"Hold on tight, Giulia," he commanded. His voice was low, steady, utterly calm. As if carrying a woman out of a collapsing building was something he did every day.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life.
Immediately, she was secured in his arms, and he was running. Down the stairs, dodging panicking patients and frantic staff, leaping over debris that had already begun to fall. Giulia remained silent, her face pressed against his shoulder, her eyes squeezed shut.
Every bounce in his arms sent a fresh spike of pain through her still throbbing head. But she was too emotionally drained to even wince. The physical pain was nothing compared to the hollow ache in her chest from the depths of Finn and Abby's betrayal.
When they finally burst out of the hospital doors into the cold morning air, Giulia forced her eyes open. She looked around desperately, searching for a flash of sandy-colored hair, for Finn's familiar silhouette.
There was nothing.
He was gone. They were both gone.
The realization hit her like a physical blow. Simple. Brutal. Unforgivable.
He didn't care if she died. He hadn't even checked to see if she had made it out alive. He had saved Abby as if she was truly his girlfriend, the one he cared for. As if Giulia was the third party.
It did not matter that she had already decided to break up with him since he had been pressuring her. Finn had been the first man she had let in.
He had seemed to accept her at face value. And even though she'd recently started seeing different sides of Finn. She would have never thought that he would treat her so callously. It still stung to realize that she was still so terrible at judging people.
Finn had been cunning and manipulative enough to get her to lower her walls and let him in, and it turned out he was a shit bag of a human. As for her bestie Abby.
It was evident that Abby had only become friends with Giulia in order to get closer to Finn.
Giulia realised that this was not a spur-of-the-moment thing; they must have been cheating all along. Her fall only gave them the leeway they needed.
What chilled her to the bone was how quickly Finn had made the plan to push her toward his brother. As if he and Abby had been seeing each other behind her back for a while. As if she were just an obstacle to be passed off to someone else.
The humiliation felt like a hot stone in Giulia's belly, heavy and burning.
And yet, in a wild, twisted way, Beau's arms felt like the only safe place left in a world that was literally falling apart around her.
One thing remained topmost in her head. Why would her boss, who could have his pick of any of the gorgeous women who were always flocking around, agree to go along with his brother's nasty charade?
Whatever his reasons were, he had joined forces with her enemies, so he too was the enemy.
*
Like a dutiful boyfriend, Beau would not hear of letting Giulia take a cab by herself and had insisted on taking her home, saying that the hospital was obviously not safe after the earthquake.
Since the doctor had said that she was about to be discharged anyway, Giulia didn't argue. Plus, she was too mentally drained to form a coherent objection.
The car ride was a blur of traffic, and the low hum of the engine soon lulled her to sleep. That is, until she felt the car come to a smooth stop. After waking up, she felt more alert than she had all day.
She raised her head, looking out the tinted window, and her brow furrowed in confusion.
"But... this is not my apartment," Giulia blurted out before she could stop herself and remember her strange circumstances.
The silence that followed was heavy. Beau turned in the driver's seat, his eyes narrowing as he peered into Giulia's face. The "Corporate Devil" was back, his gaze sharp and calculating.
"How do you remember that this is not your apartment, Giulia?" he asked. "Have you perhaps regained your memories?"
Her heart did a frantic somersault in her chest as she realized that she had slipped. The "amnesia" mask had cracked.
"I... Erm..." Giulia stuttered, her mind racing for a save.
'Think, Giulia, think.'
"I just meant... it doesn't feel right. This place looks... it looks like I can't afford it."
It wasn't entirely a lie. The house before them was a magnificent brick estate, sprawling and ancient, with ivy climbing the weathered walls and a circular driveway that screamed "old money."
It wasn't a home. It was a fortress. A monument to generations of wealth and power.
For several seconds, Beau said nothing. His eyes stayed on hers.
Giulia had the uncomfortable feeling that he could see straight through her.
Then he looked away. His expression softened into something she couldn't name.
"I believe you," he said.
But something in his voice made her wonder if that was the truth or if he was simply waiting for her to trip again so that he could catch her faking the amnesia.
"I just felt it would be better for you to recover here," he explained quietly. "At my house. It's safer. More private."
He turned back to her, fixing her with a strange, dark look that sent a shiver racing down her spine.
It made her feel more like the prey than the person with the plan.
It wasn't the look of a boss checking on an injured employee. It wasn't even the look of a concerned friend.
It was the look of a man claiming a prize.
"You are my girlfriend, after all," he said, his voice dropping into a husky register that made Giulia's stomach flip. "I'm supposed to take care of you. Isn't that right?"
Danger bells were ringing in Giulia's head. She could sense that Beau wanted her to falter. He wanted to pin her to a lie.
She stared at him, trapped in the leather seat, trapped in the lie, trapped in the web she had so carelessly woven.
She was in his territory now.
And the harmless little prank had officially become a war.
As she was thinking about the dilemma that she had found herself in, Giulia suddenly felt the door by her side open, and Beau picked her up again and carried her towards the house.
"What… I can walk." Giulia tried to refuse, but Beau stopped and looked at her with a serious expression.
"Watching you fall like that was the most frightening moment of my life. I am going to take care of you, so don't refuse me."
The expression in Beau's eyes was so sincere that Giulia could only nod, her protest dying on her lips.
As he resumed walking towards the door, it opened just as they got to the threshold. Giulia felt Beau stiffen first before she heard Finn's very familiar voice.
Her heart dropped into her stomach.
Of course. Of course he was here.
The man who had abandoned her was now standing in the doorway of the man who had saved her.
And she had no idea what to say.