Chapter 128: It’s just a dream, right?

Isabella’s face tightened slightly as she slept.

At first, it was subtle. A small furrow in her brow. A faint tension around her eyes. It could have passed for nothing.

Then it happened again.

Her brow pulled tighter. Her lips pressed together as if she were holding something back, even in her sleep. A thin line formed between her eyebrows, and her breathing grew uneven.

A cold sheen of sweat gathered along her temple and slid slowly down her cheek.

Her fingers twitched against the blanket.

Then everything snapped.

“DAD!!”

She shot upright in bed, her voice breaking through the room with sharp force.

Beside her, Aubrey jolted awake, heart racing as she turned toward her.

“Holy shit, Isabella…” Aubrey said, her voice still heavy with sleep but laced with concern.

Isabella did not respond.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes were wide, unfocused at first, like she had not fully come back yet. She looked straight ahead, but it was clear she was not seeing the room.

Aubrey pushed herself up on one elbow, studying her.

“You okay…?” she asked, softer this time.

Isabella’s gaze slowly shifted toward her.

For a second, neither of them spoke.

Aubrey’s breath hitched slightly as she saw the look in Isabella’s eyes. It was not just fear. It was something deeper. Something raw.

Before she could say anything else, Isabella moved.

She leaned forward suddenly and wrapped her arms around Aubrey, pulling her in tight.

The force of it caught Aubrey off guard. The two of them shifted on the bed as Isabella held on, her grip firm, almost desperate.

Aubrey froze for a moment.

Her face warmed, a faint blush creeping in as she hesitated before placing a hand on Isabella’s back.

“Uh… what’s this for?” she asked, her voice unsure.

Isabella did not answer right away.

She held her there.

Her breathing was still uneven, but it was starting to slow. The tension in her shoulders eased little by little, though her grip did not loosen.

Aubrey felt it.

The weight of it.

This was not random. This was not something casual.

Something had shaken her.

After a few seconds, Aubrey’s hand moved more naturally against her back, rubbing small circles without thinking too much about it.

The silence stretched, but it did not feel empty.

It felt heavy.

Then Isabella finally spoke.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Her voice was quieter now, but it carried something that made Aubrey’s chest tighten.

Aubrey blinked.

For a moment, she did not know what to say.

Her arms tightened around Isabella, this time without hesitation.

“…Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours,” she said softly.

There was no edge to it. No sarcasm.

Just honesty.

Isabella did not respond.

She stayed close, her head resting slightly against Aubrey as if grounding herself in something real.

Aubrey glanced past her for a moment, staring at nothing in particular as she thought.

She had seen Isabella serious before. Focused. Even distant.

But this was different.

This felt like something had gotten under her skin and stayed there.

It was her parents. It had to be.

It was painfully obvious. She never talked about finding those ACE inhibitors for her father again after that day.

This was her way of grieving, but Aubrey wasn’t even able to imagine what she saw in there.

And for some reason, she felt responsible for it all.

Aubrey shifted slightly, careful not to break the hold between them.

—

I leaned against the kitchen counter with my arms folded, watching Julia move around like she had done this a hundred times before.

She handed Carl and Adira cups of tea, careful with her movements, like they might break if she wasn’t. They both sat at the table wrapped in blankets, shoulders slightly hunched, still looking like they had not fully come back from wherever Annie had them.

“I’m really sorry you two had to go through that,” Julia said, her voice softer than usual.

Carl gave her a small smile and took the cup. He blew on it before taking a sip, like everything was normal.

“Trauma is a nonexistent concept for a soldier,” Adira said flatly. “That was nothing.”

Julia blinked, caught off guard.

“…okay,” she said after a second, clearly not knowing what to do with that.

My eyebrows pulled together as I watched her.

She was still doing it.

Still putting on that front like nothing touched her. Like I hadn’t seen her tied up in that room, barely covered, treated like she was nothing.

My jaw tightened.

I looked away, trying to shake the thought, but it stuck. It kept replaying whether I wanted it to or not.

And the dream from earlier did not help.

Not even a little.

Before I could sink deeper into it, I felt arms wrap around my waist from behind.

My body stiffened for half a second before I recognized it.

She pressed herself against my back, her chin resting on my shoulder as she tried to hide her face from me like it was a game.

“Lila,” I said, my tone coming out lighter than I expected.

She turned my head just enough and kissed me.

It was not soft.

It was deep. Fast. Like she had been waiting.

I froze for a second, then kissed back without thinking.

It only lasted a moment before I pulled away slightly, aware of the room again.

Julia had stopped mid sentence.

“Ohhh? Y’all starting early, huh?” she said, a grin spreading across her face.

Lila smiled like she did not care who saw.

I glanced at the table.

Carl was watching us, his expression tight, like he was trying to figure something out.

Adira said nothing, but her eyes stayed on me a second longer than they needed to before she looked away.

I swallowed.

Lila turned my face back toward her, her thumb brushing under my bottom lip like she was checking something.

“You were a goner last night,” she said softly.

My chest tightened at the way she said it.

“Where’d you run off to?”

The question hung there.

I glanced past her, back at Julia and the others. Julia had already gone back to talking, trying to keep things normal. Carl avoided my eyes this time. Adira didn’t.

Lila’s grip tightened slightly when I did not answer right away.

“I just needed to clear my head,” I said.

Her expression shifted, but only a little.

“I see.”

“…yeah.”

She studied me for another second before speaking again.

“Do you remember our plans?”

I frowned slightly. “What plans?”

“Canada.”

The word hit harder than it should have.

I had not forgotten.

I just… had not thought about it.

Not once.

Not with everything else going on.

“I thought since you were done with Annie, we could finally leave this place,” she said.

I stayed quiet.

Her eyes narrowed just slightly.

“Adrian,” she said, her voice tightening, “don’t do this to me. I did everything you asked me to these past few weeks.”

A beat.

Her voice dropped lower.

“You said you hated it here.”

“I know what I said,” I replied.

And I meant it.

But it did not change anything.

Because the truth was sitting right there in my chest, heavy and unmoving.

It was not enough.

None of it was enough.

Not the blood. Not the bodies. Not the damage I had already done.

I still saw it.

Everything that happened at that compound. Every face. Every body.

And Annie was still breathing.

I had been left scarred for life, rotting, mutilated bodies of people I knew infront of me and it feels like I had left her with a slap on the wrist.

An almost broken arm and a few dead men wasn’t enough. Not to me.

…Well, granted, I did kill her sister.

I remembered her expression. The uncontrollable tears that was enough to make me hesitate.

I hadn’t seen anything like it from a monster like her.

She was good.

A little too good that I was starting to believe all this killing was senseless.

Maybe I really should just go. Call whatever this was a draw.

Burning down an entire empire infront of its ruler never seemed nearly as worth it enough.

…

God damn it.

“…Alright,” I said quietly.

The words burned on the way out.

It hung there longer than it should have.

For a second, nothing moved.

Then Lila’s grip tightened around my arm, her nails pressing in just enough to ground herself. I saw it in her face before she even spoke. Relief. Real, unfiltered relief.

“Really?” she asked.

I nodded once.

“Yeah.”

Something in her eyes lit up. It was small, but it was there. Like she had been waiting for that answer longer than I realized.

She stepped closer to me, her hand sliding from my arm to my chest, like she needed to feel that I was actually there.

“We can leave today,” she said quickly. “We don’t have to wait. We can just— go.”

I let out a breath through my nose, the tension in my shoulders easing just a little.

“Yeah,” I said again. “We’ll go.”

Behind us, Julia’s voice picked back up, light and hopeful. Carl shifted in his seat, finally looking a little less on edge. Even Aubrey, standing off to the side, looked like she was trying to believe it.

For the first time in a long time, the room felt…lighter.

Like maybe this could actually end.

Like maybe I could walk away from it.

Lila leaned in and kissed me again, softer this time. Slower.

I let it happen.

Then—

The front door exploded inward.

The sound was deafening. Wood splintered across the room as the door flew off its hinges, slamming into the wall with a crack that echoed through the house.

Everyone froze.

For half a second, nobody moved.

Then the gunshots started.

The first bullet tore through Julia before she could even turn around. Her body jerked, the tray in her hands crashing to the floor as she dropped with it.

Aubrey screamed.

I moved at that, grabbing Lila and pulling her down as more shots ripped through the kitchen, glass shattering, walls tearing apart under the impact.

Figures flooded in through the doorway.

Fast. Organized.

Eyes glowing.

Amber.

“DON’T SHOOT THE BOY— ANNIE WANTS HIM ALIVE!” someone shouted.

My head snapped up.

A man rushed forward and slammed the butt of his gun into Carl’s face, knocking him out of his chair. Another grabbed Adira, dragging her back as she fought like hell despite the blanket tangled around her.

“Get off me—!” she snapped, but it didn’t matter. There were too many of them.

Aubrey lunged for one of the attackers.

A shot rang out.

She hit the ground, gasping—air punched out of her.

Everything slowed.

My ears rang as I watched her hit the floor, her body going still in a way that made my stomach drop.

What the fuck…?

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?

“AUBREY—!”

Lila’s scream cut through everything.

Hands grabbed her.

She fought. Hard.

Kicking. Biting. Clawing.

“Adrian!” she yelled, reaching for me as they dragged her back.

I got up.

I don’t even remember making the decision.

I just moved.

I grabbed the nearest man and slammed him into the counter, ripping the gun from his hands and firing blindly into the room.

One dropped.

Then another.

But it didn’t matter.

There were too many.

Something hit me from the side.

Hard.

I crashed into the wall, the air leaving my lungs as my grip on the gun loosened.

A boot slammed into my wrist.

The gun skidded across the floor.

“Got him!”

Rough hands grabbed me, forcing me down. My face hit the ground, blood filling my mouth as I struggled against them.

I lifted my head just enough to see.

Lila.

They had her.

Two of them held her down, her arms pinned as she thrashed and screamed.

“ADRIAN—!”

A man stepped forward.

Calm.

Smiling.

He raised his gun.

And shot her.

The sound echoed louder than everything else.

Lila’s body jerked slightly, her head dropping forward.

Then went still.

Something inside me broke.

I didn’t feel the hands holding me anymore.

I didn’t hear the shouting.

I didn’t see anything else.

Just her.

Lying there.

Not moving.

And then—

A familiar voice crackled through a radio.

“Package secured?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

Then—

“Good. Bring him to me.”

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