chapter 9
1302 Words
Chapter 9 – The Flight
“Hold him steady,” Adrian barked.
“I’m trying!” Isabella’s voice cracked, soaked with tears as her arms trembled under Ethan’s weight. His body sagged heavily against her, his blood dripping warm and slick down her arm.
Ethan groaned, his breath ragged. “I can walk… just—give me a second—”
“You can’t,” Adrian snapped, already kneeling to press fresh cloth against the wound. His eyes were sharp, unflinching. “Another inch and the bullet would’ve pierced your lung. You move wrong now, you bleed out.”
“I’m not—dead yet,” Ethan rasped, forcing a weak grin. “You don’t get to—decide for me.”
Isabella shook her head, panic flooding her chest. “Stop arguing, both of you! Please—just stop! He needs help, Adrian, not—”
“What he needs,” Adrian cut in, voice like steel, “is to be off this terrace before Damian’s men regroup.” He looked at Ethan coldly. “You want to save her? Then don’t be a martyr. Let me move you.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched, but his hand found Isabella’s, weak but insistent. “Don’t let him—decide for you.”
Her heart twisted painfully. Two voices, both pulling, both right in different ways.
“Enough.” Adrian’s tone left no space. He hooked Ethan’s arm over his shoulder, lifting him like he weighed nothing. Ethan winced, swore under his breath, but Adrian didn’t flinch. “We move now. Or Damian comes back to finish what he started.”
Thunder cracked overhead. Isabella stumbled after them, her mind a storm of its own.
---
The corridors of the villa were dark, lit only by occasional flashes of lightning through shattered windows. Rain drummed against the glass, footsteps echoing over marble floors. Every sound felt too loud, every shadow a threat.
“Faster,” Adrian ordered.
“I can’t—he’s bleeding too much—” Isabella’s voice broke. She pressed against Ethan’s side, her dress soaked with his blood. “Adrian, stop! He’s not going to make it if we push him like this!”
“Keep moving.”
Her tears burned. “You’re not listening!”
Adrian turned on her so suddenly she froze. His face was inches from hers, hard, storm-lit. “I’ve spent years hiding from Damian’s men. I know how they hunt. You think crying over him will stop them when they come?”
Her breath hitched, but Ethan’s weak laugh broke through. “Same old Adrian… still an asshole.”
For the briefest second, Adrian’s jaw tightened—guilt flickering across his face. Then he shifted Ethan’s weight higher, his voice low. “You’ll live if you stop talking.”
They pressed forward, Isabella stumbling under the weight of fear and adrenaline.
---
Adrian shoved a door open with his boot. A dark study lay beyond, bookshelves lining the walls, a heavy desk in the center.
“Here,” he muttered, lowering Ethan onto the desk.
Ethan groaned, sweat streaking his pale face. Isabella rushed to his side, gripping his hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay—you’re safe now—”
“Safe?” Adrian barked out a humorless laugh as he ripped open a drawer, scattering papers and pulling out a bottle of whiskey and a box of matches. “We’re not safe. We’re buying time.”
Isabella’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“Sterilizing,” he muttered, already snapping the cap off. He glanced at her trembling hands. “Hold him still.”
Ethan’s eyes fluttered open, hazy with pain. “This… is gonna hurt, isn’t it?”
Adrian’s mouth twitched, humorless. “Like hell.”
Before Isabella could protest, Adrian poured whiskey straight into the wound. Ethan screamed, arching off the desk, his grip crushing Isabella’s hand. She sobbed, tears streaking her face.
“Stop it! You’re killing him!”
“I’m saving him,” Adrian growled, pressing a heated knife blade—blackened over a flame—against the wound. The sizzle filled the room. The smell of burned flesh and whiskey stung Isabella’s nose, made her gag.
Ethan collapsed back, unconscious.
Silence. Only the storm outside, her own choking sobs.
Adrian finally exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. “He’ll live. For now.”
---
Her tears wouldn’t stop. “Why… why didn’t you tell me you were alive? All these years, Adrian? I buried you. I mourned you.”
His gaze met hers, dark and unreadable. “Because the moment Damian knew I wasn’t in the ground, he would’ve used me to chain you tighter. And I couldn’t—” His voice broke for the first time. “I couldn’t let him.”
Her chest squeezed. “Do you have any idea what that did to me? To us?”
Adrian’s jaw clenched. “I know exactly what it did. And I’ll take your hatred if it means you’re still breathing.”
Ethan groaned, half-conscious. His voice rasped weak but sharp. “Don’t… trust him… Isabella.” His eyes cracked open, bloodshot, pleading. “He left you. Left us both.”
Isabella’s hand trembled in his. Her heart tore down the middle.
Adrian’s voice cut low, dangerous. “If you listen to him, you’ll walk straight back into Damian’s arms.”
“Enough!” Isabella shouted, the word raw. Her whole body shook. “I can’t—I can’t keep being torn apart like this. You both want me to choose, but all I want is to survive. Do you hear me? I just want to survive!”
The silence after her cry was deafening.
---
Adrian straightened, his eyes scanning the room. “Survival depends on moving fast. Damian won’t wait long before he circles back.”
As if summoned by his words, a sound cracked the air.
A phone, buzzing violently across the desk.
Adrian’s head snapped toward it. Isabella’s chest tightened when she saw the name flashing on the screen.
Damian.
Her blood went cold.
The phone buzzed again, and again, each vibration louder, heavier, until Adrian snatched it up and hurled it against the wall. Glass shattered.
But the silence that followed was worse. Because even without hearing his voice, Isabella knew—Damian was still here. Watching. Waiting.
Adrian muttered under his breath. “He wants you scared. Wants you rattled. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
Isabella’s breath shook. “I don’t have to give him anything. He already owns me.”
Her own words silenced her, the truth bitter on her tongue.
Ethan stirred, weak but fierce. “No. You’re not his. Not while I’m breathing.”
Adrian’s eyes burned. “Not while I’m standing.”
Isabella pressed her bloodied hands to her face, torn between them, torn inside herself.
---
Adrian pulled open the window, rain blowing in. “We leave now. Through the cliffs. Damian will expect us to take the roads. He won’t expect us to scale down to the shore.”
Her stomach dropped. “Scale? With him?” She glanced at Ethan’s unconscious form.
Adrian’s jaw tightened. “I’ll carry him.”
“You can’t!”
“Watch me.”
She wanted to scream. Wanted to fight. But another sound cut through the storm—footsteps, heavy and fast, pounding down the corridor.
Adrian’s eyes snapped to hers. “we have no more time to waste.”
He scooped Ethan effortlessly into his arms, blood soaking his coat. he nodded toward the open window. “Stay close to me, Isabella. If you fall behind, he’ll have you.”
Her legs trembled. The storm howled. The shadows pressed closer.
And Isabella, heart splitting, body drenched in blood and rain, followed her brother into the night.
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- Writer
