Chapter 71

Sofia's POV

Rain swallowed the night, the kind that blurred faces and made blood look like ink. My arms tightened around Luca’s body as Alessandro dragged us through the trees. Every step burned; every breath carried the echo of gunfire behind us.

“Keep your head down,” he barked.

“I’m not leaving him,” I whispered.

“You’re not,” he said. “Just move.”

Branches tore at my clothes. The forest smelled of wet dirt and smoke. Somewhere behind us, Diego’s rifle cracked again, a furious promise that he’d hold the line. But I knew how battles like this ended someone always ran out of bullets first.

We stumbled into a clearing, half hidden by fog and the broken outline of a ruined bridge. Alessandro dropped to one knee beside Luca, checking the pulse at his throat. “He’s fading.”

“Don’t say that.” I pressed my palm over the wound that refused to stop bleeding. “He’s not done fighting.”

Luca’s eyes fluttered. “Still bossing me around,” he murmured, voice barely a breath.

Relief punched through me so hard I almost laughed. “Someone has to,” I said, though my voice shook.

Alessandro looked up the slope. “We’ve got minutes before they find us. Diego can’t hold forever.”

I brushed hair from Luca’s forehead, forcing calm into my tone. “Then we make those minutes count.”

Luca caught my wrist, weak but certain. “Sofia.” His gaze found mine tired, hurting, but still sharp. “You should’ve left me.”

“Not happening,” I said. “If you die, I’m haunting you.”

His cracked lips twitched. “That sounds like you.”

The words hit something deep inside me, a warmth that hurt worse than fear. We’d been through too much for jokes, but somehow his smile steadied me more than Alessandro’s gun ever could.

A sound cut through the rain a single, deliberate footstep. Alessandro’s head snapped up, weapon raised. I turned, and the world seemed to narrow until I saw him.

The man from the ridge stepped from the shadows, coat unmarked by rain. His soldiers fanned out behind him, silent and waiting. His voice rolled through the clearing like thunder disguised as silk.

“You can stop running now, Sofia.”

Alessandro moved in front of me, gun steady. “Stay back.”

The man didn’t even glance at him. “You’ve always chosen the wrong side,” he said to me. “How many more have to bleed for your mistake?”

“I don’t know who you are anymore,” I said, but my voice betrayed me. I remembered him—once. A ghost from a life that should have stayed buried.

He smiled, slow and knowing. “You remember enough. You remember I always finish what I start.”

“Then finish it with me,” Luca rasped. He tried to sit, but his strength faltered. I caught him before he could fall.

The man’s eyes flicked down at him. “Still protecting her? You were never strong enough.”

“Maybe not,” Luca said, teeth clenched, “but I’ve got something you’ll never have.”

“And what’s that?” the man asked.

“Her.”

The single word stopped everything. Even the rain seemed to hesitate.

My throat closed. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear it—how much of me had been waiting for those three letters to mean safety again. The man’s expression didn’t change, but something cold flashed behind his eyes.

“You think love will save you?” he asked softly.

“It already did,” I whispered.

He laughed once, a low sound that made my skin crawl. “Then kiss him goodbye.”

The soldiers shifted, raising their guns. Alessandro cursed under his breath.

“No,” I said, stepping forward. “This ends when I say it ends.”

The man tilted his head. “Then say it.”

I turned back to Luca. His breathing was shallow, his eyes dark and unblinking. My heart hammered so loud I could barely hear the storm. I cupped his face with trembling hands.

“You once told me I ran from everything,” I said.

He tried to smile. “You’re still running.”

“Not this time.” My voice broke. “I’m right here.”

His hand found mine, cold and shaking. “You don’t have to—”

“I want to,” I said, cutting him off. “If we die tonight, at least you’ll know.”

He stared at me, and in that heartbeat the world shrank until nothing existed but him—the smell of rain on his skin, the way his lashes clung together, the faint tremor in his breath.

“Know what?” he asked, voice cracking.

“That I never stopped,” I said.

And before fear could steal it, I kissed him.

It wasn’t gentle. It was desperate and aching and everything I’d buried beneath pride and pain. His fingers tangled weakly in my hair; his breath stuttered against mine. The taste of rain and blood and him filled me, and for a moment the storm fell away.

I could’ve stayed there forever. I could’ve believed the world had paused just to let us have this.

Then the man’s voice cut through it sharp, mocking.

“Touching.”

Alessandro fired first. Chaos followed.

Bullets shredded bark around us. I threw myself over Luca as Alessandro dragged us behind the bridge’s crumbling wall. Diego burst from the trees, screaming curses, returning fire. The air filled with smoke and thunder.

“Move!” Alessandro shouted. “They’ll box us in!”

“I can’t leave him,” I cried.

Diego crouched beside me, face smeared with mud and fury. “Then carry him! Go!”

Another explosion tore through the clearing. Dirt rained down. I looked back just long enough to see the man still standing, untouched, smiling as if he’d already won.

We stumbled through the wreckage, Luca between us. My heart pounded with each step. I could feel his pulse flutter weakly under my hand.

“Stay with me,” I whispered again and again. “Just stay.”

He tried to speak, but only managed my name. “Sofia…”

“I’m here,” I said, choking on the words.

We reached the edge of the ravine, the same river that had almost claimed us hours ago now roaring below like an open mouth. There was nowhere left to run.

Alessandro turned, firing into the dark. “We jump or we die.”

I stared at the drop, at the water churning beneath us, at the blood on Luca’s shirt that refused to wash away. My fingers trembled on his sleeve.

The man’s silhouette appeared through the smoke, framed by lightning, his voice carrying over the roar. “Choose, Sofia!”

I looked at Luca his eyes glassy, his lips parted, waiting for an answer I didn’t have.

“I already did,” I whispered.

Then I pulled him close and stepped back toward the edge.

A gunshot cracked.

Pain exploded through me, sharp and blinding. My knees buckled, the world tilting as Alessandro shouted my name. Luca’s scream was the last thing I heard before everything turned white.