Chapter 10 — The Line
1478 Words
Aliyah’s POV
The safehouse is too quiet.
The kind of quiet that feels like the world is holding its breath, waiting and watching to see what we’ll do next.
Adrian had carried me inside after the chase, ignoring my weak protests. His jaw was locked tight and his eyes were burning with emotions. Rage, fear, and something softer beneath.
The living room is small, dimly lit by a single overhead bulb. The curtains stay drawn tight, trapping us inside together like secrets.
I sit on the worn sofa. My arms wrapped around myself. Every muscle aches. Every breath trembles. My clothes are damp with sweat and rain. My head still pounds from the crash.
But what hurts most is the memory of that gun pointed at Adrian.
I wipe my cheek quickly when I hear footsteps behind me.
He notices anyway.
“Aliyah.” His voice is hoarse. “Look at me.”
I don’t want to. Because if I do, everything I’ve been trying to hold together will break.
The cushion sinks as Adrian kneels in front of me, one hand braced on the sofa, the other hovering near my knee but not quite touching.
“Are you in pain?” he asks softly.
“No… not physically.”
His brows pull together. “Then tell me what hurts.”
My throat closes. “Everything.”
For a long moment, he says nothing.
He just watches me like if he looks away for even a second, I’ll disappear.
Then he reaches out, hesitating as if waiting for permission.
I whisper, “It’s okay.”
His fingertips brush my cheek, wiping away the new tear I hadn’t felt.
“Aliyah,” he murmurs, voice breaking at the edges, “I thought I lost you tonight.”
“You...,” I whisper.
His jaw tightens as guilt crashing over him hard.
So hard it nearly knocks the breath from me.
“That was my fault,” he breathes. “I should’ve anticipated the ambush. I should’ve—”
“You did everything you could,” I interrupt.
“It wasn't enough. If it was, then you shouldn't have to flee with me”
His words make something inside me c***k.
“You protected me,” I insist. “As you always do.”
Adrian shakes his head like he can’t accept it. He stands abruptly, pacing.
His voice comes out in a sharp, uneven pieces.
“They came after you, Aliyah. Not me. You.”
“I know now.”
“Because of me.”
“I know,” I whisper again. “But I’m still here.”
He stops pacing. His shoulders rise and fall with one heavy, ragged breath.
Then he walks back toward me with slow, deliberate steps.
“You’re only here,” he says quietly, “because I refuse to let the world take you from me.”
His confession steals something from my lungs.
“Adrian…”
He sits beside me, close enough that his arm brushes mine. Close enough that the warmth of him seeps into my frozen bones.
“You asked me once why I keep you at arm’s length,” he says, voice low. “This is why. Because loving someone in my world is like handing them to the wolves.”
I swallow painfully. “Do you… love me?”
He goes still. Completely still.
“Yes.”
The word is barely a breath, but it lands like an earthquake.
He turns toward me, eyes dark, and burning. “I love you so much it terrifies me.”
I can’t breathe.
I can’t move.
The room feels too small for everything in my chest.
“It’s wrong,” he continues, “... selfish, and dangerous. But I can’t help it.”
I whisper, “Love isn't selfish. Not at all times.”
He gives a humorless laugh. “I’m selfish for wanting you even if it kills us both.”
My heart twists. Because despite the fear. Despite everything we’ve faced in the last twenty-four hours.
Despite the blood, the guns, and the chase. There’s nowhere safer than being near him.
“Adrian,” I say softly, “I can't deny that I'm scared, but,”
His expression shifts, turning gentle and fierce all at once.
He reaches for my hand slow and careful like he thinks I might shatter.
“Come here,” he whispers, cutting me off.
I didn't hesitate. I slide into his arms, curling against his chest as his embrace closes around me.
His heartbeat is uneven beneath my ear. Too fast. Too raw.
He holds the back of my head with one hand, the other wrapped protectively around my waist.
“I’m here,” he murmurs again and again, words sinking into my skin.
“I’m here. I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
My voice is muffled against him. “I know. You already proved it to me. But, for how long?”
His hold tightens, almost desperate.
“I promise with everything I have.”
For a long time, we stay like that, just holding each other.
The storm outside fades to a soft patter against the roof.
The world grows small again, shrinking down to the circle of his arms.
At some point, he whispers, “Let me take care of you. Tonight, let me make the fear go away.”
I nod against him.
He lifts my face gently. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m just... cold,” I lied.
He sees through it immediately.
But he doesn’t call me out.
Instead, he stands and reaches for my hand.
“Come with me,” he murmurs.
He leads me down the hall to a small bedroom. The bed is old but clean, covered with a thick blanket.
“You need rest,” he says. “Your body’s been through a lot.”
“What about you?” I ask.
He brushes a strand of hair from my temple. “I’ll be right here. I’m not leaving this room.”
I believe him.
When I sit on the edge of the bed, the exhaustion hits me like a tidal wave.
Adrian kneels again, undoing my shoes and setting them aside. His hands are gentle, reverent almost, like he’s afraid to hurt me.
He looks up. “Aliyah…”
“Yes?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Do I have to say no?” I whisper.
Something in his expression softens, melts even. And he nodded warmly.
He helps me under the blanket and sits at the edge of the bed, brushing his thumb over my knuckles.
“If you have nightmares,” he says quietly, “wake me. And if you’re scared—”
“Wake you.”
“And if you need anything—”
“Wake you,” I finish, managing the smallest smile.
Adrian exhales like that tiny smile saved him.
He leans forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead. Light, lingering, and trembling.
“Sleep now,” he whispers. “I’ll watch over you.”
For the first time since the chase, I believe him.
I let my eyes drift closed, comforted by the sound of his breathing beside me.
Just as sleep pulls me under, I hear him whisper into the darkness:
“I won’t lose you. Not even if it costs me everything.”
Adrian’s POV
I didn't sleep. Not even for a second.
I sit in the chair beside the bed, elbows on my knees, hands clasped, staring at the woman curled beneath the blanket.
Her face is peaceful.
Finally.
But the bruises, the trembling she tried to hide, the tears she didn’t want me to see, they’re carved into my mind. What happened changed everything.
They went after her.
My enemies.
My past.
My sins.
Aliyah should’ve never been touched by my world.
But she is now.
And there’s only one way to keep her alive. I have to burn all of it to the ground.
Every enemy. Every threat. Every tie to the darkness I came from. One by one.
Until there’s no one left who can touch her.
My hand hovers above hers, inches away.
I didn't let myself make contact.
Because if I do… I won’t be able to stop.
I breathe in slowly.
Aliyah murmurs something in her sleep and shifts slightly, instinctively reaching for where I am.
My chest tightens.
“I’m right here,” I whisper, barely audible.
She settles again.
And I know right then and right there that I’ll kill anyone who dares to hurt her again.
No hesitation. No mercy.
This woman…
She is no longer just someone I’m protecting.
She is the line I will not let the world to cross.
And may God help a sinner like me for trying to be a good man for her.
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