Lisa's POV
It was 3:17 a.m.
I couldn't sleep again.
Noha was lying beside me, his chest rising and falling steadily. His arm was protectively draped around my waist, like his subconscious still believed I could vanish in the middle of the night. His injured shoulder was wrapped in clean gauze. The wound was shallow, but the fear it caused—that was deep.
I slipped out from under his arm, careful not to wake him. My bare feet touched the cold marble floor of his penthouse. I walked silently to the balcony, hugging myself against the wind.
The city looked peaceful from above. Quiet. Still.
But I knew better now. I knew the things that lived in the shadows. I knew what power tasted like. What it meant to be hunted.
And what it meant to love a man like Noha.
I heard the balcony door creak.
He stood there, shirtless, hair messy from sleep, eyes tired and stormy.
"You okay?" he asked.
I nodded. Then shook my head.
"I just… feel everything."
He came and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my body. His warmth blanketed me.
"I should hate you," I whispered. "You dragged me into hell."
He stiffened.
"But I don't," I added, turning to face him. "I love you more because of it. Because you let me see your hell. Because you let me fight beside you."
He stared into me. Then he cupped my face with his hands and kissed me with so much emotion that I felt my knees weaken.
Noha's POV
I was losing it. Slowly. Quietly.
But she kept pulling me back.
Lisa didn't just step into my world. She lit it up.
Dom called. Another informant was ready to speak. One of Lorenzo's own men wanted to defect. We set a meet.
And Lisa insisted she come.
"You'll stay in the car," I told her.
She smirked. "I'm not stupid, Noha. But I want to be there."
When we pulled up to the location—an abandoned church on the outskirts of town—my instincts were screaming.
It felt too quiet.
Dom looked uneasy. Matteo double-checked his gun.
We entered carefully.
The informant was there—shaking, pale, blood on his hands.
"He set me up," the man blurted. "Lorenzo knows she's alive."
Before I could respond, bullets rained from above.
Sniper.
Dom shoved me down. Matteo returned fire. I crawled out, blood pounding in my ears.
Lisa was in the car.
Lisa.
I sprinted.
The back window was shattered.
She was gone.
Lisa's POV
I never saw them coming.
One second I was texting Noha, the next—a hand grabbed me from behind, a cloth pressed against my nose.
The last thing I heard before darkness took me was glass shattering.
And Noha screaming my name.
Noha's POV
I held the broken glass in my hands like it was her heartbeat.
She was gone.
Again.
And this time, I was going to burn the world to find her.
Lisa's POV
When I woke, I was tied again.
Different room.
Same cold metal.
A familiar voice echoed from the darkness.
"You took what was mine," the woman sneered. "He was supposed to die broken. Alone. But you—you made him whole again."
I stared at her.
This was personal.
Not mafia.
Not power.
Obsession.
I smiled, blood dripping from my lip.
"Then you failed."
She slapped me. Hard.
But I didn't stop smiling.
Because I knew Noha.
And he was coming.
Noha's POV
War.
That was the only word for what I did next.
We tracked her through every camera, every mole, every whisper in the city.
I didn't eat.
Didn't sleep.
Didn't stop.
Until we found the warehouse. Until we stormed it with fire and fury.
I found Lisa tied to a chair, blood on her mouth, defiance in her eyes.
When our eyes met—I saw home.
I shot her captor without hesitation.
Lisa fell into my arms.
She didn't cry.
She just whispered, "Told you you'd come."
And I held her like she was the only thing left in this world worth saving.