CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Liana
Justice and Fear
I was awake when Luca came home.
It was almost dawn, the sky just starting to lighten outside my window.
I heard him come in, heard his footsteps in the hallway.
And then he was standing in my doorway, his clothes splattered with blood.
"Luca," I breathed.
He didn't say anything. Just stood there, looking at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"Did you find them?" I asked.
"Yes."
"And?"
"They're dead."
I should have been horrified. Should have been disgusted.
But all I felt was relief.
"Good," I said.
He moved into the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "There's more. They were working for someone. A trafficker. They were supposed to deliver you to him, but you fought back, so they—" He stopped, his jaw clenching. "They hurt you to teach you a lesson."
My stomach turned. "They were going to sell me."
"Yes."
"And the man they were working for?"
"We're looking for him. We'll find him."
I nodded, trying to process it all.
"Are you okay?" Luca asked.
"I don't know. I should be upset that you killed them. But I'm not. Does that make me a bad person?"
"No. It makes you human."
I looked at him—really looked at him. At the blood on his clothes, the exhaustion in his eyes, the tension in his shoulders.
"You did this for me," I said.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they hurt you. And I couldn't let them get away with it."
"You barely know me."
"That doesn't matter."
I reached out and took his hand. He looked down at our joined hands, then back at me.
"Thank you," I said.
"You don't have to thank me."
"I do. You've given me justice. And safety. And—" I stopped, not sure how to put it into words.
"And what?"
"Hope," I said softly. "You've given me hope that I can get through this."
Something shifted in his expression. Something soft and vulnerable.
"You will get through this," he said. "I'll make sure of it."
I believed him.
And for the first time since I'd woken up in this house, I felt like maybe, just maybe, I could be whole again.