The boy did not speak.
Not when the nurses entered.
Not when the machines beeped softly beside his bed.
Not when Seraphina Cross gently checked his pulse and adjusted the IV drip.
But when Alexandros Drakos stepped into the room, the child reacted.
His thin fingers curled into the blanket. His breathing slowed. His eyes too sharp for someone so young, followed Alexandros carefully, as if memorizing him.
"He responds to you," Seraphina said quietly.
Alexandros frowned. "I haven't said anything to him."
"Children who have been hurt don't listen to words," she replied. "They read presence."
Alexandros looked at the boy again, something unfamiliar tightening in his chest.
"Safe," the doctor said as he joined them. "For now. But whoever did this will come back."
Alexandros's voice hardened. "They won't reach him again."
Outside the room, Seraphina washed her hands at the sink, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Dark circles framed her eyes. Her shoulders were tense, as if she had been holding her breath for days.
"You haven't slept," Alexandros said from behind her.
She shrugged. "Later."
"That's not an answer."
She turned to face him. "Why are you watching me like this?"
"Because you don't belong in a war zone," he replied. "And yet you walked straight into one."
"And you didn't stop me."
"I tried," he said. "You didn't listen."
Something shifted between them.
"You picked me up from the airport," she said softly. "You said it was for my security."
"It was."
"But you stayed," she pressed. "You didn't hand me to your guards. You stayed."
Alexandros held her gaze. "Because I needed to be sure you were safe."
Her chest tightened at the word needed.
The hospital alarms screamed just after midnight.
The lights flickered.
Then the power cut.
Alexandros moved instantly, grabbing Seraphina and pulling her behind him as gunfire echoed down the corridor.
"Stay close," he ordered.
She didn't argue.
Security personnel ran past them, shouting into radios. Smoke drifted from the stairwell. Someone screamed.
"They're here for the boy," Seraphina said, fear sharp in her voice.
"Yes," Alexandros replied coldly. "And they underestimated me."
A man appeared at the end of the corridor, weapon raised.
Alexandros fired once.
The man dropped.
Another attacker tried to flank them. Alexandros turned, firing again, precise and controlled.
Seraphina pressed herself against the wall, heart pounding, watching the man she had married move like violence was written into his bones.
This was his world.
And she was standing in the middle of it.
They reached the boy's room.
The bed was empty.
Seraphina's breath caught. "No… Alexandros"
He was already checking exits, his face unreadable.
"I moved him," he said finally. "Ten minutes before the alarms."
Her knees nearly gave out.
"You planned this."
"I plan everything," he said.
Underground Safe Facility, Athens
The boy sat quietly on a clean bed, eating warm soup. He looked better already, less hollow, less afraid.
Alexandros watched him from the doorway.
"You saved him," Seraphina said.
"So did you," Alexandros replied. "You knew how to calm him. He trusts you."
She shook her head. "He trusts you."
Alexandros didn't respond.
They stood alone in the corridor afterward, the silence heavy.
"You keep asking what I'm working on," Seraphina said suddenly.
"Yes."
"I can't tell you yet."
"I know," Alexandros said.
She looked at him sharply. "You're not angry?"
"I am," he admitted. "But not at you."
That honesty cut deeper than anger.
"You don't trust easily," she said.
"No."
"Then why trust me now?"
Alexandros stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Because every instinct I have tells me you're doing something dangerous for the right reason."
Her throat tightened.
The guilt pressed harder.
Later that night, Seraphina stood alone on the balcony of Alexandros's private residence, the city lights of Athens stretching endlessly below.
Alexandros joined her.
"The city never sleeps," she murmured.
"It watches," he replied. "Just like its enemies."
She turned to him. "They'll come for me, won't they?"
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "Which is why you'll stay here."
"I didn't agree to that."
"You didn't agree to be hunted either," he replied. "But here we are."
She searched his face. "Is this still about security?"
His voice dropped. "No."
Her breath hitched.
They stood too close. Close enough to feel heat. Close enough to feel restraint.
"I meant what I said at dinner," Seraphina whispered. "No intimacy. No confusion."
"I remember," Alexandros said. "And I'm still keeping my distance."
His eyes said otherwise.
Unknown Location
A man watched footage of the failed hospital attack.
"Drakos moved the child early," someone reported.
"And the woman?" the man asked calmly.
"She's under his protection now."
The man smiled slowly.
"Good," he said. "That means she matters."
Back in Athens, Alexandros stood in his office long after Seraphina had gone to bed.
Every rule he had written was breaking.
Protecting her was no longer a strategy.
It was instinct.
And instincts, once awakened, did not retreat quietly.