Smoke still clung to the halls of the Caruso estate.
Serena could taste it on her tongue, bitter and metallic, mixing with the coppery tang of blood she had never wanted to smell. Her slippers slipped against the marble as Lorenzo dragged her down the side passage, his grip iron on her wrist.
"Keep moving," he ordered. His voice was calm, but beneath it was urgency—no, desperation.
Serena's heart thundered so hard it rattled her ribs. Every crack of a gunshot made her flinch, every distant scream reminded her that she had grown up inside a house of wolves. Tonight, the wolves were tearing each other apart.
They stumbled into an abandoned wine cellar, the heavy oak door slamming shut behind them. Darkness swallowed them, broken only by the faint glow of a lantern Lorenzo lit with quick, practiced movements.
Serena collapsed against the wall, her chest heaving. "What's happening out there?"
"An ambush," Lorenzo said flatly. "Your father has enemies. Tonight they decided to collect."
Her stomach twisted. "Is he—"
"Alive," Lorenzo said, though his tone carried no comfort. "But he won't stay that way if his empire keeps crumbling."
Serena pressed a trembling hand against her forehead. Her world felt like it was tilting, pieces of truth crashing together into something too jagged to bear.
"And me?" she whispered. "Why did they come for me?"
Lorenzo's eyes lifted from the lantern, dark and piercing. "Because you're leverage. To break your father, they don't need his money or his guns. They just need you."
The words sank deep. For the first time in her life, Serena realized she wasn't just her father's daughter. She was his weakness. His cage. His pawn.
She pressed her arms around herself, trying to hold the pieces together. "And what about you? Why are you here? You should have left me."
His gaze sharpened. "If I left you, you'd already be dead."
The silence that followed was thick, charged. The cellar smelled of damp earth and smoke, the air warm from the lantern between them. Serena studied him—the hard set of his jaw, the scar near his temple, the way his suit was stained with someone else's blood.
"You kill so easily," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Like it means nothing."
Lorenzo's eyes flickered, and for the first time, she saw something other than steel in them. A shadow of something heavier.
"It always means something," he said quietly. "Every life I take stays with me. But I kill so others don't have to."
The weight of his words sank deep. For a moment, Serena forgot she was supposed to hate him.
She stepped closer, her trembling voice barely audible. "And what about me? Why save me?"
His jaw tightened. He looked at her like she was the one thing he couldn't afford to want.
"Because I couldn't watch you break," he admitted.
The confession hung in the air, heavier than smoke. Serena's heart skipped, her chest tightening in ways that had nothing to do with fear.
Before she could answer, a crash echoed above them—doors breaking, men shouting. The attackers were still inside.
Serena's breath hitched. "They're coming."
Lorenzo blew out the lantern, plunging them into darkness. His hand found hers in the shadows, warm and strong, guiding her deeper into the cellar.
"We can't stay here," he whispered. "There's a tunnel beneath the far wall. It'll take us out."
They moved slowly, blindly, his hand gripping hers like an anchor. Every brush of his skin against hers sparked heat, even as terror clawed at her throat.
At last, they reached the tunnel door. Lorenzo shoved it open, revealing a narrow passage that smelled of damp stone and escape.
He turned to her, his face barely visible in the moonlight spilling from the crack above. "Once we leave, there's no going back. Do you understand?"
Serena's pulse raced. She looked at him—the man her father would call an enemy, the man her fiancé would gladly kill—and realized she had already crossed a line she could never uncross.
"Yes," she whispered.
His eyes lingered on her, searching, then softened just enough to undo her.
"Good," he murmured. "Stay close. And whatever happens, don't let go of me."
He stepped into the darkness of the tunnel, pulling her with him.
And Serena, for the first time in her life, didn't feel like she was being dragged.
She chose to follow.
---
End of Chapter 6 – Ashes and Confessions