The moment broke. Damian holstered his weapon, then moved toward her again slower this time.
His voice dropped low, rough. "You want to hate me? Fine.
But right now, you stay with me, or they'll take you somewhere you'll never come back from."
She hesitated, torn, terrified, furious then nodded once, the tears she refused to shed burning in her throat.
Damian reached for her hand, his touch warm despite the chill of his blood-soaked shirt. "Run when I tell you," he murmured.
They moved fast Luca covering their flank, Damian guiding her through the narrow back hallways of the old Romano estate.
Every door they passed creaked with ghosts of a past Isabella didn't want to know.
At last, they reached a steel door tucked behind a row of collapsed shelves.
Damian punched a code into the rusted panel. It clicked open, revealing a tunnel swallowed in darkness.
"Down there," he said.
She froze at the entrance. "What is this place?"
"A way out," he said, voice tight. "And a way to start explaining what I should've told you a long time ago."
She looked at him, searching for any trace of the man who had once made her feel safe and found only shadows.
"Then tell me," she whispered. "Before I walk into the dark with you."
He met her eyes, jaw clenched. The rain framed him like a halo of chaos. "My father made a deal with yours, Isabella. Years ago. You were supposed to be part of the price."
Her stomach dropped. "What?"
"He wanted your father's loyalty," Damian continued, voice low and cold. "And your father… traded you. A promise sealed before you were old enough to understand what it meant."
Her world tilted. "You're lying."
"I wish I was."
Her hand flew to her mouth, her body trembling. "So everything all of this was planned?"
"No." Damian stepped closer, his tone desperate now. "At first, yes. But then you became something else, something I couldn't let them touch."
"Something you couldn't control?" she bit back.
He caught her wrist, his touch firm but trembling. "Something I couldn't lose."
For a heartbeat, the world still went through the storm, the danger, the betrayal, all of it drowned beneath the weight of his words.
Then Luca's voice echoed from behind them. "They're here! Go!"
Damian grabbed her hand, pulling her into the tunnel. The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off the roar of gunfire as they disappeared into the dark.
The sound of their footsteps echoed in the tunnel fast, desperate, uncertain.
And as they ran, Isabella realized something that terrified her more than the men chasing them.
No matter how deep they went…
she wasn't sure she wanted to escape him.
The tunnel seemed endless, a cold, winding artery pulsing beneath the Romano estate.
Every breath Isabella took echoed against the damp stone walls, blending with the rhythmic pound of her heart and Damian's heavy footfalls behind her.
The darkness was suffocating, broken only by the dim orange flicker of a single emergency bulb every few meters.
Luca was ahead, gun drawn, moving like a ghost through the narrow path.
Damian's hand still gripped hers, firm, unrelenting not rough, but commanding.
She wanted to pull away, to scream at him for every lie and secret he'd buried.
But she couldn't. Not when the heat of his palm was the only thing reminding her she was still alive.
When they reached a junction, Luca stopped abruptly.
"Left," he said, glancing back. "It leads to the outer docks. I've got the rear."
Damian nodded and guided Isabella down the left path. The further they went, the colder it grew, a creeping chill that sank into her skin.
Finally, they emerged into an abandoned storage chamber. Crates were stacked high against the walls, the air heavy with salt and rust.
Damian shut the steel door behind them and leaned against it, gun in hand, listening for any sound of pursuit.
Silence. For now.
Then his eyes lifted to her.
"Sit," he said quietly.
She didn't move. Her voice came out trembling but sharp. "Don't talk to me like I'm one of your men."
His jaw clenched. "You're not. But right now, I need you to do what I say if you want to stay alive."
"I've done that since the moment you took me," she snapped, her anger bubbling to the surface. "And all it's gotten me is blood and lies."
He closed his eyes briefly, then set the gun on a crate and took a step toward her.
"Then let's stop lying."
Her breath caught. The storm in his voice wasn't anger, it was something rawer, something that made her pulse trip over itself.
She backed up as he advanced slowly, his tall frame looming closer, his expression dark and unreadable.
"You think I planned all of this?" he asked. "You think I wanted to drag you into my world?"
"I don't know what to think anymore," she whispered. "One minute you're saving me, the next you're keeping me prisoner. You talk about protecting me but you never tell me why."
He stopped inches from her, the space between them charged.
"Because the truth would destroy you."
"Try me."
His gaze burned into hers, shadow and lightning mingling in his eyes. "Your father isn't the man you think he is, Bella. He wasn't innocent in this war. He.."
A sudden clang echoed through the pipes above them. They both froze.
Luca's voice came through the small comm clipped to Damian's vest.
"Movement. Two cars at the south entrance. You've got five minutes."
Damian cursed under his breath. "We move in three."
Isabella stepped closer, desperate now. "No more running, Damian. Tell me the truth."
He exhaled sharply, torn between the threat outside and the woman staring up at him with fire and heartbreak in her eyes.
Finally, he reached out, cupping her face in his hand with a rough thumb brushing her trembling jaw.
"The truth," he said quietly, "is that your father once betrayed mine. He promised his allegiance, then sided with the men who wanted me dead.
My father wanted blood and a way to bind Antonio to him forever."
Her lips parted, her body freezing. "So he offered me," she whispered.
"Yes." His voice cracked with regret. "You were the deal that sealed peace. But when I saw you, Bella… peace was the last thing I wanted."
Her pulse stuttered. The air between them seemed to disappear.
"You should hate me," he murmured, thumb tracing her lower lip. "But I can't let you go. Not now. Not ever."
Her breath was torn between fury and the dangerous pull that always came when he touched her.
"Damian…"
He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her skin. "I'll get you out of this, even if it kills me. But if you run, if you doubt me again, there won't be anywhere left to hide."
The sound of gunfire erupted somewhere above them distant but closing fast.
Luca's voice barked through the comm again. "They've breached the east side. Move now!"
Damian grabbed his weapon and pulled her toward the far exit, his hand locking around hers again.
"Then you'd better stay close," he said, voice like smoke and fire.
And as they disappeared into the next tunnel, Isabella's heart broke under the weight of one truth she couldn't ignore; she no longer knew if she was running from him or with him.