Chapter 33 Another parcel
Lina’s POV
The hallway felt longer than before. Every step away from that room felt wrong — like retreat instead of escape. My pulse hadn’t slowed. If anything, distance made it worse.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
I didn’t turn.
“You walk fast when you’re running from something,” Carlino said.
“I’m not running.”
“Tesoro.”
I stopped at the door but didn’t face him. “You said ten minutes. Shouldn’t you be leaving?”
“I should.”
“Then go.”
Silence stretched.
“You’re shaking again,” he said quietly.
“I’m angry.”
“No,” he replied. “You’re scared.”
I turned then. “Of what? You?”
His jaw tightened. “Of this.”
He meant the air. The pull. The thing neither of us had named.
“You don’t get to act like this just happened to you,” I said. “You were right there.”
“I know.”
“Then stop looking at me like I did something,” I said agitated.
His voice lowered. “You did.”
My breath caught. “What did I do?”
“You stayed.”
The words hit harder than they should have. “I don’t belong to you,” I said, but it sounded weaker now. Too weak that the words couldn't stand on it's own.
“I know,” he replied.
“Stop saying that like it makes this noble.”
“It makes it honest,” he admitted.
I scoffed and pushed through the door. He followed. The echo of our steps bounced off the walls as we descended. Too close. Too aware. Every brush of air felt loaded.
“You’re still coming with me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s not safe, I say again.”
“Neither is being locked up while men I can’t see send me gifts.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because if something happens out there—”
“Something already happened in here,” I cut in.
He stopped.
“So we’re just not going to talk about it?” he asked.
I faced him from two steps below. “Talk about what? The part where you almost lost control? Or the part where I did?”
His restraint slipped for half a second. “Lina.”
“See? That tone. That’s exactly why I’m coming.”
“You think this is rebellion?”
“I think you don’t get to decide everything.”
A beat passed.
“Fine,” he said.
I blinked. “Fine?”
“You stay with me. No wandering. No heroics.”
“You don’t give orders very well right now.” The sarcasm was dripping off my words.
A corner of his mouth twitched despite himself. “Don’t test that.”
We reached the garage. The night air was cool, but it didn’t touch the heat under my skin. His car waited, engine already running. One of his men stood nearby but looked away quickly when we approached.
Carlino opened the passenger door for me. I paused. “I can open doors.”
“I know.”
I got in anyway.
The drive was quiet at first. Streetlights slid across his face in gold and shadow. His hands were steady on the wheel. Mine weren’t.
“You’re quiet,” he finally voiced out.
“You prefer when I’m yelling at you?” I questioned, amazed at his words.
“I prefer when I know what you’re thinking.”
“That sounds like a control issue.”
A soft breath left him. “Try me.”
I looked out the window. “I think tonight was a mistake.”
“Because you felt something?”
“Yes.” I replied, bitting on my lips.
“Feeling isn’t the mistake.”
“Acting on it would be,” I looked over to him. His grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
“You assume I would.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He didn’t answer. That was answer enough.
We pulled into an empty industrial lot ten minutes later. One warehouse light glowed near the back. Another car was already there.
Carlino stepped out first, scanning the area before nodding for me to follow.
Inside, the place smelled like dust and oil. One of his men pointed at a table.
“The box was transferred here,” the man said. “No prints. No cameras nearby, again. Clean. Too smooth.”
“Too clean,” I muttered.
Carlino glanced at me. “Stay close.”
“I am already close,” I said — and immediately realized how that sounded.
His eyes flicked to mine, heat flashing and gone just as fast. Focus.
We moved deeper into the warehouse. Footsteps echoed in the distance — just workers clearing out, but every sound scraped against my nerves.
“You don’t look scared,” Carlino said quietly, still walking.
“I am,” I admitted. “I’m just more tired of being afraid than I am of being hurt.”
He looked at me differently after that. We circled back toward the exit when the lights flickered once overhead.
I froze. “Did you see—”
The power cut.
Darkness swallowed the warehouse. Someone cursed. A flashlight beam snapped on from across the room.
“Stay behind me,” Carlino ordered.
“I’m not—”
A loud crash echoed somewhere to our left. Not workers. Not normal.
Carlino grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind a metal support beam just as something clattered across the concrete floor where I’d been standing.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Voices. Running. His men shouted from the far side of the warehouse.
“This was a setup,” I whispered.
“I know.”
Another noise, closer this time. Carlino’s hand moved to his weapon, body tense in front of me. Protective. Solid. Unmovable.
I should’ve felt trapped.
I didn’t.
I felt—
Safe.
Which was worse. Footsteps rushed past the other side of the beam. A shadow moved.
Carlino lunged forward, shoving the figure hard into a stack of crates. A struggle. A grunt. Metal clanging.
I stepped out before he could stop me.
“Lina—”
“I’m fine!”
The attacker broke free and ran. Carlino started after him but stopped when another crash sounded behind us. Too many directions. Too many exits.
“They’re not trying to fight,” Carlino said. “They’re distracting.”
“For what?” I asked.
Then we both saw it.
His car.
Headlights flashing on and off wildly outside the warehouse doors.
My stomach dropped. “There’s something in it.”
Carlino swore under his breath and ran. I followed. By the time we reached the car, one of his men was already there, pale.
“There’s a phone on the driver’s seat,” the man said. “It’s ringing.”
Carlino opened the door slowly.
The screen lit up the interior with a cold glow.
Unknown number.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“Don’t answer,” I whispered.
He looked at me once. Then he picked it up.
“Carlino,” he said, voice like steel. A distorted voice replied through the speaker, calm and amused.
“You’re getting slower.”
Carlino’s expression didn’t change. “You wanted my attention. You have it.”
A pause. Static.
“Not yet,” the voice said. “This was just to prove we can reach her anywhere.”
My blood ran cold.
Carlino’s jaw flexed. “Say her name.”
A soft chuckle crackled through the phone. “We’ll save that for when you’re ready to trade.”
The line went dead.
Silence crushed the air around us.
Trade?
Carlino lowered the phone slowly.
I met his eyes. “What did they mean?”
He didn’t answer. That terrified me more than the call.