Chapter Twenty-Three
Isabella
The maintenance tunnel felt different now, charged with the aftermath of what we’d just done. My legs were still shaky as we moved through the shadows, and I could feel the evidence of Colton’s release slowly seeping between my thighs. The material of my dress caressed my sensitized skin, a constant reminder of how completely we’d just shattered every boundary we’d set.
The tunnels themselves seemed to breathe with horrid, ancient secrets. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness, echoing off century-old pipes. The air was thick with dust and the lingering scent of Colton’s cologne mixed with the headier smell of our passion. Somewhere far above, water was ruining fake paintings and expensive tuxedos. Down here, emergency lights cast everything in shades of red and shadow, turning Colton’s features even darker.
I couldn’t quite believe what had just happened. The cautious, rule-following Colton Moreau had just taken me against a wall without protection. Had come inside me with a desperate intensity that still made me shiver to remember. Had completely abandoned his need for control in a way that both thrilled and terrified me.
Those women at The Dorchester had seen a different man entirely. I remembered their words about his controlled passion, his emotional distance, his careful rules about protection and procedures.
But there had been nothing controlled about how he’d taken me in this tunnel. Nothing calculated in how his hands had shaken as he touched me, how his kiss had been almost desperate, how he’d lost himself so completely he’d forgone protection entirely. The man who never slept over, never showed weakness, never let anyone close—that man had just broken every rule he’d made for himself.
It wasn’t just the physical act that shook me, though god, the memory of how he’d felt, how he’d gripped my hips with those masculine hands, how he’d groaned my name like a prayer...No. What truly undid me was how completely his defenses had crumbled. The man who measured his coffee with precise scoops, who color-coded his legal briefs, who maintained distance from everyone—that man had just lost himself entirely.
In me. For me.
No carefully prepared hotel suite, no perfect orchestration, no practiced distance. Just hungry and desperate passion and something that felt dangerously close to devotion. The man who never kissed his lovers had devoured my mouth like he was drowning. The man who never lost control had come inside me with a stunning intensity, marking me in the most primal way possible.
A momentary flash of panic hit as I realized the implications. I’d need to stop at the pharmacy on the way home, get what I needed to prevent any complications. It wasn’t the right time for anything permanent to come from this encounter, but I needed to be one hundred percent sure.
But hell, the way he’d looked at me in those final moments. Like nothing else in the world existed. Like I was the culmination of everything he ever wanted. I’d seen behind the mask he showed the world—the suits, the measured words, the tight control. I’d felt the intense desire beneath it all, the desperate passion he kept locked away. And now I wasn’t sure how to go back to seeing him as just the bank’s chief counsel. Just my colleague. Just the man who brought me coffee and discussed case files.
His hand stayed on my lower back as we navigated the dark passages, protective and possessive in a way that made color flush in my cheeks. Every step reminded me of what we’d just done, of how he’d felt inside me, of how his seed was still warm and wet against my skin. The rough stone walls seemed to hold echoes of our passion—my stifled cries, his primitive groans, the sound of silk against wool as we’d come together with shocking clarity.
Steam hissed from an old pipe, casting the corridor in a momentary fog. In that brief whiteout, Colton pulled me closer, his body sheltering mine from whatever might lurk in the artificial mist. The gesture was instinctive, protective—so different from the man I knew a few months ago. This wasn’t the lawyer planning his next move. This was something deeper, more real. Something that made my heart race for reasons that had nothing to do with danger we were in.
“Almost there,” he murmured, his voice still rough in a way that made me want to moan. His lips brushed my ear as he spoke, and I could feel the barely contained tension in his body. Not just from our situation, but from what had just happened between us. From the lines we’d crossed. From how completely we’d changed everything. “The kitchen exit should be—”
A sound ahead made us both freeze. Boots on concrete. Multiple sets, moving with cadence.
“Problem,” Colton said softly, pulling me back against him. “They’ve cut off the exit.”
I forced myself to focus past the lingering haze of pleasure, past the feeling of his body pressed against mine. “Options?”
“Three exits still viable.” His hand tightened on my waist. “But they’ll be watching all of them.”
The footsteps grew closer.
“We need to split up,” I said, already knowing his response and mentally preparing a counter argument.
“No.” Just one word, but filled with everything we couldn’t say. Everything that had changed in that heated moment against the wall.
“Colton—”
“I’m not leaving you.” His voice was hard now, all traces of recent passion replaced with resolve. “We do this together.”
The thumb drive felt heavy where I’d tucked it into my bodice. Heavy with horror and proof that could bring down an empire. Heavy with the weight of what they’d do to us if they caught us with it.
A door opened somewhere ahead. More footsteps. More shadows moving in the dark.
“Well,” Rodger’s voice drifted through the darkness. “This is disappointingly predictable.”
Colton pushed me behind him, but I could see figures moving in the shadows. Surrounding us. Boxing us in.
“The lawyer and the art expert,” Rodger continued, stepping into view. “Just like her father, always trying to play hero.”
My vision started to blur at the edges. The walls seemed to tilt slightly, and I realized with distant horror that they must have already exposed us to something. Some colorless gas in these old tunnels. Some tasteless compound in the air. It hit me, why they hadn’t come after us. Let us escape.
“You really should have learned from his example.” Rodger’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “And left Rotterdam alone.”
I tried to warn Colton, but my tongue felt heavy. Useless. Through darkening vision, I saw guards grab him from behind. Saw him fighting even as more converged. Saw blood bright against stone as someone struck him.
“Colton—” His name was barely a breath as my knees gave out.
The last thing I felt was Rodger catching me as I fell. The last thing I saw was Colton struggling to reach me, his suit stained with blood, his eyes wild with fury and fear. The same eyes that had looked at me with such unbridled lust moments before, now filled with helpless rage as they dragged him back.
Then darkness took me completely, and I surrendered to it. Let it swallow the lingering warmth between my thighs, the memory of Colton’s touch. The man who had finally let me in.