Chapter 40

Chapter 40
Sylvia’s POV

The day came with rain that refused to stop. It clung to the glass, running in restless threads and , whispering against the windows like a warning.

I woke up in the sitting room of my stepfather’s house — our so-called home — the same place where everything had fallen apart the night before. The silence was heavy, too deliberate, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath.

The sofa beneath me smelled faintly of smoke and Derek’s cologne. I sat up, rubbing the dull ache behind my eyes. The images of last night returned in segments — my mother’s face twisted in disbelief, Derek’s body shielding mine, my fainting breath. And that final look between our parents, equal parts horror and tiredness.

Now, only the rain spoke.

“Derek?” My voice barely rose above the patter outside.

No answer.

A faint murmur drifted from downstairs — low, clipped, urgent. I followed it, every step down the hallway heavier than the last. When I reached the staircase landing, I stopped.

Matteo’s voice. Then Derek’s — quiet but sharp, like a hideen blade in velvet .

> “It came from inside, Matteo. The message wasn’t intercepted — it was sent.”
“You’re saying someone in here…?”
“In this house. They had access to the villa’s internal line.”

My stomach churned . The villa’s line — that meant one of Derek’s own people. Someone who lived and ate under the same roof had been feeding information out.

I pressed closer to the railing, heart in my throat pounding.

> “Abigail’s name appeared in the coded text,” Matteo continued. “She’s made contact with the east side.”
“Then it’s confirmed.”

Silence followed, thick and ugly.

Derek’s hand raked through his hair. “Find out who opened that channel. No sleep until you do.”

The sound of footsteps shifting caught me off guard. Derek turned toward the stairs — and saw me.

His eyes softened like a flash of light, but beneath the calm I saw the flicker of something deeper: worry, fear, exhaustion.

“Hey,” he said quietly, climbing the stairs toward me. “You shouldn’t be out of bed.”

I crossed my arms. “You said that line a day before, and yet it ended in chaos.”

A ghost of a smile touched his lips — there, and gone. “You overheard.”

“I’m not deaf, Derek. Tell me what’s happening.”

He stopped two steps below me, close enough that I could see the faint bruise at his jawline. “There’s a leak. That’s all you need to know.”

“No,” I said, firmer. “I’m done being protected from everything. If someone’s after you — after us — I want to know why.”

The air between us tightened.

His hand came up, fingers brushing the back of my neck in a gesture that was more plea than touch. “Abigail’s made her move. She’s joined with someone who’s wanted me gone for years.”

“And now?”

“Now they’re trying to get to me through what I care about most.”

He didn’t have to say it. The look in his eyes said enough.

Before I could answer, the lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then everything went black.

A heartbeat later, gunfire cracked from outside.

“Down!” Derek pulled me against him, dragging me to the wall as glass shattered somewhere down the corridor. The smell of gunpowder and rain rushed in at once making me so nauseous that I threw up immediately.

Matteo’s shout echoed from below. “They’re inside! East wall breached!”

Derek’s grip tightened. “Stay with me.”

We moved through the dark hallway — Derek’s hand steady at the small of my back, guiding me toward the basement stairwell. My pulse pounded so loud it drowned the storm outside.

Halfway down, Derek’s phone buzzed once — a vibration swallowed by chaos. He read it fast, cursed under his breath. “The codes are compromised. Someone fed them the layout.”

“Who would—”

The question died as he stumbled.

I caught his arm — and that’s when I saw it. The dark bloom of blood spread down his sleeve.

“Derek—”

“I’m fine.”

He wasn’t. His jaw clenched, his skin too pale in the flashes of emergency light.

When we reached the cellar door, Matteo was already there, gun drawn, face pale. “They’ve got inside help,” he said quickly. “Someone opened the outer gate. We found the control box jammed.”

“Who?” Derek’s voice was pure steel.

Matteo hesitated. The pause said everything before the word even left his mouth.

“Vito.”

The name sliced through the air like a blade.

I’d seen Vito around — loyal, silent, the one who always stood by Derek’s side. The idea of him turning was unthinkable.

Derek’s face didn’t change, but something behind his eyes did. Something cold and brutal.

“Secure Sylvia,” he ordered quietly. “Then find him.”

Matteo hesitated again. “Boss—”

“Go!”

Matteo vanished into the smoke-filled corridor.

I grabbed Derek’s wrist, forcing him to look at me. “You’re bleeding. You can’t—”

He leaned close, pressing his forehead to mine. His breath was rough, warm against my lips. “If they reach this room, it’s over. You need to go through the tunnel. Matteo will meet you on the other side.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

He smiled faintly. “You always say that.”

A tear slipped down my cheek. “Because I mean it.”

His hand cupped my face. “Then promise me something — that if I fall, you run. You don’t wait, you don’t look back.”

“Stop talking like that.”

A new explosion rocked the hall above us. The sound made my ears ring. Derek pushed me toward the hidden passage behind the wine rack.

“Go, Sylvia.”

“No.”

He kissed me then — not softly, not gently, but with the raw, desperate weight of someone who knew time was running out. His hands trembled against my skin, his pulse beating hard against mine. It wasn’t tenderness; it was survival disguised as love.

When he pulled away, his voice was a whisper in my ear. “Whatever happens, remember — I chose you. Over everything.”

Another blast — closer. The ceiling groaned.

He shoved the panel open, revealing the narrow tunnel beyond. “Run.”

I turned back once, tears mixing with the dust and smoke. “Don’t disappear on me, Derek.”

He gave a crooked half-smile — one I’d memorized. “I’ll always find you.”

Then the door slammed shut between us.

The tunnel shook with each explosion. The air was thick with dust. I stumbled forward, Matteo’s voice distant behind me shouting for us to keep moving.

By the time we reached the end, my lungs burned, and the villa above was a silhouette against the storm — firelight flickering through the rain.

I waited there, watching for him, whispering his name to the wind amidst gentle prayers for his safety.

Nothing.

Only the sound of thunder, and the rain whispering secrets again
st the broken earth.

> “Derek… please. Don’t disappear on me.”

The storm answered for him — one last roll of thunder that swallowed his name whole.