"I'm staying," she repeats, stronger this time. "You can't ask me to run while you fight. Your cousin sees me as a weakness he can exploit." She steps closer, taking my hands. "But I'm not your weakness, Dante. I'm your reason to fight. Your reason to win."
The certainty in her voice, the absolute lack of fear, reminds me why I fell in love with her in the first place. She's not some fragile thing that needs to be protected from reality. She's a fighter, just like me.
"You're sure?" I ask.
"I've never been more sure of anything."
I kiss her then, deep and real, with no fear left between us. She kisses me back with equal fervor, and when we finally pull apart, I see my own determination reflected in her eyes.
I’m a lucky man.
"You're not my weakness," I agree. "You're my strength."
“Are you coming to bed?”
“Soon. Sleep. I’ll be in when I can.”
She kisses me again.
I pause before I leave the room and then go into the closet. I pull out one of the Glocks stashed away and put it on the nightstand.
She looks at me but says nothing.
She knows how to use it and after today, I know she can and she will.
28
HANNAH
Sleep is impossible.
I've been lying in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of an estate on high alert. Footsteps on patrol routes. Radio chatter filtering through walls that aren't quite thick enough.
I’m not sure why I thought I was going to sleep when we know an attack is imminent.
Somewhere in this fortress, Mila sleeps peacefully, unaware that tomorrow might bring violence to her doorstep. Earlier, I asked Dante if it would be smarter to have me and Mila locked down together.
His answer was grim, but I understood. You don’t put the President and the VP in the same room.
I should be terrified. Should be begging Dante to let me run with Mila and disappear somewhere his enemies can never find us.
Instead, I'm angry.
Angry that Bogdan thinks he can take what isn't his. Angry that Radimir believes power matters more than family. Angry that I have to choose between safety and love when I should be able to have both.
But most of all, I'm determined. If we're going to die tonight, I'm going to die knowing I chose this. Chose him. Chose to stand and fight rather than spend the rest of my life running.
I slip out of bed and pull on a robe. I pass security checkpoints where armed men nod at me with respect.
They know what's coming. And they know I'm staying anyway.
I find Dante in his office. He's dressed in black, looking every inch the dangerous man he is. But his shoulders are tight with tension. He looks up when I walk in. I see exhaustion etched into his face.
"You should be sleeping," he says quietly.
"So should you."
"Can't. Too much to think about."
