Not tonight.
Not while she’s bleeding in front of me.
“I am not leaving you out here alone.”
“You won’t. Leave me with Miles.”
“No.”
“Russ.”
“Olivia.”
Her eyes close for one second too long.
Cold fear tears through me instantly.
I catch her face gently between my hands.
“Hey.”
Her lashes lift slowly.
“There you are.”
Something in her expression softens then.
Cracks open.
And suddenly the gunfire fades into the background.
The compound.
The shouting.
The blood.
None of it matters for one impossible second.
Just her looking at me like I’m the only thing holding her together.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispers.
The words hit harder than bullets ever could.
Because she says them so simply.
Like she never doubted it.
Like she held onto that certainty through everything they did to her.
I rest my forehead briefly against hers.
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
Her breath catches softly.
“You’re here now.”
