Chapter 150
Aria’s POV
I could hear bangs.
Loud, echoing cracks of gunfire splitting through the walls like thunder.
I stood up, stumbling as pain seared up my ankle. I cried out and grabbed the nearest wall to steady myself. My ankle had only just begun to heal, but the sudden movement made it feel like it was breaking all over again.
More bangs. Closer this time. Shouting. Heavy boots slamming against floors. Something crashed not far from my door, and panic slammed into my chest like a blade.
Were they coming for me again?
Had Mikael come back to finish what he started? Was it the time to die?
I looked around the room, desperate, breath stuttering. There was nowhere to hide. I grabbed the rusted lamp base from under the mattress my sad excuse for a weapon and held it in front of me.
The lock turned.
I stumbled backward. “No, no, please-”
The door burst open.
braced myself. Ready to swing. Ready to fight until someone killed me.
But the man who rushed in wasn’t a guard.
“Julian?” I breathed.
He looked at me, scanning the room with wide eyes before locking onto me. “There you are.”
Relief crashed over me. My knees nearly buckled.
“You came,” I whispered, chest heaving. “You actually came.”
He grinned. “Crying later, mamacita,” he said, stepping forward and kicking the door shut behind him. “Right now? We leave.”
I dropped the lamp base, every part of me shaking. My grip loosened and I finally let myself believe it Dominic’s people were here.
I wasn’t alone anymore. He had come for me.
Julian looked me over, his smile fadiha me limp toward him. “Your ankle,” he muttered, crouching beside m
Successfully unlocked!
“It’s fine,” I lied. “I can walk.”
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Chapter 150
“Don’t be dramatic,” he said, slipping an arm under my legs and lifting me off the floor before I could protest. “You’re not walking anywhere not with that ankle that’s as swollen as a bazooka.”
I didn’t argue.
His chest was solid, warm, steady. I let my head rest against his shoulder, letting myself believe–if only for a second–that I was safe.
The hallway outside was chaos. Smoke in the air, alarms blaring from somewhere in the compound. I heard shouting, gunshots, Dominic’s name.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Julian didn’t answer right away. “He’s inside. Somewhere. You’ll see him soon.”
But fate didn’t let things stay easy for long.
As we turned a corner, a group of guards rounded the opposite hallway.
“Shit,” Julian hissed.
He ducked behind a metal shelf, setting me down gently beside an overturned table.” Stay down. Don’t move.”
He fired, sharp and quick, hitting two of them before they got off a shot.
The third aimed straight at him.
And without thinking, I moved.
What was I even doing? I didn’t know. I just went with instinct. I lunged forward.
A gunshot rang out and I shoved Julian just enough that the bullet missed his chest and hit his arm instead.
“Ah–fuck!” he groaned, grabbing his shoulder.
I grabbed the fallen gun beside us and fired, not even sure where I was aiming, but the shooter dropped. The bullet went straight through his forehead.
Blood splashed everywhere. Then Silence.
Then Julian looked at me, stunned.
“You–you just-”
“You’re welcome,” I gasped, barely breathing, ankle burning like fire.
He blinked, then smiled just a little. “Dominic’s gonna kill me for letting you touch a gun.”
I dropped the weapon, chest heaving.
“They were going to shoot you,” I muttered. “I didn’t, I didn’t think-”
“You did good,” he said, voice sincere. “Real good.”
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Chapter 150
And in that moment, I didn’t feel like a burden.
I felt like I belonged.
Like maybe… they knew now. I wasn’t just someone Dominic was obsessed with.
I was one of them.
Julian helped me up, one arm clutched tight to his bleeding shoulder, the other holding me steady. My ankle throbbed with every step, but I gritted my teeth and pressed forward. I didn’t want to be carried anymore.
I wanted to walk on my own. I was strong enough for that.
We moved through the ruined halls of Mikael’s hideout walls scorched with gunfire, floors littered with spent casings and blood trails.
It should’ve been horrifying. But all I felt was relief.
Dominic came.
And he didn’t just send men.
He brought war.
The compound shook behind us from distant explosions as we turned the final corner. Two of Dominic’s men stood guard beside a metal double–door. One of them opened it as Julian signaled, and as I stepped inside…
My breath hitched.
There he was.
Dominic.
His shirt was torn and stained with blood–some of it his, some of it not. His jaw was bruised, a fresh cut above his eyebrow, and his gloves were still on, knuckles split
open.
But his eyes-
They softened the moment they found mine.
“Aria,” he said, breathlessly, like saying my name anchored him.
I didn’t realize I was crying until the tears hit my lips.
He crossed the room in seconds.
And then I was in his arms.
Safe.
Pressed against the only place that ever felt like it could hold the shattered pieces of me together.
“You came,” I whispered into his chest. “You actually came.”
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Chapter 150
His hand cradled the back of my head. “I’d burn down the world for you. You know that.‘
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t.
I just held him tighter.
And then my eyes caught something else-
In the corner of the room, tied to a chair, bruised and gagged–was him.
Mikael.
Bound in blood–soaked clothes. Rage still burning in his eyes even through the swelling.
I stepped forward, out of Dominic’s arms. My limp was worse now, but I forced myself
to move.
And when I stood in front of Mikael, I didn’t scream.
I didn’t curse.
I just smiled, grinning from war to ear.
“I did say I was going to enjoy watching you die,” I said quietly. “Didn’t think it would be this satisfying.”
His eyes widened just a fraction. And I laughed–dry and broken but real.
Dominic stepped beside me. “You want me to finish him now?”
I opened my mouth to respond-
But the world tilted.
Hard.
My vision blurred.
The sound of Dominic’s voice became distant. Muffled as My knees gave out.
And before I hit the floor-
His arms were under me.
Holding me, catching me before I hit the ground.
“Aria!”
My head lolled against his chest. I was cold. Too cold.
“I got you, I got you,” he whispered, his voice raw, frantic. “Stay with me, baby. I’m not losing you.”
I wanted to tell him I was okay. I wanted to say something.
But the dark came fast. Everything was fading.
I could hear Dominic’s voice, worried and frantic but it was muffled now, like he was
Chapter 150
speaking from underwater. My body felt heavy, as if I was distant. Faraway. Like floating in space.
My heartbeat echoed in my ears,.fast and uneven, matching the way his arms tightened around me.
I smiled at him.
The last thing I heard before my eyes fluttered shut, before everything slipped away-
Was his voice again.
“Take her to the hospital.”
A pause.
“I need to teach someone a lesson.”
Then Silence.
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