Peter tried to fight back. He was flailing around, desperate to hurt Luca, but he was no match for him. He had never been a match for Luca, but he knew that taking Sophia would take him down. Luca knocked him down again, and this time, he stayed standing over him, his chest heaving, fists aching, and his vision tunneling.
“Luca,” Sophia whispered. Her voice snapped him back to reality, and he knew that Tony was right. If they did something stupid, Peter might be able to use that to his advantage, and that was the last thing that they needed. This needed to be a clean fight, or Pete would win the match.
He turned to Tony. “Watch him,” he ordered. Luca crossed the room and dropped to his knees in front of her. His hands shook as he untied her wrists, then her ankles, careful to be as gentle as possible. He wanted to show her nothing of the violence he’d just unleashed on her abductor.
“I’ve got you,” he said hoarsely. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He pulled her up from the chair, and she collapsed into his arms, clutching his shirt like it was the only thing keeping her upright. He held her tight, pressing his face into her hair, breathing her in like oxygen.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispered.
“I will always come for you, baby,” he said. “I swear it.” Sirens wailed in the distance as they got closer to the cabin.
“I’ll go tell the cops what’s going on,” Tony said. “You keep an eye on him.” He nodded to Peter, who lay on the floor moaning something about his arm being busted. Luca nodded, never letting go of Sophia.
“The cops are almost here,” he assured. Luca looked down at Peter, his voice cold and final. “This ends tonight, honey. I promise.”
When the police stormed in moments later, Peter didn’t resist. He didn’t argue. He only smiled at Luca and Sophia as they led him out in handcuffs. Luca tightened his hold on Sophia as they took Peter away, and the sobs that escaped her chest were nearly his undoing.
The nightmare was over, and she was safe. “It’s over, honey,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. “You’re safe now,” he promised. He just hoped that it was a promise he could keep because he had botched up keeping her safe before. Luca worried that he might not be able to keep her safe if Peter wasn’t locked up—and hopefully, for a very long time.
As he led Sophia outside, wrapped in his jacket, she looked up at him with tired eyes. “You didn’t disappear,” she said softly. “But I did.”
“You didn’t disappear, honey,” he assured. “You were taken, and that will never happen again,” Luca replied. “I’ll keep you safe from not on, honey, you have my word.” This time, he meant it with every part of his soul. He’d die before he’d let her go again because losing her wasn’t an option.
SOPHIA
The world felt muted, like everything was happening behind a thick wall of glass, and she was just a spectator. Sophia sat on the edge of a hospital bed, a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders, staring down at her hands. They were clean now, the dried blood had been washed away, and the raw skin on her wrists was carefully bandaged. A nurse had stitched her lip and told her she was lucky that there was no permanent damage. Sophia wasn’t sure she believed in luck anymore. What she believed in was Luca.
She watched him as he stood across the room talking quietly with a police officer. His posture was tense, and his shoulders were tight like he was bracing for another blow. He hadn’t left her side since the moment that he cut her free. He stayed with her in the ambulance for the ride to the hospital. He didn’t leave her side when the doctors asked her questions, and not even when the police pulled Peter out of the cabin in handcuffs, screaming her name like she still belonged to him. She flinched at the memory, and Luca noticed immediately.
He crossed the room in three strides and dropped into the chair beside her, his big hands wrapping around hers like an anchor. “Hey,” he said softly. “You’re here. You’re safe.”
Safe—the word felt strange in her head, but when she looked at him, really looked at him, she felt it settle into her bones. “I kept thinking you wouldn’t find me in time,” she admitted, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I tried to stay awake. I tried to remember where I was, but he kept—” Her throat closed before she could get the rest out.
Luca leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “You don’t have to say it. Not now, if you're not ready. Hell, you don’t have to say it ever, if you don’t want to.”
“But I need you to know,” she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “I didn’t give up. Not once. I kept telling myself you’d come. I knew you would.”
His jaw tightened. “I should’ve protected you better.” He should have paid better attention to her at the gym, the night of the fight, but he was focused on watching Rocco on the big screen. He hated that he had fucked up his promise to keep her safe, but he had, and now, all he could do was make it up to her—somehow.
“No,” she said firmly. “You saved me. You came for me when no one else even knew where to look.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Aurora peeked inside, her eyes soft with relief. “The detective says they’re ready to take your statement when you feel up to it.”
Sophia nodded slowly. “Okay, I think that I’m ready.” She wasn’t ready to face any of this. She didn’t want to have to give her statement and relive everything that had just happened to her,but she would if it meant that Peter would spend time behind bars.
Aurora hesitated, then smiled at Luca. “She’s strong. Just like you said.” She didn’t feel strong, but she needed to try to be, for Luca’s sake. He had already been put through enough because of her past catching up to her.
She spent the next hour and a half going over every detail from when Peter drugged her in the hallway at the gym to when she woke up in the cabin. She thought that the place had looked familiar, but she hadn’t been there since she was a kid. When they loaded her into the ambulance to take her to the hospital, she realized where Peter had taken her. The cabin reminded her of a happier time—of a childhood vacation, but that was over now.
When they were alone again, Sophia shifted closer to him, resting her head against Luca’s chest. His heartbeat was steady and strong. He was real, and really there with her, and that was all she needed right now. “I was so scared,” she admitted. “But I kept thinking that if I get out of this, I don’t want to waste another second pretending I don’t love you.”
Luca’s arms tightened around her carefully, as though she might break. “You don’t have to pretend ever again, honey. Not with me. Marry me, Sophia,” he whispered.
Tears slid down her cheeks, but this time they weren’t just from fear. They were from relief—from knowing the worst was over. Peter was gone. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. The past no longer owned her, and for the first time in a long time, Sophia believed the future might actually be something beautiful. As long as Luca was in it.
“Yes,” she breathed. And for the first time in a long time, Sophia felt as though her world was right side up, and that had everything to do with the sexy boxer sitting in front of her.
EPILOGUE
