Blows strike the door in quick succession.

Bone-rattling booms echo around the room like war drums.

Tears flow freely from my eyes.

This is it.

This is how we die.

Tristan pulls himself out of me with an agonizing feeling.

The void of our separation feels like death.

“Tristan...” I whisper frantically, grabbing for his hand.

He clutches my fingers tightly, leaning in for one final kiss.

“I love you,” he says, resting his forehead against mine.

The door gives way with a deafening crash, solid wood falling to the floor with unbelievable force.

I close my eyes tightly, my only hope now being that death is quick. Tears squeeze from my pinched eyelids.

A moment passes.

Another.

“Well,” a voice says. “Isn’t that sweet.”

I cling to it like a lifeline. I know that voice.

“Merc!” Tristan shouts, voice heavy with relief.

My eyes fly open, breath catching in my throat. Abandoned hope sputters to life within me.

“Benny!”

They stand in the doorway, angels of salvation disguised as bruised and bloodied mobsters. Tristan and I leap from the bed as one, smiles of pure joy lighting our faces.

Merc laughs as his eyes trail the length of us.

I lower my gaze as well, realization dawning.

Fuck, I’m naked.

I move my hands to cover myself, pointless of course, but it feels fitting in this situation.

Tristan doesn’t bother.

“Your dress?” he asks, eyes skimming the floor.

I see it across the room, what’s left of it anyway. Delicate lace lies in tatters, Tristan’s handwork.

“Oh, right,” he says, eyes following mine.

“Where’s the one I came in?” I ask, already making my way quickly to the Governor’s closet.

Merc gives me a We don’t have time for this look, but I proceed anyway.

As I suspected, my real clothes lie in a heap in the corner.

I pull them on quickly, black dress, boots, and dagger securely in place.

“Please tell me you have a way out,” Tristan says to the guys when I reenter the room.

Benny grins mischievously.

“Like a secret passage?”

Tristan nods. “Yes...like that.”

“Follow me,” Benny says, the world’s brawniest tour guide.

The sound of approaching feet echo down the hall, bullets lashing out intermittently. Death, it seems, hasn’t forgotten us yet.

We waste no time running after Benny, his own grin now tucked back behind a mask of determination.

Tristan’s hand finds mine, squeezing tightly as if he’s afraid of losing me now.

I squeeze back just as hard, feeling the same.

Benny and Merc lead us to a room at the end of the hall, pulling the door shut quietly behind us.

“This way.”

Merc approaches a bookcase.

Of course it’s a bookcase.

I wait for him to pull the secret lever. I’m surprised when he instead wedges a candlestick into the side. Like a tire iron, he leverages it to force the door.

Not one for delicacy, Merc.

It swings open on well-oiled hinges, the perfect hidden escape.

My thanks to the Governor.

Merc and Benny take the lead, motioning for us to follow.

Tristan goes ahead, hand still grasping mine in a death grip. Together, we walk into the shroud of darkness.

The stairwell smells dank like a cave. The scents of stone and water wash across my senses, giving me the impression of being underground long before we are.

After several flights of winding steps however, we’re clearly well below ground level.

Benny leads the way with a flashlight. It’s dim, but helpful.

I only trip once, my boots catching on a crack in the ominous tunnel. Of course, Tristan is there to catch me. His hand never leaves my own.

It feels like we’ve been walking for a very long time, my adrenaline refusing to slow down. If anything, the possibility of escape seems to have only made my heart beat faster.

Before, in the Governor’s room, there was nothing more. We were dead and just didn’t have the sense to stop fucking.

Now, life once again pulls at my mind, promising happiness, promising tomorrow.

It terrifies me even more than the looming presence of death.

Every moment, I expect to hear footfalls rushing up behind us. I picture the tunnel collapsing, earth-like water raining down upon us. I hear gunshots, though I know there aren’t any down here.

When the ground begins to slope upward once again, I breathe a sigh of relief.

In a matter of moments, this tunnel has transformed from a lifeline to a tomb, and I’m ecstatic to be free of it.

A few minutes later, we reach more stairs. They wind tightly upwards, towards freedom. Our escape.

I patiently wait my turn, Merc and Benny going ahead to make sure there aren’t any traps. Tristan goes behind me.

Safely sandwiched between them, I climb the stairs towards the hatch covering them.

When Benny finally returns to tell us it’s safe, I nearly throw myself through the opening.

The cool night air washes over me, caressing my skin as it brushes back my hair. A chill creeps through me, invigorating and welcome.

We’ve emerged a couple of blocks from the Governor’s mansion, several from Tristan’s penthouse. The streets stand near empty, abandoned in the late hour.

“Should I call a ride?” Benny asks.

“No,” Tristan answers quickly. “At this point, I trust no one. We’ll walk.”

He turns to me, planting a kiss on my lips as he wraps his arm around my shoulder. He pulls onward, our feet running against the concrete, eerily loud in the still night air.

The events of the last few hours seem to spill from me, panic and terror fleeing in the face of my newfound safety.

We’re alive.

Both of us.

No matter how hard people have tried to kill or cage us, we’re here. We’re free, and more importantly, we’re together.

His body presses against my side, warm despite our surroundings.

I’ve never felt safer than I do at his side.

I was raised in a virtual prisoner’s tower, countless armed guards swarming the grounds day and night. I was under constant supervision, kept under lock and key.

Despite all of that, I never truly knew what it was to feel safe.

I never really understood the concept until I was pulled, kicking and screaming, from my old life...until I landed at Tristan’s side.

Going with him now, I feel warmth and life rushing through me.

All the forces in the world could never drag me back to where I came from. Not now.

I lean toward him, needing to close any space that remains between us. I feel, in this moment, that I am where I truly belong.

I am home.