He lifts me like I weigh nothing, bracing my back against the cool wall.The contrast of cold marble and hot water makes me shiver.Or maybe that’s just him, positioning his thick cock at my entrance.One swift, firm thrust of his hips and he’s inside me, filling me.
“I love you,” he whispers against my neck.
The words and the emotions they trigger hit me, overwhelming my mind with their combined intensity.I wrap my legs around his waist, digging my heels into his ass.I cross my arms behind his neck, bracing myself for his usual frantic pace.
Instead, Shelby moves in and out of me with deliberate, devastating slowness.
“I love you too,” I confess between gasps.“God, I love you so fucking much.”
He rewards me with a deeper thrust, angling his hips in a way that makes stars explode behind my eyes.The water beats down on us, steam rising, the world narrowing to this moment.To us.
His pace increases, driven by the same desperate need that claws at my chest.We’re both chasing the same things: release, connection, proof that we survived.That the darkness didn’t win.
When I climax, his name is the only word I know.He follows seconds later, groaning, his whole body shuddering with the force of his release.
We stay like that for a long moment, bodies still intimately connected, his forehead on mine, his fingers curled around my nape.We’re still heaving, waiting for our heartbeats to return to normal, under the cooling spray of water.
“Now I definitely need breakfast,” I murmur.
Shelby laughs, and the sound warms my heart more than anything else ever could.
An hour later, we’re seated at the small kitchen table, plates of eggs and toast between us.Shelby looks more relaxed than I’ve seen him in weeks; the tension in his shoulders finally eased.The bruises on his knuckles from punching the coffee table last night have already started to darken.
I should feel relaxed, too.We’re safe, together, and my father doesn’t know where we are.
But there’s a weight in my chest that won’t lift.
“We can’t stop here.”
Shelby sets down his coffee cup, his gaze sharpening.By now, he knows me well enough to recognize when I’m pivoting from personal to professional.
“I know.”
“We rescued those fifteen people, but my father’s operation spans continents.Years.There are so many victims we haven’t found yet.”I meet his eyes across the table.“We have to bring him to justice.My father, Cesare, and whoever else is behind this.We have to end this.”
The morning light catches the blue of Shelby’s irises, making them almost luminous.He doesn’t look away.Doesn’t flinch.
“You know what that means in the Syndicate, right?”
The question hangs between us like a jagged knife waiting to fall.I’ve known the answer since I started investigating.Since I chose loyalty to the Boyles over my own family.I’ve known what was going to happen to my father, but I decided that his betrayal was way more monstrous.There’s no forgiveness for what he’s done, not even for the man who raised you.
“Father will be executed.”
Despite knowing this all along, saying it out loud makes it real.Final.My stomach churns, but I hold my ground.
Shelby reaches across the table and covers my hand with his.“Serena, you don’t have to?—”
“Yes, I do.Ihaveto do this.”I flip my hand, lacing my fingers through his.“He bought and sold children like they were goods.He tried to trade me to Cesare.Whatever love I had for him died in that dungeon.He’s not my father anymore.He’s a monster wearing my father’s skin.”
Shelby squeezes my hand.He doesn’t offer hollow reassurances.He knows better than anyone that some wounds don’t heal.They just scar over, becoming part of who you are.
“Then we end it together,” he says.
I nod, swallowing past the lump in my throat.“I need to coordinate with Maeve, combine her cyber capabilities with mine.We’ll find wherever he’s hiding.”
“I’ll call Dave.Get the Syndicate mobilized.”Shelby’s jaw tightens with determination.“Giovanni thinks he can run forever.He’s wrong.”
By noon, the safe house has transformed into a war room.
