Damian's voice dropped to a growl. "I'd bleed a thousand times if it meant you were safe."
Her breath hitched and before she could respond, he caught her wrist, dragging her close.
"Don't ever run from me again," he murmured, his forehead pressing to hers.
"Because no matter where you hide, I'll always find you, Bella."
Her pulse fluttered wildly. "That sounds like a threat."
"It's a promise."
Outside, thunder cracked and somewhere in the distance, engines roared through the trees.
They weren't safe anymore.
And as Damian reached for his gun again, his eyes met hers with grim certainty.
"They've found us."
The cabin door exploded open under Damian's boot, the sound swallowed by the storm howling outside.
"Go!" he barked.
Isabella ran. The rain was a wall, blinding and cold, soaking through the silk of her dress in seconds.
Mud splashed around her heels as she stumbled toward the trees.
Behind her, Damian fired two quick shots into the night. Shouts echoed in reply to men, shouting orders in Italian. Her father's men.
She froze.
Her father's men were attacking?
Damian caught her arm, dragging her forward. "Keep moving, Bella. Don't think. Run."
Lightning split the sky, revealing the black SUVs tearing up the dirt road below. The headlights cut through the storm like knives, searching.
"Damian," she gasped, "why are they…"
"Later." His tone left no room for argument.
He pushed her ahead, his body shielding hers as they plunged deeper into the woods.
Branches whipped against her skin. The rain turned to needles.
Every sound amplified their breathing, the storm, the crunch of pursuit behind them.
"Left," Damian ordered, gripping her hand. She stumbled after him, her chest burning, her soaked dress clinging to her like a second skin.
A bullet ripped through the air, grazing a tree inches from her head. She screamed, ducking instinctively.
"Down!" Damian slammed her against the trunk, his arm wrapping around her protectively.
The impact knocked the air from her lungs. His heartbeat thundered against her ear steady, violent.
He leaned close, his breath hot against her neck despite the cold. "If I tell you to run, you run. You don't look back."
She stared at him, rain running down her face like tears. "I'm not leaving you."
"Don't argue with me, Isabella!"
She flinched at the snarl, but then his voice softened low, broken. "Please. Don't make me lose you too."
The plea hit her harder than the storm.
Another gunshot cracked through the trees.
Damian fired back, then grabbed her hand again. "This way!"
They ran, the forest a blur of rain and shadow.
The terrain sloped downward toward a ravine, slick and treacherous.
"Damian!" she cried as she slipped his hand shot out, catching her just before she fell.
He pulled her up against him, their faces inches apart, their breaths colliding.
The chaos around them fell away for a heartbeat.
"You trust me?" he asked, voice raw.
"I shouldn't," she whispered.
"Good. But do you?"
She hesitated only a second. "Yes."
A ghost of a smile crossed his lips before he tightened his grip. "Then jump."
"What?"
He didn't wait for her answer. Damian pulled her with him off the ledge and they plunged into the roaring darkness below.
The cold hit like knives. The river swallowed them whole.
Isabella's scream was lost to the current as the world vanished in black water and thunder.
The plunge stole her breath.
Cold water slammed into Isabella like concrete, dragging her under before she could scream.
The river's current was merciless, spinning her through the darkness.
Then strong arms wrapped around her. Damian.
She clung to him, coughing, gasping for air as he kicked them toward the surface. The rain still fell, turning the river into chaos.
"Hold on to me!" he shouted above the roar.
Her fingers dug into his shirt as he fought the current. His jaw was tight, his eyes burning with focus even in the storm's fury.
Every muscle in his body moved with raw power, the predator fighting nature itself to keep her alive.
The current threw them toward a fallen log. Damian caught it with one arm, dragging her against it.
"Stay still," he commanded, his breath coming in harsh, uneven bursts.
She pressed against him, trembling, soaked to the bone. His chest was warm despite the cold, the beat of his heart wild beneath her palm.
For a long moment, neither spoke just the river's roar and their ragged breathing filling the night.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice rougher than the storm.
She shook her head. "No. But you"
"I'm fine." He wasn't. She saw the blood mixing with the rain, the crimson streak running down his arm from a graze.
Her hand reached up instinctively, brushing his cheek. "You're bleeding."
He caught her wrist before she could pull away.
His thumb traced the inside of her palm, slow and deliberate.
"Don't look at me like that, Bella."
"Like what?" she whispered.
"Like you care."
Her breath hitched. "Maybe I do."
Something in his gaze shifted the ice melted, revealing something dangerous and heartbreakingly human beneath.
"Damian…" she began, but her voice broke when he leaned closer.
"Every time you look at me like that," he murmured, "it makes it harder to let you go."
The words cut through the storm like a confession. He pressed his forehead to hers, his breath mingling with hers warm, uneven, trembling with restraint.
Her heart raced. His hand slid to her neck, his thumb brushing her pulse.
"Tell me to stop," he whispered. "And I will."
She couldn't.
Not when every inch of her ached for him.
Not when fear and desire tangled until she couldn't tell one from the other.
Instead, she closed the space between them.
Their lips met desperate, trembling, soaked with rain. It wasn't gentle.
It was survival, fury and need all at once.
And beneath it all, something neither of them dared name.
When they broke apart, breathless, Damian's forehead rested against hers. "We need to move before they find us."
She nodded, still dazed, her lips tingling.
He helped her out of the water, their hands never parting as they stumbled through the drenched forest.
The kiss still burned between them a promise and a warning.
Because for the first time, Isabella wasn't just running from danger.
She was running with it.
And Damian knew the moment he kissed her, she stopped being his prisoner.
She became his weakness.