Then a crack of glass.
Isabella's breath caught in her throat. She looked toward the darkened window, the storm still pressing against the glass like a warning.
Someone was already inside.
The storm howled louder now, rattling the windows as if warning her to run. But Isabella didn't move.
Her breath came in shallow, panicked bursts as she backed away from the sound glass cracking, slow footsteps crunching on the marble floor.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. "Damian…" she whispered, but her voice drowned under the thunder.
The shadows shifted near the hallway. A tall silhouette is slow, deliberate stepping into view.
She grabbed the nearest thing she could find a heavy lamp from the side table and held it tight, her fingers slick with sweat.
"Stay where you are!" she shouted, her voice trembling but sharp.
The figure didn't stop.
Then… the lights went out.
Pitch black.
Isabella's scream caught in her throat. She could hear her heartbeat, feel the air thicken.
Somewhere beyond the dark, something scraped against the floor metal on tile.
A gun.
She dropped behind the couch, her mind racing. Her pulse was deafening.
Then a flash of a beam of lightning illuminated the room for one heart-stopping second.
The face that appeared in the light wasn't Damian's.
Luca.
His expression was twisted in urgency, not threat. "Isabella," he hissed, crouching beside her, "we have to go. Now."
She blinked. "Luca? What…? Damian said…"
"I know what he said," Luca cut in. "But we've been compromised. Someone inside the network gave us up."
Her blood turned cold. "You mean…"
Before he could answer, gunfire erupted outside, the kind that echoed off stone and tore through calm like thunder.
Luca grabbed her wrist. "Move!"
They ran through the narrow hallway, boots splashing on the rainwater seeping through the cracks of the old villa. Behind them, Damian's voice roared low, lethal, commanding.
"Get her out, Luca!"
She turned mid-stride, just in time to see Damian, gun in hand, eyes burning with fury before an explosion lit up the windows behind him.
The shockwave knocked her off her feet.
When she looked up again, smoke filled the corridor. Luca dragged her upright, coughing.
"Damian!" she screamed.
Luca didn't answer. His jaw tightened. "If he's still breathing, he'll find us."
But her chest ached, her pulse breaking under the weight of panic and something far deeper fear of losing the one man who terrified and consumed her in equal measure.
As they stumbled out into the storm, Isabella caught one last glimpse of the villa behind them, the Devil's Sanctuary burning, swallowed by lightning and smoke.
And inside that chaos, somewhere, Damian remained.
Alive or dead she couldn't tell.
The rain came down in violent sheets, soaking Isabella to the bone as she and Luca stumbled through the trees.
Every branch seemed to claw at her skin, every thunderclap echoing the pounding of her heart.
"Keep moving," Luca urged, his hand firm on her back. "We can't stop here."
"But Damian.." Her voice cracked with panic. "He was still inside!"
Luca stopped so abruptly that she collided with him. He turned, eyes burning with frustration and something dangerously human.
"You think he'd want you to die there too?" he snapped. Then softer, guilt flickering across his face: "He'll find his way out. He always does."
The woods swallowed them again, the scent of smoke and wet earth heavy in the air.
By the time they reached the cabin hidden deep in the forest, a forgotten safehouse only the inner circle knew aboutIsabella's body was trembling uncontrollably.
Luca pushed open the door and guided her inside.
The interior was dimly lit, small but warm compared to the chaos they'd left behind.
"Sit," he ordered, stripping off his soaked jacket and tossing it aside. He moved like a soldier precisely, efficiently but his eyes kept darting back to her, unreadable.
Isabella's fingers shook as she brushed wet hair from her face. "You knew this would happen," she accused quietly. "Didn't you?"
Luca froze. "What?"
"Damian told me there was a leak," she whispered.
"You knew someone was after him. After us. That's why you were watching me all the time.."
His jaw tightened. "I was watching you because you were reckless. Because you didn't understand the kind of danger you were walking into."
Her eyes flashed. "You mean his danger."
Silence stretched between them. The storm outside rattled the windows again.
Then Luca exhaled sharply and crouched before her, his tone dropping to something raw.
"You think you know what Damian is capable of, Isabella? You've only seen the parts he lets you see."
Her throat went dry. "And you?" she whispered. "What part are you playing in all this, Luca?"
His gaze softened just enough to make her chest ache. "The part that keeps you alive, even when you don't want to be."
He reached out, brushing a strand of wet hair from her face. The touch was hesitant.gentle, almost reverent. For the first time, Isabella didn't pull away.
The air between them thickened, electric with tension neither could name.
Then…his phone buzzed.
Luca's head snapped toward it. He checked the screen, his expression darkening.
"What is it?" Isabella asked, her pulse spiking.
He didn't answer immediately. When he finally spoke, his voice was grave. "It's from one of Damian's men. They found something in the wreckage."
Her heart dropped. "Is he…"
Luca's eyes lifted to hers, the storm reflected in them. "They didn't find a body."
The words hit her like a whisper from the grave.half relief, half dread.
Because if Damian wasn't dead…
then he was coming.
And when he did, no safehouse, no distance, no one not even Luca could protect her from what came next.
Damian rose, blood forgotten, power flooding back into him. "They found us."
He turned to Isabella, his voice low, command wrapping around her like a leash. "Stay behind me. No matter what happens, you don't move."
"Damian.."
His eyes met hers, burning, alive. "I just came back from hell, Bella. And I'll be damned if I lose you now."
Outside, tires crunched over gravel. Shadows closed in.
The devil had returned
And so had the war.