Chapter 49
LEX
Ditmas Park
Holding onto our girl.
My heart is beating so damn fast it’s making my vision go fuzzy. But I don’t give a single shit about that because she’s here.
In my fucking arms.
I haul her off the ground and she clings to me instantly. Her legs lock around my waist hard enough to bruise, nails digging into my shoulders.
“You came for me,” she sobs against my neck. “You’re really here.”
The sound of her voice destroys me. I bury my face in her hair, breathing her in so hard it almost hurts. That cherry-vanilla scent that’s been haunting my dreams for seventy-five goddamn days… it’s finally back.
“I’m here, baby,” I rasp, tightening my hold until there isn’t a molecule between us. “I’ve got you.”
Her hands shake against my jaw as she pulls back just enough to look at me. Tears streak her face, but it’s the other marks that make my blood turn to liquid fire. Bruises that shouldn’t fucking be there are blooming purple against the pale skin of her throat.
For one horrible second, my vision tunnels.
All I can see is what that fuck did to her in this dark and silent house.
Rage surges through me so violently my hand instinctively drops toward the holster at my hip.
I’m ready to set her down and put a few rounds into Luca’s limp ass just for the hell of it.
Bella notices. Her steel eyes find mine, and even after everything, she still senses the microscopic shift in me and doesn’t flinch. She reaches up and strokes her thumb across my cheek. And fuck me… it’s everything.
It’s everything just to know that she’s still her.
She’s still mine.
Still ours.
“Hey,” she whispers softly. “Lex, I’m okay.”
That voice. That fucking voice of hers cracks something open in me.
I slam my mouth into hers. The kiss is messy and desperate, tasting like salt and seventy-five days of hell. She gasps against my lips and clutches me harder. I stagger backward, putting as much distance as I can between us and Luca’s body cooling on the floor as possible.
“I love you, malyshka,” I breathe against her lips as I carry her out of the hellhole and down the limestone stairs. “I love you so fucking much.”
“Sweetheart!”
Bella jerks in my arms.
Cade’s running full speed across the lawn and crashes into us. He wraps his arms around us, pinning our girl between our heartbeats.
Bella sobs the second she feels him, one hand tangling in my hair while the other grabs blindly for Cade. I carefully slide our girl down into his arms.
“Cade,” she cries, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“I’m here, sweetheart,” Cade says, cradling the back of her head as tears spill down all of our faces.
“Bella!” Roman’s low voice echos off the stone as he approaches.
Her head snaps toward him. “Dad!”
Cade sets her down and she bolts to Roman. They collide on the lawn, the two of them falling to their knees as they disappear into each other’s embrace. I wrap my arms around Cade’s shoulders as we watch the reunion.
“We got her back, babe,” I mutter, pressing a shaky kiss to Cade’s temple. “We got—”
“MOVE!”
Rez’s roar shatters the night as Tex and Laing burst out of the doorway. Their faces full of desperation while they carry Zeke’s limp, sweating body between them.
“No,” Bella whispers, her voice tiny and terrified.
She launches herself out of her dad’s arms and up from the grass, already running.
“Zeke!”