I stood slowly, my body protesting the movement. "This is insane."
"This is survival." Luka met my eyes. "You've done worse for less important reasons. So stop overthinking it and hit me."
The words hung between us. Rafael nodded once.
"I hate this," I said.
"I know." Luka braced himself. "Do it anyway."
My fist connected with Luka's jaw before I could second-guess myself. The impact sent pain shooting up my arm, and Luka's head snapped to the side. He staggered, then caught himself on the table.
He wiped blood from the corner of his lip. "Good. Again. The nose this time."
"Luka—"
"Again. Vincent's going to kill me anyway, might as well make it worth it."
The second hit broke something. I felt the cartilage give way under my knuckles, felt the hot spray of blood across my hand. Luka made a choked sound, his hands going to his face as blood poured between his fingers.
"Fuck." The word came out wet, muffled. "Yeah. That'll work."
Guilt clawed at my throat. "I'm sorry. Christ, Luka, I'm—"
"Don't." Luka straightened, pulling his hands away to reveal a nose that was definitely broken, already swelling, blood streaming down his face. He tilted his head back, pinching the bridge. "Third time this year. Vincent's going to lose his shit."
He grabbed the seal from the table and pressed it into my hand, leaving a smear of blood across my palm.
I closed my fingers around the seal. The bronze was cold, the dried blood rough against my skin. "Thank you."
"Thank me by surviving." Luka's voice was nasal now, thick with blood. "And take care of him." His eyes flicked to Rafael. "He's good for you. Don't fuck it up."
"I won't."
Luka pulled out his phone, thumbs moving across the screen. "I'm sending you coordinates to a safe house upstate. It's off-grid, stocked with supplies. No one knows about it except me and Vincent. I'll send Diego your current location on a secure line." Luka met my eyes. "Don't die on me, Lo."
"I'll try not to."
Then he was gone, footsteps echoing down the warehouse corridor until the distant sound of a door closing cut them off completely.
"We should go," I said, pushing myself up despite my body's protests.
Rafael rose, and immediately his arm came around my waist, supporting me without making it obvious. "Can you walk?"
I leaned into him, just for a moment, letting his warmth seep into my bones. "If I can lean on you."
"Good enough."
Headlights washed over thewarehouse, and my fingers tightened around the back of Lorenzo’s neck. I wanted to dig my fingers in harder, wanted to feel the muscles shift under his skin.
Diego had one foot out of the car before it ever stopped. He ran up the sidewalk, more panicked than I’d ever seen him. "What the actual fuck happened? We watched them take you. Black bags, zip ties, the whole kidnapping special. Jasper wanted to engage but there were too many, and we couldn't..." He shook his head. "Mierda, we thought you were dead. Or worse."
"We're okay," Lorenzo said.
"Who took you? How did you escape? We've been driving around for hours trying to figure out where they'd take you, and then we get these mysterious coordinates and..."
"It was Luka."
Diego blinked. "What?"
