“Where do you think you’re going, doll?” a rough voice hissed.
I jerked my arm free, stumbling backward, my pulse hammering in my ears. The streetlight flickered above us, casting his shadow long and jagged across the cracked pavement.
“I—I’m just—just passing through,” I stammered, my voice barely steady.
He chuckled, a low, menacing sound that made my stomach twist. “Passing through, huh? Ain’t nobody justpassing throughhere at this hour.”
Panic surged, and I spun on my heel, sprinting down the street, my shoes slapping against the concrete. Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed, relentless, closing the distance with frightening speed. Every instinct screamed to escape, but the streets offered no mercy, and I could feel him getting closer with each desperate stride.
I barely had time to think before a hand shot out, yanking me backward. I hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of me, and before I could scramble to my feet, his other hand clamped over my mouth.
“Quiet,” he growled, his breath hot against my ear. The rough fabric of his coat pressed against me, pinning me in place. “You really thought you could run?”
I struggled, kicking and twisting, but his grip was iron. Fear clawed at my chest, sharp and suffocating. My mind raced for a way out, but the alley offered nothing, and the street around us was empty.
“You’re gonna wish you stayed home tonight,” he hissed, dragging me toward the shadowed corner of the street.
“No-mmph,” I said, muffled through his hand, panic clawing at my throat.
Then, a blur of movement slammed into him from the shadows. He grunted in surprise, and before I could even register what was happening, a sharp crack echoed through the alley. His body went limp, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.
“Tessa,” Felix said, kneeling down in front of me. “Tessa, are you okay?”
I blinked at him, chest heaving, my legs trembling so badly I couldn’t even stand. Although I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or the pain of seeing him again.
“Why are you here?” I asked quietly, looking away from him.
Felix’s brow furrowed, and for the first time, the mask of control and confidence slipped just slightly. “What do you mean ‘why are you here?’ You were missing, of course I came to find you.”
I let out a short, bitter laugh, shaking my head. “Shut up, Felix. I heard what you said on the phone. I’m nobody, remember?”
Felix froze, his eyes narrowing, confusion and something sharper flickering across his face. “Nobody?” he repeated, voice low but tense. “That’s not it—”
“Thanks for saving me,” I said, pushing myself off the pavement. “But I’m leaving now. Here, and you.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer, his grip so firm it felt as if he were trying to anchor me to the ground. “You are most certainly not going out there alone.”
I yanked my hand back, tilting my head. “What, you planning to take my organs if I leave?”
“Cut the bullshit, Tessa.”
My eyes started to water and I had to fight to keep the tears at bay.
I laughed, bitter and short, though my hands were still trembling. “You’re the only bullshitter here, Felix. I’m just a nobody.”
“You are not a nobody,” he said, carrying a weight that made my stomach twist. “I had to say that to keep my brother off my back. It wasn’t the truth.”
Relief washed over me first, sharp and sudden, like a cool splash against sunburned skin. He hadn’t actually meant it. That alone made my chest loosen slightly, though the tension in my shoulders didn’t fully release. I kept my gaze fixed on the cracked pavement, pretending to be calm, though my mind raced.
“You are everything,” he said, his voice low, raw, and trembling with a weight I hadn’t heard before. “Everything I didn’t think I deserved… everything I’ve been trying not to need. And I can’t anymore. I need you, Tessa.”
My breath caught, and for a moment the world around us—the shadows, the alley, the danger—fell away. His eyes held mine, dark and unflinching, filled with a kind of truth that made my chest ache.
“I love you,” he said. The words slipped out like a confession and a vow all at once, rough and unpolished, but truer than anything I’d ever heard from him.
My heart lurched, a dizzying rush of warmth and terror flooding through me. For a heartbeat, I forgot the cold concrete beneath me, the stink of the alley, the body on the ground. All I could feel was him pulling me in like gravity.
I swallowed hard, the words trembling on my lips before I could even think. “I love you too,” I whispered, barely audible, my voice breaking under the weight of everything I’d been holding back.
