75. Lars
The sharp crack of Enzo’s voice cuts through the estate, followed by the unmistakable clatter of movement—boots and loud voices. It all sounds wrong and I can feel the warning in my gut.
Neomi is asleep when I move toward the door of the suite, her breathing finally even, her hand still curled loosely in the blanket where she had been holding mine. I hesitate, my gaze lingering on her, on the bruise at her temple, on the fragile peace she’s managed to find after everything.
Then I hear Enzo’s voice echo through the house again.
I go back to the nightstand for my gun, then run downstairs, taking the stairs two at a time, my pulse already rising, my mind running through possibilities faster than I can catch them. Another attack. A breach. Someone got inside. Something slipped through.
But when I reach the foyer—everything stops.
Enzo stands at the entryway, his arm extended, a gun steady in his hand.
A gun that’s aimed at Gabriel.
For a moment, my brain refuses to process what I’m seeing. It stalls out completely, the image in front of me not fitting into any version of reality that makes sense.
“Enzo,” I say, my voice sharp, confusion cutting through. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Gabriel stands a few feet away, his hands empty at his sides, his posture rigid in a way I’ve never seen from him. His face is pale, his jaw tight, his eyes are filled with pain and sadness.
“Lars,” he says, my name catching in his throat.
I move down the remaining steps quickly, stepping between them without thinking, my body angling just enough to block Enzo’s line of sight.
“Put the gun down,” I say, my voice controlled. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
Enzo doesn’t lower the gun. If anything, his grip on it tightens.
“You should step aside,” he says, his tone colder than I’ve heard it in years.
“No,” I protest.
“He needs to leave,” Enzo continues, his voice rising just enough to carry, to make sure everyone within earshot understands this isn’t a private disagreement.
My stomach drops. The words don’t make sense.
But something in Gabriel’s eyes tells me something has gone wrong.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, turning toward him, my voice rough now, filled with confusion. “Gabriel?”
He doesn’t answer. His gaze stays locked on mine, something breaking behind it, something I don’t want to name.
“Enzo,” I shout, louder now, turning back toward Enzo. “Enough! Lower the fucking gun and talk to me.”
Enzo’s jaw flexes, his eyes never leave Gabriel.
“You tell him,” he commands, “or I do.”
The air goes still and anxiety fills my chest.
I turn back to Gabriel, a sinking stone in my stomach, worry surging through every vein in my body.
“Tell me what?” I ask, my voice quieter now, but no less intense. “Gabriel, what is he talking about?”
For a second, I think he’s not going to answer.
His throat works as he swallows, his hands curling at his sides like he’s trying to hold himself together long enough to get the words out.
When he speaks, his voice is low and strained.
“I was working for Veleno.”
The world tilts. Everything feels off balance, like the ground beneath me just shifted and I didn’t move with it.
“What?” The word comes out empty.
“I was sent here by Sera Corrigan,” he continues, his voice strained as he forces himself through it. “To find the Blackwater Key. To hand it over to Sera. To—”
“No.” I shake my head, cutting him off before he can finish.
“I didn’t know you when it all started,” he says, the words rushed now, desperate in a way I’ve never heard from him. “When I took the job, I didn’t know you. I didn’t know Neomi. I didn’t—”
“You lied to me?” I snap.
The accusation lands between us like a blade.
I can plainly see he’s telling the truth. It’s in the way he’s standing. In the way his voice is breaking. In the way he isn’t defending himself the way he should be if this were anything else.
“I never thought I would fall for you. For Neomi,” he says quietly.
And that quiet honesty—that’s the last thread holding my restraint intact.
“You’ve been here,” I say, my voice lowering, losing some of its force as realization starts to bleed through. “You’ve been in my home. In our bed. With my wife—”
“I swear, Lars, I never lied about my feelings for you and Neomi.”
“You didn’t?” I demand, stepping forward again, anger finally catching, finally taking root inside me. “You just accidentally ended up in my life while you needed to gain access to my family? You just accidentally fell into my fucking bed?”
“I didn’t plan that,” he says, and there are tears in his eyes now, undeniable. “I didn’t plan on falling in love with you.”
“That doesn’t change what you did.”
“No…it doesn’t,” he says, his voice breaking. “But I abandoned the mission,” he continues, his gaze locking onto mine like he needs me to hear this part. “I walked away from it. I chose you and Neomi. I was coming to tell Enzo before—”
“Before you got caught,” Enzo cuts in sharply.
Gabriel flinches.
“I didn’t know I was caught. I can show you the text to Sera that I was abandoning the mission.”
My chest constricts, something darker creeping in beneath the anger.
“You were in my home,” I say slowly. “Knowing what you were here to do.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me fall for you. Even after I told you about my world, after I came clean, you kept it a secret. You had countless opportunities to tell me.”
He tilts his head back, tears spilling from his eyes. “Yes.”
“And you expect me to do what?” I ask, my voice rising again. “Understand that? Forgive you?”
“No,” he says immediately. “I expect you to hate me for it. I expect you to walk away,” he continues, his voice softer now, breaking with sadness. “I expect you to never want to see me again. But I needed you to know the truth before it came from anyone else. Before Sera—”
“Did you give her information about my family?”
“No. I told her I wasn’t going to finish the job,” he says. “Because I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
For just a moment, I want to believe him. I want to take that and hold onto it and let it mean something. But he lied. And just like the people in my past, he was using me for his own gain.
“You already hurt me,” I say quietly.
The silence that follows is heavier than anything that came before it.
I look at Gabriel one more time, really look at him, searching for something I recognize.
Something I can hold onto. But all I see is the man who stood in front of me and told me he loved me mixed with the man who walked into my life with a mission to destroy everything I care about.
I step toward him, my face close to his. I take one last deep breath to smell him, to remember.
His chin trembles, eyes pleading. “I love you, Lars.”
I grip his chin hard enough to bruise. I search his eyes, wondering where I went wrong. Wondering how I could be so stupid. Then I release him.
“You are fucking dead to me.” Rage fills me as I speak. “What pisses me off the most is that I should have seen this coming. But you slipped right under my goddamn radar like the fucking poisonous snake that you are.”
When his tears fall faster, I shove his face away. I take one last look at him before I leave, walking out the front door, my steps the only sound echoing against the walls. I throw open the door of my car and I fucking leave.