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His voice cracks, but he forces the words out.

“But if I can do one thing right… it’s this. It’s getting you back to him. Alive.”

I shake my head, but he grabs my shoulders, grounding me.

“Go to the cabin,” he says, voice low and urgent. “I’ll find you once I’ve handled this. But if I don’t make it back—if something happens—tell him I’m sorry. Tell him I was trying to make it right.”

His eyes glisten in the dark. Not with fear, but with something that guts me deeper—hope. Hope that he can be better than the man he became.

“What are you doing?” I whisper, my throat tight. “Why are you making it sound like goodbye?”

But he just stares at me for one long second, something silent passing between us—a promise, a regret.

Then he lifts his hands into the air and yells, “I got her!”

The blood in my veins turns to ice.

I lurch forward, but Daniele shoots me a warning glance so sharp and deadly, I freeze mid-step.

His voice carries through the trees. “She’s hurt. She can’t run anymore. We got her!”

My stomach churns violently as I watch him take slow, deliberate steps toward the sound of approaching footsteps, and they make their way in our direction.

Daniele.

I can’t breathe. I can’t move.

And then—just before he disappears into the shadows—he does something that nearly breaks me.

He winks and offers the smallest smile…

And then he’s gone.

It might be the last time I’ll see him alive. The last time I’ll see that small, fleeting glimpse of the man he could have been. I can’t let his sacrifice be in vain. I won’t.

I swallow back a sob, my hands trembling. He’s giving me a chance. This is the opening.

I don’t waste another second. I spin on my heel and bolt into the darkness, ignoring the guilt that claws at my chest. I have to make it to the cabin. I have to survive. Because if Daniele just risked his life for me, I refuse to let it be in vain.

The moment I take off into the darkness, the guilt slams into me like a bullet to the chest. Every instinct in my body screams at me to turn back, to stop Daniele from walking straight into the lion’s den.

But I can’t.

I have to trust him.

I have to run.

The forest swallows me whole, branches clawing at my skin, my breath coming in sharp gasps. Every footfall feels like an earthquake, every snapped twig a gunshot. The cold seeps into my bones, but I push forward, willing my body to move faster.

Daniele’s sacrifice will mean nothing if I don’t make it out.

38

MATTEO

The night feels endless—a cruel abyss stretching before me as Valerio floors the gas.

The speedometer climbs, tires screeching against the wet pavement. The rain has let up, and the moon now hangs above us, bright and unbothered.