The safe room felt too small, the air thick with the metallic scent of blood and the sharp bite of gunpowder.
Elena's hands were still trembling as she stared at the two bodies crumpled on the concrete floor. She had fired the gun. She had watched the second man fall. The realization sat heavy in her stomach, making her feel sick and strangely hollow at the same time.
Luca leaned against the wall, breathing hard, his injured arm pressed tightly to his side. Blood soaked through the sleeve and dripped slowly onto the floor. His face was pale, but his eyes stayed locked on her, worried and fierce all at once.
"You okay?" he asked, voice rough and low.
She nodded, even though she wasn't sure. "I… I shot him. I actually shot someone."
Luca pushed off the wall and crossed the small space in two unsteady steps. He pulled her against him with his good arm, holding her close. His chin rested on top of her head. She could feel his heart racing against her cheek.
"You saved us," he murmured. "If you hadn't fired, we'd both be dead right now. Don't carry that guilt alone. I'm right here with you."
Elena buried her face deeper into his chest, breathing him in. The fear from the last few minutes was still clawing at her insides. "I hate this. I hate that I had to do that. I hate that Alexander is still out there, turning our homes into battlegrounds."
Before Luca could answer, the monitor on the wall crackled to life. Alexander's voice filled the small room, calm and cold, like he was speaking directly to them.
"Elena. Luca. I know you're in there. Hiding like scared children. Come out. Let's finish this properly. Your uncle is bleeding in the hallway. Wouldn't want him to die thinking his niece chose the enemy over family, would you?"
Elena's stomach twisted. She pulled back from Luca just enough to look at him. "Marco…"
Luca's jaw tightened. Pain flashed across his face as he shifted his weight. "It could be a trap. He wants us to come out."
"I know." Her voice cracked. "But if Marco is hurt… I can't just stay here. He's the only one left who remembers my mother singing in the kitchen. The only one who taught me how to hold a gun and still smile after."
Luca searched her eyes for a long moment. Fear swam in his gaze—the same deep, childhood-rooted fear he had confessed to her before. He was terrified of losing her.
Finally, he exhaled shakily. "Then we go together. But you stay behind me. If anything feels wrong, you run back here and lock the door. Promise me, Elena."
She nodded, even though the promise felt impossible. "I promise."
They stepped out of the safe room together, guns drawn, moving slowly down the dim hallway. Glass crunched under their feet. The distant sounds of fighting downstairs had quieted, but the silence upstairs felt heavier, more dangerous.
Halfway down the corridor, they found Marco slumped against the wall, clutching his side. Blood stained his shirt dark. His breathing was shallow, but his eyes were open.
"Elena…" he rasped when he saw her. Then his gaze shifted to Luca and hardened. "You brought the wolf into my house."
Luca knelt beside him without hesitation, pressing his good hand over Marco's wound to slow the bleeding. "Save your strength. We're getting you help."
Elena dropped to her knees on Marco's other side, tears already falling. "It wasn't Luca. It was Alexander Kane. He's the one who killed Dad. He's the one doing all of this."
Marco's eyes widened slightly, doubt flickering through the pain.
Before anyone could say more, slow footsteps echoed from the far end of the hallway.
Alexander Kane stepped into the dim light.
He looked almost relaxed, gun held loosely at his side, that thin scar on his cheek standing out sharply. His eyes moved from Elena to Luca to Marco, a cold smile tugging at his lips.
"Well," he said softly. "Here we are. Face to face at last."
Luca rose slowly, positioning himself in front of Elena, gun raised despite the blood still dripping from his arm. "It's over, Kane. You've lost."
Alexander tilted his head. "Have I? Or are you just delaying the inevitable? Your families have been bleeding each other for decades because of what happened to my mother. I'm simply finishing the story."
Elena stepped out from behind Luca, her voice shaking but clear. "Killing more people won't bring your mother back. It won't fix the pain. You're just making new orphans. New ghosts."
Alexander's smile faded. For a second, real grief flashed across his face. "You think I don't know that? I grew up with nothing but stories of how the great Rossi and Moretti families destroyed her. While you two got to sneak around and fall in love like it was some fairy tale. I got foster homes and nightmares."
Luca's grip on his gun tightened. "Then end the nightmares here. Walk away. We can get you help."
Alexander laughed, low and bitter. He raised his gun, pointing it straight at Luca's chest. "Help? From the people who ruined my life? No. Tonight, the wolf and the princess finally pay."
Time seemed to slow.
Elena saw Alexander's finger tighten on the trigger.
She saw Luca tense, ready to fire back.
Fear flooded her so strongly her knees almost buckled.
Without thinking, she stepped forward, placing herself between Luca and the gun.
"Elena!" Luca's voice broke with pure terror.
Alexander paused, surprised. "Brave little princess. Willing to die for him?"
"No," Elena said, tears streaming down her face. "I'm willing to stop the cycle. Your mother didn't deserve what happened. But neither did my father. We don't have to keep paying for their mistakes."
Alexander stared at her for a long, heavy moment. His hand trembled slightly on the gun.
Then his eyes hardened again.
"You're too late for mercy."
He fired.
Luca shoved Elena hard to the side at the last instant. The bullet slammed into his shoulder instead of her chest. He staggered with a sharp grunt of pain but stayed on his feet.
Elena screamed.
Luca fired back.
The shot hit Alexander in the leg. He cried out and dropped to one knee, gun clattering to the marble floor.
Luca collapsed against the wall, blood pouring from the new wound, breathing ragged.
Elena rushed to him, pressing her hands over the bleeding shoulder, sobbing openly. "Luca… stay with me. Please."
Alexander looked up from the floor, pain twisting his features, but a strange calm settling over him. "You should have let her take the bullet. It would have been kinder."
Luca's hand found Elena's, weak but desperate. "Never."
The hallway fell into heavy silence, broken only by their labored breathing.
Alexander was down.
Luca was bleeding badly.
And Elena knelt between them, hands covered in blood, heart shattering and mending at the same time.
They had faced each other.
The wolf and the princess.
And nothing would ever be the same.