Aria POV
"But he didn’t." I touched his face, forcing him to focus. His skin was warm under my palm, the stubble on his jaw scratched against my fingertips. "And now he’s apologized and backed off. Let it go."
"I can’t." His hands gripped my waist. I felt the heat of them through my shirt. "Every ti I think about soone touching you, hurting you."
"Then don’t think about it." I moved closer. Close enough that I could sll his cologne, feel his breath on my face. "Think about this instead. About us, right here, right now."
"Aria"
"You said you’d fight for us." I looked up at him. "So fight. Not Lucas, not the past. Fight for our future."
His forehead pressed against mine. "That’s all I want to do, but first we have to survive Marcus."
The weight of it hit then. It really hit . We were talking about hired guns. About a man who wanted to hurt us, maybe kill us. I’d been pushing it down, trying not to think about it. But Lucas’s warning made it real.
I stepped back from Damien and walked to the window. The city spread out below us, thousands of lights in the darkness. All those people are living normal lives. Going to work, coming ho, not worrying about rcenaries.
"Then we don’t run," I said but my voice didn’t shake. I was proud of that. "Lucas was right—Marcus is escalating. If we run now, he’ll just follow. So we stayed. We face him and we end this."
Damien ca up behind . I could feel him there, solid and real. "Are you sure?"
"No." I laughed, it ca out rough, almost a cough. "I’m terrified. But I’m tired of running, Damien. I did that for years. I’m not doing it anymore."
I turned to face him. His eyes were dark in the dim light from the window. Shadows cut across his face, making him look older.
"We can’t just wait for him to co at us," I said. "We need a plan. A real one."
"Then we make this place a real fortress." He pulled out his phone. The screen lit up his face with a blue glow. "I’m calling in every favor I have. Military-grade security, ard guards, surveillance on every inch of this building."
The words as sothing inside snapped.
"A fortress." I said it in a bored tone. "That’s what you’ve been saying all this while."
He looked up from his phone. "Aria"
"No." I gestured around the penthouse. The expensive furniture, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the marble counters. "You said the sa thing at the last place. Military-grade security, ard guards. Caras everywhere but Marcus still breached through."
"This ti will be different"
"Will it?" My voice rose. I couldn’t stop it. "Because it wasn’t different when he got into the room in your forr penthouse and planted those caras, wasn’t different when when he waltzed right past your so-called fortress security and almost took Noah again."
I pointed at the bedroom door. My hand shook. "This penthouse, Damien. This brand new, state-of-the-art penthouse that was supposed to be impenetrable. He still got in, he still breached through."
Damien’s jaw clenched. "I know"
"Do you?" I stepped closer to him. My chest felt tight. Like soone was squeezing my lungs. "Because I don’t think you do. I don’t think you understand what it’s like to live this way, to wake up every morning wondering if today’s the day. To check under Noah’s bed before he goes to sleep to jump every ti a door opens."
"Aria, please"
"It’s exhausting." The word ca out broken. "I’m so tired, Damien. I can’t breathe, i can’t think. Every single day is just more security asures, more guards, more caras. And none of it works. None of it keeps him out."
I wrapped my arms around myself. The room felt cold suddenly. Too big and exposed.
"I don’t feel safe," I whispered. "I haven’t felt safe in a while. Not since Marcus showed up, not since this nightmare started."
Damien reached for but I stepped back. I couldn’t let him touch right now. If he touched , I’d fall apart completely.
"Every ti you promise to make it better, to make it safer, sothing else happens. Another breach, another threat. Another close call." My throat burned. "And I just have to smile and nod and pretend that this ti will be different. That this fortress will actually work."
"What do you want to do?" His voice cracked. "Tell what you need."
"I don’t know!" The words burst out of , loudly. "I don’t know what I need because nothing works. We’re stuck. We’re trapped in this cycle and I can’t see a way out."
I walked to the window again. Pressed my palms against the cold glass as the city blurred through my tears.
"I feel like I’m suffocating," I said. "Like the walls are closing in and there’s no air left. I’m stuck in this prison we built to keep Marcus out, but all it does is keep locked in with my fear."
The silence behind was heavy..
"I moved across the world to escape," I continued. My voice sounded hollow."I built a new life, a safe life. And then I ca back here and it all fell apart. Everything I worked for, everything I built, it’s all crumbling."
"That’s not true"
"Isn’t it?" I turned to face him. "My company is suffering because I’m too distracted to run it properly. Noah is scared even though he tries to hide it, we are living like fugitives in a cage. And you" My voice broke. "You’re drowning in guilt and rage and it’s eating you alive."
Damien’s face went pale. "I’m trying to protect you."
"I know." The fight drained out of , I felt hollowed out. Used up. "I know you’re trying. But Damien, your protection isn’t working. The fortress isn’t working. Nothing is working and I’m so tired of pretending it is."
I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor. My knees pulled up to my chest.
"I just want to live," I said quietly. "I want to take Noah to the park without checking every face in the crowd. I want to sleep through the night without nightmares, i want to breathe without this constant weight on my chest."
Damien ca over slowly. He sat down beside , not touching, just close.
"I don’t have the answers," he said finally, his voice was rough almost broken. "I don’t know how to fix this. Every solution I co up with, Marcus finds a way around it."
"I know."
"But I can’t give up." He turned to look at , his eyes were red. "I can’t stop trying to protect you. Even if every fortress fails. Even if nothing works, I have to keep trying."
"Why?" The word ca out bitter "What’s the point if it never works?"
"Because you’re still alive." His hand found mine on the floor between us. "Noah’s still alive. Every day that you’re both safe is a day I’ve won, even if it doesn’t feel like it."
I wanted to pull my hand away. To tell him that wasn’t enough. That survival wasn’t living but I couldn’t. Because he was right, we were alive. Despite everything, despite Marcus’s best efforts, we were still here.
"I’m so tired," I whispered again.
"I know." He squeezed my hand. "I know you are."
"I don’t know how much longer I can do this," I admitted. "Living in fear, waiting for the next attack. Pretending everything’s fine for Noah’s sake."
"Then we end it." Damien’s voice hardened. "No more defense. No more fortresses. We go on the offensive we find Marcus and we finish this."
I watched him scroll through his contacts. His thumb moved fast, confident. Like he’d done this before, maybe he had. I didn’t know everything about Damien’s past, about the things he’d done before we t.
"And Noah?" I asked.
He stopped scrolling and looked up at . "He stays with us at all tis. No more wandering off, no more separate rooms." His jaw set in that stubborn line I knew so well. "We turn this penthouse into a panic room if we have to."
"He’ll hate that, being cooped up."
"He’ll be alive." Damien’s voice was flat. "That’s what matters."
I wanted to argue. To say we couldn’t keep a three -year-old locked up like a prisoner, but what was the alternative? Let him run around where Marcus could get to him?
My stomach hurts. A dull ache that spread through my whole body. This was my fault. If I’d just stayed away from Damien years ago, if I’d never gotten involved.
"Stop." Damien grabbed my hand. "I can see it on your face. This isn’t your fault."
"Isn’t it?"
"No." He squeezed my fingers. "Marcus is a psychopath. He’d have found another target, another way to hurt people. You didn’t make him what he is."
I wanted to believe that but the guilt sat heavy in my chest anyway.
"Mama? Daddy?" Noah appeared with his overstuffed suitcase, dragging it behind him with both hands. It thumped against the floor with each step. "Are we still going to the beach?"
I knelt in front of him. His face was so open, so trusting. He had no idea what was happening, what kind of danger we were in.
"Change of plans, baby. We’re staying here but we’re going to make it extra safe, okay?"
"Like a superhero fortress?" His eyes lit up with that pure kid excitent that made everything an adventure.
"Exactly like that." Damien knelt beside as our shoulders touched. "And you’re going to help us. Can you do that, buddy?"
"Yeah!" Noah pumped his fist. "I’m good at being a superhero!"
"The best," I agreed, pulling him into a hug. He slled like the apple shampoo we used on his hair.
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