My bare feet tear against gravel and roots, but none of it matters.
All I can focus on is keeping my footing, keeping pace with Gio, not letting my fingers slip from his.
Every few strides, he glances back to make sure I’m still with him, his eyes fierce in the low light.
“What happened back there?” I ask as the last echoes of gunfire and shouting fade behind us, replaced by the rasp of our breaths and the thump of boots on dirt.
“My brothers had my back.”
That’s all he says, and I bite my lip as I wonder just what lengths he went to tonight to find us.
Somewhere in the distance, I hear the low rumble of an engine.
Gio angles toward it, never slowing.
Then, as we near the road once more, I see them—three dark figures in the glow of dim headlights.
Miko is the first to move toward us, his expression breaking into something dangerously close to relief. “You made it.”
Sandro’s grin is sharp and crooked, but it’s real. “For a minute there, I thought we’d have to come in and drag you out ourselves.”
I don’t expect the warmth in their voices or the way they each reach for me as soon as Gio slows to a stop.
Miko’s hands grip my shoulders, steadying me. Sandro leans down just enough to press a quick kiss to my temple.
Then Raf steps forward, the hint of a smile gracing his lips. “You alright, Stephanie?”
I nod breathlessly. “We’re okay. We’re both okay.”
Jackson lifts his head from Gio’s shoulder just long enough to give a shy little wave. “Hi.”
That gets a laugh from everyone, low and genuine.
The tension cracks just a fraction, and in that small space, I feel it—home.
Not the kind of home made of walls and a roof but the kind that lives in people, the kind that’s been absent for so long, I almost forgot how good it feels.
Miko gives Gio a look. “We need to move.”
The car door is open before I can think, and Gio’s ushering me inside, still holding Jackson like he’s not going to set him down for the rest of the night.
I slide in after them, the door slamming shut with a finality that feels almost like safety.
The drive back is a blur of shadows and motion. Gio keeps his arm around Jackson the whole time, his other hand gripping mine in the space between us.
He doesn’t say much, but the weight of his hand is enough to steady me in a way nothing else could.
When we finally pull through the towering, formidable gates of an unfamiliar compound, my chest tightens. I lean close to Gio so I can whisper, “Where are we?”
Gio’s eyes flash to mine, and I see a sadness in their depths that I didn’t anticipate. “A lot has happened since you disappeared,” he says gruffly. “I’ll catch you up on everything later tonight.”
The place is lit up, men stationed along the walls, but the sight that catches me off guard is the figure standing just inside the courtyard. Leo, Gio’s older brother.
I had wondered where he was when we found Miko, Sandro, and Raf at the edge of the woods, but I didn’t think it was an appropriate time to ask.
He’s bigger than I remember, all filled out and muscular, but it’s his face that’s changed the most.
Yes, it’s eight years older, but it no longer holds the strained lines of anger and resentment he seemed to carry wherever he went.
