It felt like waking from a bad dream.
Or the worst hangover of my life.
A dull, throbbing pain pulsed through my skull, forcing a groan from my throat. Light burned behind my eyelids, urging them to open. I tried, but the moment I did, the sunlight streaming through the windows stabbed straight into my eyes.
I winced and shut them again.
But even the small effort felt like too much. My entire body ached, heavy and bruised like I had been crushed underneath something enormous.
Then I felt it.
Soft lips brushing against mine.
For a moment, I thought I was imagining it. Like a fragment of a dream refusing to let go. But the touch deepened, warm and insistent, coaxing gently at my lips to part. And so I did, instinctively, despite the pounding in my head.
My hands lifted weakly, finding the familiar line of a jaw I knew better than my own reflection. My fingers curled there, grounding myself in the solid warmth of him.
Until a small movement of my hips sent a sharp flare of pain up my back, and a broken moan slipped out of my throat.
"You should rest," Alex murmured softly against my lips.
Confusion flickered through my hazy mind. Was this another dream?
"You're not dreaming, my love," he said gently.
"What happened?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed.
I felt the mattress dip as Alex shifted away. A moment later, it lifted again as he crossed the room and pushed the window shut. The brightness behind my eyelids faded, leaving me in darkness.
It was only then, that I tried opening my eyes again, blinking slowly as I tried to clear the fog clouding my vision.
"I rescued you," he said simply. "Brought you back to me."
My brows furrowed as memory stirred. From the thick smell of smoke, the unbearable heat closing in around me.
My gaze lifted to him.
Alex stood near the bed, dressed in a crisp white button-up and dark trousers as though he had merely stepped in from his office rather than pulled someone out of a burning building.
"What else?" I asked hoarsely.
"I burned the place down," he replied nonchalantly, like he was commenting on the weather.
I stiffened.
He noticed immediately, and added, almost lazily, "Not your grandfather's estate. Don't worry."
He moved back toward the bed, his expression calm and controlled. "Just one of their safe houses," he continued. "The one they were keeping you in."
My chest tightened.
"And Camilla?" I asked.
Alex's gaze flicked to mine, steady.
"We brought her with us."
"Can I see her?" I asked.
Alex leaned closer, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. His thumb brushed slowly against my skin, the gesture gently in a way that still felt unfamiliar after everything we had been through.
"Later," he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the top of my head. "She's resting."
Relief loosened something tight in my chest, but it didn't last long.
"What about our plans, Alex?" I asked quietly.
For a moment, he didn't answer.
Then he straightened slightly beside the bed, the softness in his expression fading into something more controlled. The look he wore when he was thinking like the man who ran an empire that everyone feared.
"The first few phases worked," he said.
My brows pulled together.
"With the evidence you and Camilla helped uncover, people are already starting to turn," he continued. "Business partners. Then the small families who have been waiting for an excuse to break away from Arturo."
A bitter smile touched his lips. "Turns out loyalty disappears quickly when money's involved."
My fingers tightened slightly in the sheets.
"And my uncle?"
Alex's gaze darkened.
"Caught," he said simply. "Camilla helped with that."
I blinked at him. "She did?"
"She's the one who confirmed the locations of his last operations," Alex explained. "Once his own allies realized he had been siphoning money and putting them at risk, they handed him over without much hesitation."
A strange mix of emotions twisted inside my chest.
Camilla had turned on her own father.
"For what it's worth," Alex added quietly, "she didn't hesitate."
Silence settled between us for a moment, before the question that had been sitting in the back of my mind finally forced its way out.
"My grandfather," I said.
My husband's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
"He's gone."
My stomach sank.
"He had men ready," Alex continued. "Loyal ones. The kind who don't care about the organization falling apart as long as they're protecting him."
"Where is he?"
"If I knew," Alex said calmly, "he'd already be in chains."
His hand slid over mine, his grip firm. "But he's running now," he added. "And men like your grandfather can't run forever. Especially at his age."
His eyes locked onto mine.
"We'll find him."
The certainty in his voice should have frightened me. Once, it probably would have unnerved me. But now, lying there with his hand wrapped firmly around mine, all I felt was a strange sense of calm.
Slowly, I shifted closer to him despite my body protesting. The movement made him immediately lean in, one arm sliding behind my back to support me.
"Careful," he murmured tenderly.
But I ignored the warning.
I want him. I need him.
My hand rose to his face, my fingers tracing the sharp line of his jaw as if I needed to reassure myself that he was real. That he was truly here.
"Alex," I whispered. "I'm sorry for disappearing on you."
"It was an accident," he murmured, as he looked down at me, those green eyes softening, replacing the hard edge that usually lived in his eyes.
Before I could lose my nerve, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was gentle at first. Slow, almost hesitant. Nothing like the desperate ones we had shared before. This one was quieter, deeper. Much more peaceful.
And when he kissed me back, it wasn't with urgency. It was with relief. The kind of tenderness that made my chest ache, even after all this time.
My fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt as his hand moved to cradle the back of my head, holding me carefully, as if I were something fragile.
I rested my forehead against his when the kiss broke, my breath warm against his lips.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I let my fingers slide down to lace with his again.
"Thank you," I murmured softly.