Something that lands deep enough to hurt.
I look up at him.
Really look at him.
Dust streaked across his face.
Exhaustion in his eyes.
Relief he’s trying hard not to show.
And underneath all of it—
Something raw enough to steal my breath.
“Not going anywhere,” I whisper.
Not without you.
A burst of gunfire explodes just outside the room.
Russ turns instantly, body shifting between me and the doorway without even thinking about it.
Protective.
Automatic.
The sight of it hits somewhere dangerously soft inside my chest.
Then he reaches back blindly until his fingers find my hand again.
“Ready?”
No.
Absolutely not.
But I squeeze his hand once anyway.
“Let’s go.”
28
Russ
She’s standing.
Barely.
The second the ropes hit the floor, her knees wobble hard enough my stomach drops with them.
No time to think about that.
No time to think about the bruises along her throat or the blood soaking through the side of her shirt or the fact that seeing her tied to that chair nearly ripped something apart inside me.
I grab her hand.
“Move.”
