Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Elizabeth whipped her head around, her hand already closing over the box cutter on the desk.

The window was pushed open from the outside. A shadow slipped in over the sill, moving fast and soundless.

She lifted the box cutter, ready to drive it forward, but he caught her wrist in one hand, clamped the other over her mouth, and forced her down against the desk.

She inhaled that familiar scent.

Her eyes stung, and tears flooded up at once.

Jacob lowered his head until his forehead rested against hers, his breathing rough and burning hot.His mouth came down on hers, not in a kiss but in a feral bite—a desperate, consuming madness born of losing and then regaining her.
He kissed her brow, the corners of her eyes, the tracks of her tears, and the curve of her mouth.
His fingers sank into her hair, gripping her head and pulling her into his chestt,holding her so tightly it felt as though he were trying to fuse her into his bones and blood.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his waist, clinging tightly.

She could feel him trembling—his hands, his lips, his entire body.She parted her lips to say his name, but he silenced her with his mouth..

He kissed her with such intensity it felt as though he were trying to prove she was truly there, truly in his arms.
A soft sound escaped her throat, and only then did he ease slightly, though he still did not release her. His lips brushed the corner of her mouth, his breath searing, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible.
Elizabeth cupped his face in both hands and gazed into his eyes. his deep, dark eyes werebloodshotwith red, with heavy shadows bruised beneath them; his jaw was rough with stubble, and his face gaunt, as if he had aged ten years.Yet his gaze remained bright and steady..

"How did you get in?" She whispered.
"I climbed the wall," he answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She couldn't help laughing, but her tears flowed even harder.. ""Yeah, I lost my mind."
"Yeah. Lost my mind." He dipped his head and kissed her again, this time so much softer, as if he was afraid of hurting her. "I went crazy missing you."."

Elizabeth leaned into his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart,suddenly it felt as though every bit of grievance, fear, and unease from the past few months had dissolved into nothing.

He was here. He had truly come.
She had known he would, and so had he.
Jacob still had an arm wrapped around her waist, his forehead pressed to hers, his breathing slowly evening out.

His fingers threaded through her hair, gently rubbing at her scalp, las if to make sure she was real and not something he had imagined.

"Come with me," he said in a low, rough but unwavering voice. "We leave now.The car is outside, the boat is at the marina, and the plane is waiting.We can be out of Italy before sunrise."

Elizabeth rested against him, listening to his steady heartbeat and feeling the warmth of his palm through the fabric at her back.

She wanted to leave so badly..

The word "go" rolled to the tip of her tongue, so close to slipping out. She wanted to go so badly.
She wanted to leave this castle, away from all the masks and trials, and return to their home, back to the place with Jack's laughter, with Tina's company, with Leon posted at the door.

She wanted to be back at his side, never to be separated again
But she could not.

She lifted her head and met his eyes. "Jacob, I can't leave right now."

Something shifted in Jacob's gaze. His hand tightened on her, his voice dropping lower. "Why not?"

Elizabeth stepped out of his arms and went to the desk, picked up the stack of equity transfer contracts, and held them out to him.

"Sawyer transferred most of the Scott family's assets in Italy into my name. Real estate, wineries, a shipping company, and several foreign investments,She was not truly greedy, but as she had told herself before, Sawyer had practically forced all of this into her hands; why should she refuse? "All of this is worth considering.

Jacob didn't even glance at the papersHe set them down on the desktook her face in both hands andand made her look at him.

"Elizabeth, listen to me. Sawyer is a lunatic. Nothing he says is reliable, and you certainly cannot trust anything he gives you.He is not doing this out of goodwill.There is a reason he is giving you all of thisWe can't—"

"I know." Elizabeth interrupted himf,She closed her fingers around his wrists and pulled his hands away from her face. "I know he's not trustworthy. II know he has his own agenda..But Jacob, have you ever considered that I might be able to use him as well?

Jacob's brows drew together.

"He needs me," Elizabeth said. Her voice was soft but absolute. "Whatever he's plotting, the point is, he needs my trust."

She walked to the window and looked out at the heavy darkness beyond, her voice dropping. "So he's not going to hurt me, at least not yet. All he'll do is keep giving me things, keep treating me well, keep trying to make me believe in him. He thinks that way he can keep me here, make me stay of my own free will."

Jacob came up behind her and stood there in silence for a long time. "Elizabeth, this is too dangerous."

"I know." She didn't turn around. "But I have to take this gamble."

"What are you gambling on?"

Elizabeth turned back to face him. "I'm betting that what he's giving me is real. That those transfer contracts will actually hold up in court. That by the time I've secured everything the Scott family owns, it'll be too late for him to take it back even if he wants to."

Jacob stared at her, his eyes full of tangled emotions—pain, worry, and a small, fierce flash of pride he could not quite hide.

His woman had never been some fragile greenhouse flower to be sheltered from the world. She was an eagle, a panther, a predator that could ride out the storm and keep flying.

"Are you confident you can pull this off?" He asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No. But I have you on the outside to get me out, I have Nightfall watching from the shadows, and I have Jack with me. That's enough."

She paused, suddenly remembering something, then went back to the safe and crouched in front of it, her fingertips brushing lightly over the old-fashioned combination dial.

Sawyer had said only she knew the code. But if it was something she knew, what could it be?

She shut her eyes, strings of numbers flickering through her mind.

Sawyer had said this was what Ryder left for her.

But she had never seen him. She didn't even know his name.

If he had left something for her, what would he have used as the password?

A thought surfaced. When she logged into the Nightfall system, she used the password Hughes had given her.

That string of numbers had been hers for years; she had never changed it. Hughes had said it mattered, told her to never forget it.

She drew in a deep breath, reached out, and turned the dial, entering that sequence of numbers.

The lock clicked open.

Elizabeth froze, staring at the latch that had sprung free, her heart pounding in her ears. Slowly, she lifted her hand and opened the door.

Inside the safe, there was only one neat stack of documents.