Chapter 26 Line of Fire
(Arlo)
"I'm sorry, Berrie," I said, knowing the words were painfully insufficient, knowing they could never fully carry the weight of what I meant.
"I'm sorry this is the second time you've been dragged into danger because of me, because of who I was, and because of that snake.
I'm sorry I let her back into our lives.
" My chest tightened, breath catching. "I'm sorry for the pain I caused you. For the pain I'm still causing you."
I stepped closer, grounding myself in her presence, as if being near her could steady what was breaking inside me.
"You are my choice," I said softly but without hesitation. "You are the love of my life, and I will do anything and everything to prove it."
"Arlo!" Lyra screamed behind me.
"Shut up," I snapped. I turned around to look her in the eyes. "I helped you. She helped you and you repaid that by trying to get her killed."
"I'm pregnant, Arlo! The baby is going to die!" Lyra cried.
The words landed with a sudden and crushing weight.
"And I'm sorry for that baby," I said anyway, forcing the truth out of myself. "But I won't sacrifice her for it."
"There won't be a baby if he kills me," Lyra screamed.
"Well, it's his child, and neither of you seems to care unless it affects you immediately," I snapped, the words spilling out sharp and unrestrained.
I tried to keep my face neutral, but my heart shattered for the baby.
If it weren't for the child, the choice would have been easy.
But I had to choose: Berrie or a baby. Imagining a dead baby is a nightmare, but imagining a dead Berrie was much worse.
Besides... it was all Lyra's fault. If anything happened to the baby, it would be on her.
Right now, only one thing mattered: protecting Berrie. I faced Rossi, voice steady but sharp. "You can take me or Lyra, but Berrie gets out. Either way, she's safe."
Rossi tilted his head, considering us like pieces on a board. "Interesting," he said lightly. "I would've put money on Lyra from what I've heard from her. But hey, have it your way."
The gun came up fast, no warning and no mercy.
The sound of the shot tore through the room so violently it felt like the air itself shattered.
I didn't think. I didn't even know where fear ended and instinct took over.
I just moved, lunging for Berrie, hauling her down with me as we crashed to the floor, twisting hard so my back hit first, my arms wrapping around her head, her shoulders, every part of her I could reach, like my body alone could keep the bullet from finding her.
I waited for a scream or for the warmth of blood, for something final enough to end the moment and give meaning to the fear tightening in my chest. Nothing happened.
No body struck the ground. No cry rose from Lyra or Berrie.
Only an elongated, unnatural silence remained, pressing in around me until my pulse thundered in my ears.
Then Rossi started laughing. He shook his head slowly, the kind of reaction reserved for someone who had done something impressively stupid.
"Jesus," he said, his voice still touched with laughter, "you should have seen your faces."
I lifted my head slowly, heart slamming so hard it made me dizzy. Lyra was still standing, crying and shaking but completely untouched.
"You didn't shoot her," I said, my voice low and dangerous.
"Nah," he replied easily. "I mean, I could've. Just wanted to see if you'd actually do it. If you'd really put yourself on the line."
His eyes flicked down to Berrie beneath me.
"Guess that answers that."
I tightened my hold on her. "You're sick."
He shrugged. "Probably."
Someone yelled from the back of the room, frantic and out of breath. "Rossi! Andrew's here! He brought the rest of the money!"
Rossi snapped straight, eyes blazing with hunger. I knew that look. Cops, now, please.
Chaos exploded. Shouts ripped through the air. Boots thundered from every side, closing in fast. Rossi whipped around, gun locked and steady, pure murder in his grip.
I lunged forward and dragged us toward the corner, keeping myself curled tightly over Berrie as I moved.
I pulled her head hard against my chest, one hand clamped protectively around her skull, while my body shielded hers from the chaos around us.
Gunfire roared overhead, bullets tearing into the walls and reducing them to splinters, while glass shattered and rained down around us like a deadly storm.
"Don't move," I whispered desperately. "Don't look. I've got you. I've got you."
"Clear!"
"Get him down!"
"Weapon secured!"
Rossi shouted something incoherent and furious before he was driven hard into the floor.
Lyra was screaming now, her voice hysterical, crying my name again and again as if it still belonged to her.
Berrie hadn't moved at all; she looked frozen, and I realized with a sick twist that she was in shock.
"Hey," I whispered, my voice fracturing as I leaned closer. "Hey, look at me. You're okay. You're okay, okay?"
Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, then finding mine.
"Okay," she said.
I lifted my head when the noise finally fell away into silence and saw the police coming in, and I think that was the moment my legs finally began to shake.
******
The hospital lights were painfully bright. Berrie lay in the bed, bruised and exhausted but alive. I sat beside her, holding her hand, afraid that if I let go, something terrible would rush back in. Andrew came in quietly, his face drawn, eyes rimmed red.
"It's done," he said. "They've got both of them. Rossi and Lyra. Armed robbery. Kidnapping. Attempted murder. Theft. They're not walking away from this."
Berrie squeezed my fingers. "And... the baby?"
Andrew let out a slow breath. "She's safe." He said, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Yes, it's a girl."
He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm thinking of raising her."
I looked up at him, startled.
"I know," he said quickly, as if he had heard the thoughts forming in my head.
"It's a lot to take in. But that baby didn't ask for any of this.
She deserves a chance to grow up without them, without the weight of who her biological parents are.
I don't know how to explain it, but the moment I heard it was a girl, something shifted inside me.
I felt this overwhelming need to protect her from the world, to stand between her and anything that might hurt her, and to give her a real chance at life. "
Berrie nodded slowly. "That's... good. I am glad she'll have you." she said softly.
Andrew gave a small, tired nod and left us alone.
I turned toward her, my throat tight, the words already worn thin in my mouth.
"I'm sorry," I said again. "I know I've said it a thousand times, but I still need you to hear it. I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I'm sorry you ever had to be brave because of me."
She didn't look at me at first.
"I know you saved me tonight," she said quietly.
I opened my mouth to interrupt, ready to say no, this was my fault, you shouldn't have been there, but she cut me off before I could get the words out.
"I know, Arlo," she said, finally turning her head toward me. "I know and I forgive you, so you can stop apologizing."
Relief hit for half a second, just long enough for me to breathe, before she went on.
"That being said, I don't want a relationship with you," she said gently. "Maybe one day we'll be able to exist as friends, especially since we share so many people in our lives and are bound to cross paths now and then, but that's as far as it goes."
I felt it then, sharp and quiet, like my heart shattering into a thousand small, invisible pieces I had no way to gather back together.
"I need to focus on myself," she continued.
"On my feelings. On my future. That's what I need now.
For a moment there, I truly thought I was dying and in that instant, all I could think was how much time I had wasted waiting, shrinking, putting myself last. Time I should have spent choosing me.
I won't waste this second chance. I won't wait for anyone else to make me a priority. From now on, I will make myself one."
I nodded, even managed a small smile. "Of course, I understand." I said.
Inside, I was breaking. I bent down and kissed her hands, gentle and lingering, like it was something sacred I didn't deserve anymore.
"Just focus on getting better," I murmured. "That's all that matters right now."
Then the room filled.
March was there first, crying and swearing at the same time. Levi stood near the door, solid and unmoving, one arm wrapped around Asa, who stayed close and silent, eyes soft and shining with relief.
Even Declan called while we were still there, already gone again, pulled back into a mission for the shelter. He told her he was sorry he couldn't be there in person, that he loved her, that the second he could, he'd come running.
They surrounded her from every side and angle, filling the room with their presence and their warmth. There was so much love in that room, so much life pressing gently toward her, and she deserved every single bit of it.
I sat there, feeling impossibly small under the weight of everything I had brought into her world, every danger, every wound, every scar that now existed because of me, and yet at the same time I was overwhelmed with gratitude that she was still there, still breathing.