Chapter 15 - The Confession
|
Time lost its meaning in the windowless room. The zip-ties cut deeper into my wrists with every passing hour, my arm throbbing with a dull, sickening heat.
Suddenly, the heavy metal door groaned open.
I braced myself for Lorenzo or his thugs, but the man who stepped into the room made my heart stop completely.
It was Victor.
He wasn't wearing his tailored suits. He was dressed in entirely black tactical gear, a heavy Kevlar vest strapped over his chest, carrying a suppressed assault rifle. His face was smeared with soot and blood, his gray eyes wild and terrifyingly focused. He looked like the devil incarnate.
"Victor," I gasped, tears of absolute relief springing to my eyes.
He didn't say a word. He crossed the room in two massive strides, dropping to his knees behind my chair. He pulled a combat knife from his belt and sliced through the thick zip-ties with expert precision.
As my arms fell free, I collapsed forward. Victor caught me, pulling me flush against his chest, burying his face in my hair. His entire body was shaking violently.
"I'm here," he choked out, his voice a raw, broken whisper. "I'm here, Harper."
"How did you get past the guards?" I sobbed, clutching his tactical vest, inhaling the scent of gunpowder and cedar.
"I didn't," Victor growled, pulling back slightly to look into my eyes, his face a mask of absolute, unadulterated violence. "I killed every single person standing between the front door and this room."
He reached out, his calloused thumbs gently wiping the tears from my cheeks.
"I told you I was a monster, Harper," Victor confessed, his gaze dropping to the bloody bandages on my arm. "I told you I bring nothing but darkness. But when Marcus took you... I realized I don't care about my soul anymore. I only care about you. I love you. I have loved you since the day you yelled at me for failing my son."
The confession hung in the air, heavy and absolute, cutting through the terror of the warehouse.
"I love you too," I whispered fiercely, grabbing his face and kissing him. It tasted of blood, adrenaline, and desperate survival.
A loud explosion rocked the warehouse, shaking the concrete walls and raining dust from the ceiling.
Victor pulled away, his eyes hardening instantly back into the ruthless mafia boss. "Lorenzo’s reinforcements just arrived. The trap is sprung."
May you like
"What do we do?" I asked, grabbing a discarded pistol from the floor.
Victor smiled, a dark, apocalyptic expression. "We burn this place to the ground."
