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He grabs my face. “Are you okay?”
“I did it,” I gasp, slapping the bag into his chest. “Go. Now.”
We sprint for the extraction route, weaving through champagne-soaked corridors and past leather-masked patrons who have no idea the walls are bleeding.
It’s only when we’re in the safehouse, doors locked, drive in hand, that I let myself exhale.
###
After everything’sbacked up and encrypted, Dante brings me water and pulls me into bed without a word.
We don’t fuck, not this time. We just lie there, legs tangled, foreheads pressed together.
The silence says more than any dirty promise or command ever could.
Because we know. It’s almost over. But I’m not broken.
Not yet.
Because for the first time in my life, there’s no hollow space behind the high of why I’m doing this.
It’s not for the thrill. Not for justice. Not even for the heist.
It’s formore.
And I would do it all again.
Even knowing what’s coming.
CHAPTER 17
Dahlia
The drive is encrypted, triple-locked and hidden.
Dante checked it twice after I checked it twice for tampering, trace signatures, or even ghostware embedded by Vesper. We don’t want what happened with the collar to happen again.
Now we’re in the bedroom, stripped down to skin and silence.
No cuffs. No masks. No roles.
Just the slow glide of his thumb along my spine as I curl into his chest.
He doesn’t speak, but his body says everything. The way he holds me—like I’m precious. Like I’m breakable. Like he’s afraid I’ll vanish if he lets go.
I feel that too.
The weight of what we’ve done. What we’re becoming.
The shift in us isn’t loud or fireworks or declarations. It’s smaller than that. Slower. The way he pulls the blanket over me like I’m the single light in his obsidian universe. The way his hand never leaves mine.
“You okay?” he asks finally, voice like gravel and night.
I start to nod, then pause. “No.”
He shifts to look at me, brows furrowed.
“I’m not okay, Dante,” I say, meeting his gaze. “I don’t know what happens next. But I know what just happened back there. I know what I felt when I saw your face waiting for me. When I ran toward you like you were home. It… scares me.”