The safehouse door slammed behind them, locking out the gunfire but not the fear.
Aria's knees almost buckled the second Caspian's grip left her wrist. She stumbled forward, catching herself on the edge of a wooden table, breath shaking, hair dripping rainwater down her neck.
Her hands trembled.
Her chest hurt.
Her mother's voice still echoed in her skull.
Caspian stood behind her, silent, furious, breathing hard. Rafael swept the windows and corners with the precision of a soldier, but even he kept glancing at Aria like she was a bomb seconds from detonation.
No one spoke.
Not until Caspian's voice finally broke the air.
"Sit."
Aria stiffened. "Don't talk to me like…"
"Sit down," he snapped, stepping closer. "You're in shock."
"I'm not…"
He moved so fast she didn't see it coming.
His hand slid around her waist, guiding her down into the chair with a controlled force that wasn't rough, just unarguable. His hand was warm. Hers was ice.
She jerked away the moment she sat. "Don't touch me."
Caspian's jaw flexed, a sharp, furious tic. He crouched in front of her anyway, eyes level with hers. Rain slicked his dark hair against his forehead, making him look even more undone.
"You're bleeding," he said, reaching for her arm.
She snatched it back. "I'm fine."
"You were shot at," he growled. "Your pulse is all over the damn place. And you can barely breathe."
"I said I'm fine!"
"You're not."
His voice lowered, dangerously soft.
"And stop lying to me."
She stared at him, chest rising too fast. "Stop controlling me."
"Then stop scaring me."
The words slipped out of him, raw, unfiltered, unguarded.
Aria froze.
Rafael paused mid-check of the doorway.
Even Caspian looked like he hadn't meant to say it.
But he didn't take it back.
He leaned in closer instead, bracing one hand on the chair, the other on the table's edge, caging her in without touching her.
His presence wrapped around her like a storm.
"You don't get to run off. You don't get to hesitate. You don't get to follow a stranger's instructions when killers are chasing you." His voice poured over her skin like anger wrapped around fear. "If you die because you trusted the wrong person…"
His throat tightened.
"I can't…"
His voice broke.
"I can't let that happen."
Aria swallowed hard. "Why do you care so much?"
He didn't blink.
He didn't breathe.
He just stared at her with a ferocity that made her heart twist painfully.
"I don't."
A lie.
A terrible, breaking lie.
He reached toward her arm again. This time she didn't pull away. His fingers brushed her skin slowly, cautious, burning.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
He noticed.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"Not there," she whispered.
Caspian's eyes flicked to hers, understanding everything she meant and didn't say.
He swallowed once.
A heavy, slow movement.
His fingertips slid higher along her arm. "Here?"
Her breath hitched. "Caspian…"
"Tell me where it hurts."
His voice dropped, low velvet, dangerous intimacy.
Aria shook her head, blinking back unwanted heat. "You're doing this on purpose."
"What am I doing?"
"You know."
Her voice trembled.
"You know exactly what you're doing."
His lips parted the slightest bit.
"Maybe I do."
Rafael cleared his throat loudly. "I'll… check the perimeter."
And he disappeared out the back door.
Leaving them alone.
Caspian straightened slowly, but instead of stepping back, he placed his palm on the wall behind her, leaning over her, close enough she felt his breath brush her cheek.
Aria's pulse stumbled.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"You lied to me."
His eyes flashed. "When?"
"You said the black car was yours."
"It is."
He leaned even closer.
"But it wasn't supposed to be the safe one."
She stared at him. "So you risked my life…"
"I risked mine."
His jaw clenched hard.
"I wasn't letting you get into a car connected to your mother. Not until I know who is controlling her. Not until I know it's really her."
Aria looked away. "It sounded like her."
"People can fake voices."
She shook her head. "Not a heartbeat."
Caspian stilled.
Her words hit him.
Hard.
He stared at her like she'd said something impossible. Beautiful. Terrifying.
He exhaled. "Aria…"
Her name in his voice felt like a confession.
She suddenly realized how close he really was. How the space between them barely existed. How every time they ran, every time she broke, he was always the first one in front of her.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered. "Why do you keep risking yourself for me?"
Caspian reached out and touched her cheek with the back of his fingers, slow, reverent, like she was something fragile he didn't know how to hold.
"I don't know how to stop."
Her heartbeat stopped.
"Caspian…"
His eyes dropped to her lips.
Her breath tangled.
"Don't," she whispered.
She didn't mean it.
He heard the truth under the words.
His forehead lowered until it touched hers, breath mixing with hers, heat spreading between them like something alive.
"I shouldn't want you," he murmured.
"You don't," she whispered.
His jaw tightened.
His breath shook.
"Aria…"
Her name cracked in his voice like a man losing a battle he'd been fighting for too long.
Their lips were a breath apart.
A heartbeat apart.
His hand slid to her jaw, thumb brushing her lower lip, slow, sinful, careful like he was memorizing her.
"Tell me not to," he whispered.
She couldn't.
She didn't.
Rafael burst through the door.
"Caspian! They found us!"
Caspian's eyes snapped open. Fury and desire tangled inside them as he pulled back but not far. His thumb stayed on her jaw another second too long.
Then he spun toward Rafael.
"How long do we have?"
"Not long enough."
Caspian grabbed Aria's wrist gentler this time, but just as sure.
"We're leaving," he said, voice tightened, breath uneven.
"We finish this later."
Aria didn't argue.
Because the truth pulsed under her skin, undeniable:
They were one breath away from a kiss that would've changed everything.
And they both knew it.