“Where did they go?” Someone asks, surely referring to Carlo and Cesare.
“No idea. They aren’t up here.”
“We blocked the exit. There’s no way they got in the helicopter that quickly,” Mikhail adds.
“They could’ve. Or they found somewhere else.”
“It doesn’t matter. Check everywhere,” Roman says over the confusion. “Check the ledges, look for vents or any passageways we might not know about. Find them.”
Some of his men scramble to do exactly that, thanks to those growled words, while the others round up the Grimaldi men lingering around.
But even as everything unfolds around us, I don’t look at them or Orlando. I already know he’s dead, and even if any breath lingered in him still, I wouldn’t care.
All that exists now is Elena, safe and warm in my arms despite the odds.
“You came,” she whispers, not hiding the dampness on her cheeks from me.
“I told you,” I say, voice rough as I press my cheek to her head. “I won’t let anyone take you from me.”
She lets go of a shuddered breath at that, and for a moment, the world narrows to just the two of us.
Here, there’s no violence or strategy. Just this fragile yet overwhelming thing between us.
For all my previous rage and worry before, it all melts away at the feeling of her pressed against me, completely wrapped up in my grasp.
I don’t know what it makes me able to move on so quickly from the chaos, but if I know one thing for certain, it’s that I always keep my word.
No matter who tries, I will burn it all down before I let anyone do this to Elena again.
To the woman I found tied up in Vito’s warehouse. The one who cooperated with me and managed to find something in me worth safeguarding. The one I fell so completely for without meaning to.
My wife.
Chapter 28 - Elena
My body doesn’t understand yet that it’s over. That Orlando is dead, and I don’t have to worry about the Grimaldis anymore.
Even as the words move through my head, my hands are still shaking as Wyatt holds me closer than ever before, solid and unyielding. He feels like a barrier against everything that almost happened, and no part of me wants to pull away from that.
The wind still blows around us on the rooftop, carrying noise and movement from the others while they work, but it’s quieter now without the helicopter. I don’t commit my focus to the action happening around us, since none of it matters more than this moment. Than having Wyatt here, embracing me like his life depends on it.
“You’re safe,” he says, murmuring in that low, rough tone, as if he’s grounding himself as much as me. “I promise.”
Through the subtle daze lingering in my head, I nod. I still don’t feel like we’re entirely out of the woods yet, given how my nerves continue to buzz with adrenaline, and how Orlando’s grin lingers in the back of my mind while he and his sons talked about my ownership like it was inevitable.
Something in me hates that this is my life, and how men like them are much closer than you’d think. I hate that violence keeps finding me, no matter how carefully my brothers have tried to shield me from it. How Wyatt has tried to do the same.
But as his hand slides up my back, a firm and protective weight against my spine, relief hits me so hard that I have no choice but to clutch him back.
It may seem like weakness, but I know it isn’t. After everything, I need this.
For a long moment, I don’t care about the mess or the blood now that the danger has been neutralized. I don’t care that Orlando’s sons are out there somewhere, capable of who knows what.
All I care about is that Wyatt came, and he didn’t hesitate.
In the heat of the moment, he looked at me and gave the very command that saved my life. Either one of us could’ve been hurt in the process, but he trusted his gut, and he protected me.
I’m not one to condone killing, but without someone like Orlando roaming the streets, I believe the city will be a little safer because of it.
