Chapter 42
Vera's POV
The second the door slammed shut, I spun around and fired. The bullet clanged off reinforced steel. No dent. No give. Just a goddamn taunt dressed like a wall.
I stalked the room like a caged animal—checking corners, seams, panels. The vents were too narrow, the walls thick, soundproofed. This wasn’t a holding room.
This was a box built to break people.
Claire stood behind me, silent at first, watching. I could feel her eyes on my back, the weight of her presence cutting through the adrenaline still coursing through my blood.
I slammed the butt of my gun into the door. Once. Twice. Harder the third time.
Nothing.
My breath was ragged, jaw clenched so tight I felt it pulse behind my eyes. I couldn’t stop moving. Couldn’t stop looking for a way out. If I stopped, I’d feel it. The fear. The failure. The goddamn helplessness.
I hit the wall with my fist and turned sharply, breathing hard.
Claire took a careful step forward. “Vera—”
“Don’t,” I snapped, voice raw.
She hesitated, but didn’t back off. “We’ll get out. You just need to—”
I shook my head, pacing again, like if I didn’t say it, it would eat me alive.
“This is what I meant,” I muttered, staring down at the floor. “When I said you were a weakness.”
She flinched—just barely.
I hated myself the second I saw it.
But I couldn’t stop.
“This… this is why I never let anyone in. Why I told myself I couldn’t care. Because now look. I’m locked in a cage, Leo’s circling outside like a vulture, and the only thing on my mind is you. Not how to survive. Not how to win. Just you.”
The silence stretched.
Claire’s voice was softer now. “You think that makes you weak?”
I laughed bitterly. “It’s killing me.”
She didn’t try to argue.
She just stepped closer.
Claire stood in front of me now, close enough that I could feel the warmth of her breath against my neck. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was too busy holding the pieces of myself together with clenched fists and stubborn silence.
Her voice was quiet when it came. “You’re not weak, Vera. You’re human.”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t get to be human. That luxury doesn’t exist in my world. Caring—this—gets people killed.”
She reached out, carefully, like I was something wild and wounded, and slid her hand along my cheek. Her touch was light, grounding.
“You think not caring would’ve stopped Leo from coming after you? After me?”
“I wouldn’t be here,” I muttered. “I wouldn’t have walked into a fucking trap.”
“You would’ve,” she said gently, “because that’s who you are. You go back for the people you love, even when it’s a trap.”
I flinched at the word. Love.
She caught it.
But she didn’t take it back.
Her hand dropped from my face, only to rest over my heart. “You’re not weak for caring. You’re terrifying because of it. You just don’t want to admit it.”
I closed my eyes, jaw clenched.
She didn’t move away.
“You didn’t walk into this trap because you’re soft,” she whispered. “You walked into it because you’re willing to burn the whole world down for someone. That’s not weakness, Vera. That’s power.”
I opened my eyes slowly, meeting hers. There it was again—that fire, that impossible steadiness in her gaze, even after everything.
Even after I told her she was the reason I was breaking.
“I don’t know how to carry this,” I admitted, voice rough. “This fear. This… need.”
Claire’s voice didn’t shake. “Then let me help.”
And fuck—
In that moment, I wanted to let her.
Claire’s hand was still over my heart, and I didn’t want her to move it. I didn’t want to feel the walls again. But then her brows pulled in slightly, her voice quiet and steady.
“Does Gabriel know where we are?”
I hesitated.
Her eyes searched mine. “Vera…”
“I didn’t tell him,” I admitted.
She blinked. “So we’re alone?”
“Not exactly.”
Her head tilted. “Then how?”
I exhaled and looked away, embarrassed by something I shouldn’t be. “He has a GPS on my bike.”
Claire blinked again, stunned. “He tracks your bike?”
“I pretend I don’t know,” I said, voice dry. “It makes him feel clever.”
There was a pause.
Then—“That’s the most ‘you’ answer I’ve ever heard.”
I gave her a weak smile.
She stepped back, just enough to glance at the door. “Then we wait for Gabriel.”
And that’s when it hit me again—that choking, burning thing in my throat I’d been pushing down since I kicked that door open.
“No,” I said quietly.
Claire turned back to me, confused. “Why not?”
“Because that’s the problem,” I whispered. “If he comes… if they all come thinking I’ve got control of this, thinking I’ve got a way out…”
My eyes met hers, and I saw the worry building in her gaze before I even said it.
“They’ll die, Claire.”
Her mouth opened, but I didn’t let her speak.
“I’ve trained them. I’ve led them. But they’re not ready for Dominic. Not for Leo. Not in a place like this, when I’m stuck in a goddamn steel box and can’t even cover them.”
Claire’s face fell, her voice softer now. “You think he’ll come anyway?”
I nodded. “He will. Gabriel’s loyal. He doesn’t know how not to follow me.”
She looked at me then like she finally understood the real reason I was pacing earlier. The real fear behind the rage.
It wasn’t just about getting her out.
It was about not losing everyone else along the way.
Claire hadn’t said anything in a minute. She was just watching me—soft, quiet, her hand still resting near mine like she knew I was barely holding it together. I hated that she could see it.
Then I heard it.
Faint. Distant.
The muffled thud of something hitting the ground.
Claire looked up, her body going rigid. “Did you hear that?”
My heart jumped.
I moved toward the door and pressed my ear against the steel. Another thud. Louder this time. Then a burst of static—radio interference. Gunfire, faint but sharp, somewhere outside the hall.
My blood ran cold.
He came.
“Gabriel,” I breathed.
Claire stood beside me. “You said they’ll all die if they come.”
“I know.”
I was already reaching for my gun, instinctively. Rage threatened to swallow me whole.
Then I heard it—closer this time. Voices. Struggle. One voice rising above the others. Shouting orders in a tone I hadn’t heard in a long time. One that punched me straight in the chest.
And then—
Bang. Another body dropped.
Boots stormed closer.
The lock on the door turned.
Claire took a sharp breath.
I raised my gun, because I didn’t trust anything anymore—not until I saw it.
The door creaked open.
The door creaked open.
I raised my gun on instinct—but then I saw her.
Valeria.
Her stance was solid, gun in hand, blood on her sleeve, eyes fierce and locked on mine.
Behind her was Gabriel, panting, scanning the hallway for threats.
But Valeria didn’t look at him.
She only looked at me.
And for a second, I didn’t move. Couldn’t. All that fury I’d carried since the day she walked out, all the silence and distance—it didn’t matter. Not in that moment.
“You came,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
Valeria raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t have a choice. Gabriel said you were being stupid.”
Claire exhaled behind me, a soft relieved sound I wasn’t ready to process yet.
Valeria looked me over once. “You’re a mess.”
“You’re late,” I muttered.
She stepped into the room, lowered her weapon.
We stared at each other for a moment. Neither of us moved.
And then, without thinking—without planning it—I stepped forward.
It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t warm.
But I wrapped my arms around her.
Stiff at first. Awkward. Like hugging a tree.
Valeria froze.
Then—slowly, reluctantly—her hand came up and landed on my back. One pat. Two. The most awkward gesture in the history of comfort.
Valeria’s hand hovered on my back like she wasn’t sure if she should comfort me or shove me off. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t exactly our thing.
Still, I didn’t let go. Not right away.
Her voice came, muffled but dry. “Okay. You’re hugging me. This is new. Uncomfortable. Maybe traumatic.”
I exhaled a breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
Then, behind me, Claire said, “Well, I’m not missing this historical event.”
Before I could turn, she squeezed herself in between us—arms wrapping around both Valeria and me like she was collecting some rare Pokémon evolution moment.
Valeria tensed. “Are you serious right now?”
Claire leaned her chin on my shoulder. “Completely. I’m traumatized too. Let me heal.”
I closed my eyes for a second, caught between exhaustion and the weirdest warmth I’d felt in years.
Valeria groaned. “This is disgusting.”
“Shut up, you love it,” Claire muttered.
And just like that, the air shifted.
We were still surrounded by enemies.
Still in the middle of hell.
But for a breath—one impossible, messy, strangely perfect breath—
We were together.
Claire's POV
The hug—if you could even call it that—lasted longer than anyone would admit. And honestly? I didn’t want to be the first to let go.
But, of course, reality doesn’t give a damn about soft moments.
“Enough,” Gabriel’s voice cut in, sharp and urgent. “We need to move. The crew’s holding off Dominic and Leo’s men alone, and they won’t hold for long.”
Just like that, the warmth dropped from Vera’s eyes. The softness hardened. She pulled back, already reloading her weapon like she was flipping a switch.
Valeria gave me one last look—half exasperated, half something else—then turned without a word and took off down the corridor. Vera followed immediately, her pace lethal.
I started to move after them.
“Claire—”
Vera’s voice snapped back like a whip. She didn’t even turn around.
“Gabriel stays with you. Don’t follow.”
“What? Vera—”
“I mean it.” Her tone was final, deadly. “You don’t get near that fight.”
I opened my mouth, but Gabriel’s hand was already on my arm. Firm. Not rough.
“Don’t make her worry more than she already does,” he said quietly.
I stopped.
Watched them disappear down the hall together—Vera and Valeria. Sisters, side by side, storming into chaos like they belonged to it.
Gunfire cracked in the distance, closer now.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I wasn’t scared for myself.
I was scared for them.
For Vera, reckless and relentless.
For Valeria, who’d finally come back only to possibly not walk out again.
And for the moment Emilia found out that I got her fiancée killed?
Yeah. That would be a new kind of hell.
I gripped Gabriel’s jacket, jaw clenched.
“Tell me they’re coming back.”
He didn’t answer.
And that silence said everything.