body was broken. But with her breathing in my ear, it didn’t matter.
Luca let me hold the phone for another minute before speaking again. “We’re hosting the graduation reunion. On our yacht.”
I opened my eyes, narrowed. “Why the fuck would we want those bastards on a yacht we commissioned for her?”
“Because,” he flicked ash to the floor, “we’re getting her on it.”
