Chapter 10 Unwelcome guests
Lucy pressed her ear against the bedroom door, heart pounding so loudly she could barely hear anything else.
The apartment had gone deathly quiet after the knock.
Too quiet.
She forced herself to breathe slowly.
Lucas was armed.
Lucas was capable.
Lucas was—whether she liked it or not—terrifying to anyone who meant her harm.
But even so, the silence stretched long enough that fear crawled up her spine like ice.
Then she heard it.
A low voice.
Not Lucas’s.
Then a thud.
A struggle.
Her heart stopped.
“Lucas?” she whispered instinctively, even though she knew he wouldn’t answer.
She strained to hear—boots scraping, a muffled grunt, something heavy connecting with a wall.
Then—
A sharp, metallic click.
A gun.
Lucy’s pulse roared in her ears.
She shouldn’t open the door.
She promised she wouldn’t.
But she couldn’t stand there useless while he fought off whoever had come for them.
She grabbed the heavy metal lamp from the bedside table—better than nothing—and eased the door open a fraction of an inch.
Just enough to see.
The living room was chaos.
One man was already on the floor, unconscious or worse.
Lucas grappled with a second attacker—bigger, masked, armed.
The man slammed Lucas into the wall hard enough to rattle the picture frames.
Lucas countered with a brutal elbow to the ribs, forcing the intruder to drop his gun.
It skittered across the floor—
Stopping inches from Lucy’s feet.
Her breath caught.
The intruder lunged for Lucas’s throat.
Lucas blocked, turned the momentum, drove his knee into the man’s gut.
The fight was vicious, fast, every move lethal.
Lucy didn’t think.
She acted.
She kicked the gun away from the attacker and swung the lamp with all the strength she had.
The metal connected with the back of the intruder’s skull.
He crumpled instantly.
Silence slammed into the room just as hard.
Lucy’s chest heaved, adrenaline shaking through her limbs.
The lamp slipped from her hands and clattered on the floor.
Lucas stared at her—breathing hard, blood at the corner of his lip, eyes burning with a mix of fury and something far deeper.
“What,” he growled, “did I tell you?”
She swallowed. “You said stay in the room.”
“Yes.” He stepped toward her. “And you didn’t.”
“You were out here fighting two armed men alone!”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“And so could you,” she snapped, voice trembling. “I wasn’t going to stand there and listen to—”
Her voice broke.
Lucas froze.
In two long strides he was in front of her, hands cupping her face, thumbs brushing away tears she didn’t realize had fallen.
His voice dropped to a whisper, raw and unsteady. “Lucy… I can’t lose you.”
Her breath hitched. “You’re not going to.”
“You don’t understand.” His forehead leaned against hers, breath warm on her lips.
“I can’t.”
She lifted her trembling hands to his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her palms.
“Lucas…”
He swallowed hard, eyes flicking down to her mouth.
Something in him snapped.
He kissed her.
Not gentle.
Not hesitant.
Like a man who had been holding himself back too long and just survived a moment where he thought he might lose her.
Lucy melted into him instantly—fisting his shirt, pulling him closer, her whole body sparking with heat and fear and relief and wanting.
The kiss deepened, turning hotter, more desperate.
Lucas walked her backward until her spine hit the wall, his hands sliding to her waist, her hips, gripping like he needed to prove she was real.
She gasped against his lips. “Lucas—”
He pressed his forehead to hers again, breathing ragged. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, even though he kissed her again right after. “I shouldn’t—I didn’t mean—”
“You did,” she whispered.
He closed his eyes.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I did.”
She exhaled shakily, brushing her thumb along the bruise forming on his cheek. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing serious.” His voice softened. “You?”
She shook her head. “Just shaken.”
That made him stiffen.
His hands tightened protectively on her hips.
“This is escalating faster than I expected,” he said quietly. “They’re getting bold. They’re getting desperate.”
Lucy’s breath trembled. “They came here for me.”
“No.” Lucas’s tone turned lethal. “They came here because they knew where to hurt me.”
Her chest tightened. “Lucas—”
“I’m ending this,” he said, voice low and absolute. “Today.”
Everything inside her twisted at the finality in his words.
“What are you going to do?” she asked softly.
He pulled her closer, brushing a slow kiss to her forehead, grounding her. “Whatever it takes.”
"Please becareful I couldn't live with myslef knowing you had got hurt or worse because I had dragged you into this"
She closed her eyes, feeling the danger closing in on them, feeling him—solid, fierce, impossible—and knowing one terrifying truth:
She was already in too deep.
And she didn’t want out.