Chapter 38

Don’t Die Before I Kill You

The first man died before reaching the truck.

Valentina barely remembered pulling the trigger.

One second she saw movement through the snowstorm.

The next, the mercenary collapsed backward into white darkness with blood spreading across ice beneath him.

Gunfire erupted immediately afterward.

Bullets tore through frozen trees around the wreck while snow exploded violently beside the overturned truck.

“Down!” Adrian barked through gritted teeth.

Valentina ducked instinctively as another round shattered what remained of the windshield.

Her hands shook violently around the handgun now.

Not from fear.

Shock.

Because she had crossed the line.

Real line.

No taking it back anymore.

Above them, Luca’s men spread through the mountainside with disciplined precision beneath falling snow.

Hunting.

Always hunting.

Adrian forced himself upright despite the metal still buried through his side.

Too much blood already soaked through his shirt.

Valentina saw it immediately.

Panic surged harder.

“No.”

Adrian grabbed the second handgun from beneath the driver’s seat and checked ammunition mechanically.

“Listen to me carefully.”

“You’re bleeding out.”

“Valentina.”

The sharpness in his voice cut through panic instantly.

She looked toward him.

His face had gone pale beneath snow and blood loss, but his eyes remained terrifyingly focused.

“There’s a service road fifty yards downhill,” he said tightly. “You follow it east until you hit the highway bridge.”

“What about you?”

Another burst of gunfire slammed into the truck frame above them.

Adrian returned two controlled shots through shattered glass immediately.

One scream followed somewhere in the storm.

Then silence again.

He looked back toward her.

“I slow them down.”

Absolutely not.

Valentina stared at him in disbelief. “No.”

“Valentina—”

“No.”

Her voice cracked sharply through the wrecked truck.

“You do not get to die dramatically in a snowstorm after everything.”

Something dangerously close to emotion flickered across his face then.

Wrong time.

Wrong place.

Still there.

“We don’t have options.”

“Yes, we do.”

She grabbed his jacket hard enough to hurt her own hands. “You stay alive.”

Another voice echoed faintly above the embankment.

“Spread out!”

Closer now.

Too close.

Adrian exhaled slowly through pain before reaching toward the twisted metal lodged through his side.

Valentina grabbed his wrist instantly. “What are you doing?”

“If I can move, we make the bridge.”

“If you pull that out—”

“I know.”

Blood already coated his hands now.

Snow drifted silently through the broken truck while death moved closer through the trees.

Valentina realized suddenly they were out of time.

And somehow that terrified her less than losing him.

Adrian looked at her one long second before quietly saying:

“This is going to hurt.”

Then he ripped the metal free.

The sound that tore out of him afterward would haunt her forever.

Not loud.

Worse.

The kind of pain people made when they were trying not to scream.

Blood spread instantly across his side.

Too much.

Way too much.

Adrian nearly blacked out against the seat before forcing himself conscious again through sheer brutality of will.

Valentina caught him before he collapsed fully sideways.

“Oh my God.”

“Move,” he gasped sharply.

Gunfire cracked again above them.

The truck door finally gave way under Adrian’s shoulder, and freezing wind slammed into them immediately.

Snow buried the mountainside almost knee-deep now.

Valentina wrapped one arm around Adrian’s waist while he staggered beside her down the embankment through darkness and ice.

Every step left blood behind in the snow.

No no no—

“Stay awake,” she whispered desperately.

Adrian laughed weakly beneath his breath. “You sound worried.”

“I am worried.”

That seemed to surprise him.

Idiot.

The service road appeared through the trees several minutes later.

Abandoned.

Snow-covered.

Empty except for one flickering roadside sign half-buried beneath ice.

Adrian stumbled hard against the guardrail.

Valentina caught him again.

His weight nearly dragged both of them into the snow.

“Adrian.”

No answer this time.

Panic exploded instantly inside her chest.

She slapped his face lightly. “Hey. Hey, look at me.”

His eyes opened barely.

Good.

Still there.

Barely.

Headlights appeared suddenly through the storm farther down the service road.

Valentina froze instantly.

Another vehicle?

Luca’s men?

No.

Ambulance.

Unmarked.

Civilian.

The driver slammed the brakes the second he saw them staggering through the snowstorm.

An older man climbed out immediately wearing paramedic gear beneath a heavy winter coat.

“Jesus Christ.”

Adrian reached instantly for the gun beneath his jacket despite barely remaining conscious.

The paramedic stopped cold.

“Easy,” he said carefully. “I’m not armed.”

Valentina looked between them desperately.

“Please,” she whispered. “He’s dying.”

The man assessed Adrian’s wound once and swore quietly beneath his breath.

“Get him inside now.”

The ambulance smelled like antiseptic, wet wool, and overheated machinery.

Warmth hit Valentina hard enough to hurt after the freezing mountain air.

The paramedic cut Adrian’s blood-soaked shirt open while the vehicle sped through snow-covered back roads toward somewhere safer.

“Penetrating trauma,” he muttered grimly. “Severe blood loss.”

Valentina sat beside the stretcher gripping Adrian’s hand so tightly her fingers hurt.

“Can you save him?”

The paramedic glanced toward her briefly.

“I can try.”

Not good enough.

Absolutely not good enough.

Adrian drifted in and out of consciousness beneath harsh ambulance lighting while snow hammered against the windshield outside.

At one point his eyes opened slightly.

Focused on her.

“Valentina.”

Her throat tightened instantly.

“I’m here.”

His fingers twitched weakly against hers. “You should’ve run.”

Rage and terror collided so violently inside her chest she almost choked on it.

“Shut up.”

A faint shadow of a smile touched his mouth.

Still trying to comfort her.

Stupid man.

The ambulance finally pulled behind an abandoned rural clinic nearly forty minutes later. Safe house hospital. Hidden. Illegal. Exactly the kind of place fugitives disappeared into.

By then Adrian could barely stay conscious.

The paramedic and another medic moved him onto a surgical table beneath flickering fluorescent lights while Valentina stood frozen near the doorway covered in blood that wasn’t hers.

Someone tried pulling her backward gently.

She refused to move.

“Miss, we need space.”

“No.”

“Please—”

“No.”

Her voice cracked sharply enough that the room went silent for one terrible second.

Adrian looked pale against white sheets now.

Too pale.

Machines beeped softly around him while medics worked quickly to stop the bleeding.

Valentina’s composure finally shattered.

Not elegantly.

Not quietly.

Completely.

Tears hit before she could stop them.

Real tears.

Violent tears.

The kind dragged from somewhere deep enough to hurt physically.

“Don’t you dare die,” she whispered shakily.

Nobody in the room spoke.

Valentina stepped closer toward the surgical table despite blood and wires and exhausted medics around them.

Her fingers curled hard against Adrian’s cold hand.

“You don’t get to save me this many times and then disappear.”

Adrian’s eyes opened weakly again beneath pain and medication.

Still listening.

Good.

Valentina laughed through tears breaking uncontrollably now.

“You know what the worst part is?” she whispered. “I’m still angry at you.”

A faint breath escaped him.

Almost amusement.

Idiot.

She lowered her forehead shakily against his hand.

“So don’t die before I kill you myself.”