Chapter 13 — The Break-In ( How to Breathe When the World Explodes)
The metallic click of the unlocking door cut through the silence like a gunshot.
Damian's head snapped toward the sound, every line in his body tensing. Arielle froze, barely daring to breathe. The security light flickered once, then died completely—plunging the safehouse into darkness.
"Back," Damian ordered, voice low, sharp. He moved like lightning—hand gripping her arm, pulling her behind the concrete pillar as the door hissed open.
The air shifted. Footsteps—slow, deliberate—echoed into the room.
A faint beam of light swept across the floor, cutting through the shadows.
Arielle's heart pounded in her ears. She couldn't see faces, only shapes—three of them, moving like phantoms, dressed in black from head to toe. No words. No sound but the soft rustle of gear and the faint hum of something electronic.
Damian's eyes adjusted first. His hand brushed her shoulder, steady, grounding. Don't move.
The nearest intruder stopped by the console. A gloved hand traced the broken monitor wire. Another motioned silently toward the corridor.
They weren't amateurs.
Damian's mind raced—how the hell had they found this place? Only two people on record knew this location. And neither were supposed to be breathing anymore.
He waited. Calculated. Counted the rhythm of their movement. Three steps forward. Pause. Sweep left.
The second one turned his flashlight toward the far wall.
That was his window.
In a blur, Damian stepped out of the shadows, grabbed the nearest steel pipe from the rack beside him, and swung. The blow landed clean across the intruder's wrist—metal clattering against bone. The man grunted, his flashlight crashing to the floor.
Before the others could react, Damian shoved him backward, spinning just in time to dodge the second's attack. A sharp crack echoed as fists met—swift, practiced.
Arielle ducked, hands clamped over her mouth to silence the scream clawing at her throat. Sparks burst from the console as one of the men slammed into it, sending a shower of blue light.
Damian's movements were lethal precision—no wasted effort, no hesitation. He fought like someone who'd done this too many times, every motion efficient and ruthless.
The third intruder advanced, knife glinting faintly.
Damian caught the blade mid-swing, twisting hard—metal met concrete, shattering. He drove his elbow into the attacker's chest, sending him sprawling.
"Damian!" Arielle's voice broke through the chaos as one of the fallen reached for her ankle.
He turned—too fast, too focused. The man lunged. Arielle stumbled back, panic flooding her.
Damian was there before she hit the ground. One brutal kick sent the attacker sliding across the slick floor.
He caught her arm, pulled her upright, breath harsh. "Stay behind me!"
The lights above flickered violently, shorting from the damaged wiring. For a heartbeat, everything flashed in strobe—light, dark, light—like snapshots of a nightmare.
One intruder was already back on his feet. Another reached for something at his belt—small, metallic, blinking red.
"Damian—"
He saw it at the same time she did. "Down!"
He tackled her behind the steel table just as the device detonated. A concussive blast roared through the room—white light, heat, the sound of walls shaking.
Dust. Silence.
Arielle coughed, ears ringing. "Damian…?"
His arm was still around her, his body shielding hers from the debris. He pushed himself up slowly, blood streaking his temple, eyes blazing through the smoke.
"I'm fine," he said hoarsely. "You?"
"Terrified," she whispered.
"Good. Means you're alive."
The haze thinned. Two of the intruders were gone—vanished like ghosts. The third lay unconscious near the wrecked console.
Damian rose, dragging the man by the collar into the dim light. "Who sent you?"
No answer. Just labored breathing.
He pressed harder, voice cold. "Who sent you?"
The intruder's head lolled. He smiled faintly through the blood. "You should've stayed dead, Valen."
Then he went limp.
Damian's grip tightened. The name—Valen—hung heavy in the air. Not his company's name. His real one.
Arielle stepped closer, voice trembling. "What does he mean… stayed dead?"
He didn't answer. His eyes were distant, calculating again, already scanning the ceiling for cameras, the exits for escape routes.
"Damian." She touched his arm. "Talk to me."
He finally met her gaze. For once, the mask cracked—exhaustion, guilt, something raw flickered there.
"This place isn't safe anymore," he said quietly. "They found me. And now, because of that—"
"—they found me too," she finished.
He nodded once. "We move. Now."
They made their way toward the back exit, the faint smell of smoke and burnt circuitry filling the air. Sirens echoed faintly somewhere far above—police, maybe, or whoever came after explosions in the middle of the city.
At the door, Arielle turned. "What about him?"
Damian glanced at the unconscious man, expression unreadable. "He's already told us what we needed."
She followed his gaze. The man's wrist glowed faintly under a small, metallic implant—numbers etched into the skin. Coordinates.
Damian memorized them in a second, then hit the emergency lockdown switch. The steel doors sealed behind them with a mechanical hiss.
"Where are we going?" she asked breathlessly as they climbed into the elevator shaft's maintenance hatch.
"To finish what someone else started," he said.
The elevator began to rise, the city lights bleeding through the cracks in the doors as they ascended.
Arielle pressed her hand against the cold wall, steadying her breath. "You've done this before, haven't you?"
He didn't look at her. "Too many times."
And when the doors slid open to the rooftop, the night air hit them like freedom and fire. Helicopters circled in the far distance.
Damian adjusted his blood-stained cuff and glanced at her with that same unreadable calm.
"Next time," he said, "you're driving."
Despite the adrenaline, she almost laughed. "Next time?"
He met her gaze, half a smirk forming beneath the chaos. "You didn't think this was over, did you?"
Thunder rolled somewhere over the city, and in its echo, the danger only deepened.