Chapter 66
Aurelia
Enzo stands at the far edge of the terrace, a cutout from my life I forgot I was starving for. For a heartbeat, I can’t breathe. My vision tilts, and it’s like seeing a ghost that drags every version of me back into my skin at once.
The cold should steady me, but it doesn’t. The wind hits my face, and all I feel is the burn behind my eyes.
The last safe thing I ever had.
I don’t think.
I run.
When I hit him, his arms close around me. His scent—winter cologne and wealth—sinks into me. My knees buckle, and my fingers twist into the fabric of his coat.
Relief crashes into me so hard I could have folded in half. His hug is steady, the kind of solid, ordinary protection I’d been missing without knowing. I grip hard before my knees stop wobbling and the adrenaline in my veins slows to a pulse.
He pulls back just enough to look at me, one corner of his mouth tipped with tears. “Fuck… I’m happy you’re alive,” he says, his voice rough.
“Aw, so you actually care about me.”
He messes up my hair with the same stupid affection he’s always dished out.
“Shut up, loser.” He shoves my shoulder, and I laugh. “By the way… you’re dressed a little hoe-ish.”
“Thank you. I know I look hot too.” I wriggle away and do a mock-model turn, because sometimes I have to own the ridiculousness of my brother’s protective nature.
Elijah steps out from behind a sleek steel Maserati.
Did Enzo get a new car while I was fighting for my life? I mean… captivity wasn’t all bad, obviously, but what the hell?
Despite everything, seeing my brother’s best friend is a shock. He looks older. Tired. Like he hasn’t slept since the night I disappeared.
“Elijah,” I say, as if greeting another scar that somehow makes the map of me more complete.
Elijah isn’t just a person—he’s a whole era of my life, one I thought I’d never get back.
“Ace,” he answers, smiling wide and honest. “We’ve missed you.”
My chest warms in a way very different from how it does with Nikolai.
It’s simpler—comfort, familiarity, the kind of love that doesn’t rip you open but stitches you together with careful hands.
It’s friendship.
I’ve got my boys back.
“Alright—group hug.”
Elijah hesitates, but Enzo and I yank him in. The press of their shoulders, the easy closeness, this was safety, not sparks.
They fill me in as we move toward the car—Nikolai’s plan, the cover story, how Enzo and Elijah are meant to shepherd me off the property and rendezvous later with Nikolai and Adrian to finish the charade and figure out what comes next.
Priority: get me off Orlov land and out of sight.
“Nikolai wants me to leave without him?” The words taste wrong in my mouth.
He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t just let me go.
“It makes sense,” Enzo says. “He… he can’t risk being seen.”
He tries to sound practical, his fingers worrying the hem of his coat. But the explanation doesn’t sit right.
I take a step back from them, from the comfortable orbit they offered. “Where are you really trying to take me?”
Elijah’s jaw tightens. “Get in the car, Ace.”
“I’m not asking you, Elijah.” I turn to my anchor. “Enzo, tell me.”
Elijah reaches for my arm, trying to steer me, but Enzo’s hand closes around his wrist in a quiet, brotherly grip. “Enough, Elijah. Can’t you see that my sister isn’t attached to you anymore?”
That comment feels like there’s almost some type of inside joke I’m not part of so I hold Enzo’s eyes. For the first time since the night collapsed, I let myself be small in front of him.
He leans down and whispers—no theatrics, no possessive heat—just steady, “I won’t lose you again.”
“Where?” I say, breathless.
“Dante wants to see you,” Enzo says. “After that, we’re ordered back to Anova.”
“So you’re not giving me a choice?” Anger flares inside me, half from fear, half from humiliation.
“You know that’s not how our family works,” Elijah counters, softer than before.
“Dante found out about Nikolai’s attempt to go around the death order he put on you. We couldn’t keep up with Nikolai’s plan once he found out. He would’ve killed us all.”
Tears pool at the edges of my eyes, but I bite them back, nod, and let myself be led.
“So tonight’s choice is between me and the two of you?” I choke on the words as they leave my mouth. This choice is a hand pressed flat on my throat. “Either Dante kills me alone… or it’s all three of us?” I say it quieter this time, needing to hear it again—to know it’s really our only option.
“Ace…” Elijah begins, but I cut him off.
“But I’m free, so why do I need to die? Is he really that cruel?”
“It’s not about you, Ace. Dante wanted you dead the moment he started thinking about you and Viktor.”
“Viktor?” I ask, my words thick with disgust. “Nik would never let him touch me.”
Elijah scoffs, hitting my brother’s shoulder. “She called him Nik.”
Enzo smiles back and rage begins to build. “Oh, I’m sorry I think we have bigger problems than my love life.”
They laugh in unison as we pile into the car.
Why the fuck are they so okay with this?
Maybe I should feel relief—I’m getting away from Viktor—but something else pricks under my skin: the absence of that particular, devouring thing Nikolai made me feel.
I watch the back entrance to the ballroom through the rear window, my breath fogging the glass. Somehow I already know to look.
The door was ajar for a heartbeat before it slammed shut. Only, the door hadn’t slammed, someone stood there. Dark coat. Figure like a blade.
He doesn’t move as we pull away, he only watches, the distance between us filled with something unsaid and enormous.
“Stop daydreaming, Ace. We have to talk about what we’re doing next.”
I roll my eyes, not realizing a tear had slipped out. Just then, Elijah reaches to the back seat, swiping mascara from under my eye. “You have to know us better than that, pretty girl. We would die for you.”
They’re crazy if they think I’ll let them sacrifice themselves for me.