The streets of Milan erupted with the cacophony of early morning honking cars, street vendors shouting over the sound of traffic, and the strong scent of espresso lingering in the air. Adriana's every sense was burning, each shadow menacing. She clung tighter to Damian as they made their way down the walled alley, the hum of the city overwhelming the peril that hunted.
"Damian, I have to see him," Adriana said, cool though her chest tightened. "I have to talk to Victor. I will not sit here and wait."
Damian's jaw clenched. He stood facing her, gaze sweeping the crowds. "Adriana, it is a trap. Lucian's shadow falls across every corner. Victor is bait. You move towards him, and Victor is not the only thing you'll be finding yourself facing you'll be taking a walk directly into Lucian's game.".
Her mouth twisted into a hard line. "Then I walk with you. If I am to be caught, I'd far rather do it with you than creeping around walls."
He regarded her for a long moment, weighing the danger, and then nodded. "Fine. But stay close to me. One step at a time. Do not stray."
They pushed through the crowds of people, hugging the fringes where the shadows pooled. The reflection of each guarded step was repeated in every store window, Adriana's gaze darting to each stranger who passed, each vehicle parked along the route. She could feel Damian's strain beside her; the tension in his shoulders reflected her own.
There was a flash of movement in an alleyway to one side that caught her eye. Victor Alvarez. His coat was black, the shape distinct even at a distance. Adriana's heart skipped.
"See him?" she whispered.
Damian nodded. "Keep steady. He wants to be seen. That's the bait."
Adriana's fists clenched, heart pounding. "Then let's bait him back.".
They moved stealthily, leaping over puddles from the rain of last night, keeping pace with Victor without drawing attention. But the streets possessed eyes as vigilant as Lucian's eyes, Damian concluded. Cameras, decoys, and silent onlookers were likely stationed along each major street. An ambush could be hidden in any corner.
They turned a corner, and Adriana's toe caught on a loose cobblestone. She stumbled, and a shadow sprang off a rooftop above, a figure poised to strike.
"Adriana!" Damian shouted, shoving her aside at the very same time a knife clattered on the cobblestones where she was standing.
She panted in short gasps. "You said it was bait!"
"Yes, but not for you to be the first to drop!" Damian growled, glancing up towards rooftops. "Keep going!"
They ducked into an abandoned café to catch their breath. Damian leaned over a table, his tablet spilling out, and he scrolled through the feeds off the surrounding streets. All alleyways, all corners of all streets, all window reflections were covered. He clicked some buttons, accessing thermal imaging and street cams.
"Victor is playing it safe," he growled. "He's taking us on a path. Someone is leading him Lucian."
Adriana wiped a bead of perspiration from her brow. "How do you know it's him?"
Damian's eyes went icy. "Because only he would scheme this so fine. He knows me, knows my instinct, knows my flaw. And now he's testing yours."
A flash of memory came before Damian's eyes: a glance back to when Lucian was younger and stood with him on the same Milanese streets, laughing as they planned their first heist together. Brotherhood, loyalty, ambition they had been unstoppable, until Damian had broken that bond. And now, years later, Lucian was making him pay not only for himself, but for Adriana, for everything Damian cared about.
They cornered Victor in a narrow courtyard behind a shuttered boutique. The light of morning caught his sharp features, older but no less commanding, and his eyes sparkled with that infuriating calm.
"Adriana." His voice was smooth, deceptively gentle. "I wondered when you'd come looking."
She lifted her chin, fire in her eyes. "Why, Victor? Why betray us?"
He leaned his head to one side, a small smile flickering around the corners of his mouth. "Betray? No, my love. I only showed you the truth that Damian's world is not safe, and that you've been right in the middle of it all along."
Damian stepped in to block her way. "You used her to play me. To entice me out. That's betrayal."
Victor's gaze snapped to Damian, glinting with amusement. "Perhaps. But if you believe this is finished with me, you're mistaken. There's a bigger game at play."
A ripple towards Victor's back caught Damian's eye before they could respond. Shadows moved, dark and deliberate. Adriana noticed it too, the slightest of smirks curling around Victor's mouth as he glanced over his shoulder.
"They've been here," Victor went on, voice reduced to a murmur, "the whole time. Waiting."
Adriana's gut dropped. "Who?"
Victor didn't answer. He was gone down the side hall with impossible speed, leaving a trail of strain in his wake.
Damian grabbed her elbow. "Go! Don't let him escape"
A whistle was blown across the rooftops. Damian's heart was in arrest. Lucian's men. They were closing in.
Adriana and Damian ran, weaving between thin side streets, their breathing together, adrenalin pumping. They dodged shadows, leaped over boxes, and darted into side streets, all the while feeling Lucian's presence unseen behind them, enclosing them.
Adriana glanced at Damian, panting. "I"
"You don't say that sentence," he growled softly, hard and jealous. "Not now. Not ever. Stay with me.".
She nodded, clutching at him as they took a corner and caught a temporary reprieve in a deserted piazza. The rumble of the city obscured the hunt once more. But they both knew that was only temporary. The game was just beginning.
Damian's fingers brushed against hers, fleeting but genuine. Their unspoken, charged bond grounded them through the mayhem.
A voice pierced the air, smooth, calm, deadly:
"Searching for me?"
They froze. Across the piazza, standing on the marble stairs with an unreadable face, was Lucian Hale himself. His eyes pinned Damian with a flush of outrage and amusement, then turned to Adriana, and the corners of his mouth twisted up into a smile that warned of danger.
Damian bit his jaw tight. Adriana held onto his arm. The world outside them vanished, sound fading away as the reality of the encounter struck home.
Lucian had arrived. The hunt was no longer shadow and rumor it was real.
And there was no turning back.