AVA’S POV
The kiss was desperate, fierce, and completely overwhelming. Gabriel's hands framed my face as his lips moved against mine with an intensity that made my knees weak. I could taste the desperation in his kiss, the fear of losing me, the raw emotion behind his confession.
For a moment, I forgot everything – the warehouse, the danger, the revelation about his past. There was only Gabriel, only the way he made me feel like I was the most important thing in his world.
Then reality crashed back in.
I pushed him away, my hands flat against his chest. "No. You don't get to do that."
"Ava—"
"You don't get to kiss me and expect everything to be okay!" My voice was shaking with anger and confusion. "You just told me you used to kill people for a living!"
"I told you I left that life behind."
"When? How long ago?"
Gabriel ran his hands through his hair, looking more disheveled than I'd ever seen him. "Five years. I've been out for five years."
"Five years," I repeated. "And you just decided to become a literature professor?"
"It wasn't that simple."
"It never is with you!" I was pacing now, my sister watching us with wide, frightened eyes. "How does someone go from being a... a killer to teaching Victorian literature?"
"I had help. People who arranged a new identity, a new life."
"What people?"
"Government people. Federal agents who needed information I had."
I stopped pacing and stared at him. "You're a federal informant?"
"Was. The arrangement ended when I testified against my former associates."
"Your former associates," I said slowly. "The same people who just tried to kill us?"
"No. Different organization entirely." Gabriel's voice was calm, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. "The men tonight were freelancers. Criminals, but not connected to my past."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because if they were connected to my past, we'd already be dead."
The casual way he said it made my blood run cold.
"I can't do this," I said, grabbing Elise's hand. "I can't be part of this world."
"You're not part of it. You're separate from it."
"Am I? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like I'm right in the middle of it."
Gabriel's face fell, and for a moment, he looked genuinely hurt. "If that's how you feel, then I won't stop you from leaving."
"Good." I helped Elise to her feet. "Because we're going."
"Ava, please," Elise whispered. "I'm so tired. Can't we just rest for a little while?"
"We'll rest when we're safe," I told her, though I wasn't sure anywhere was safe anymore.
Gabriel nodded once, his expression resigned. "I understand."
I was almost to the door when one of Gabriel's men appeared in the doorway. He was holding a manila envelope, and he looked at Gabriel questioningly.
Gabriel made a subtle gesture, and the man stepped forward, holding the envelope out to me.
"What is this?" I asked, not taking it.
"Your money," Gabriel said quietly. "The sixty-two thousand you gave to those men. My people retrieved it."
I stared at the envelope. "From the warehouse?"
"Yes."
With shaking hands, I took the envelope and looked inside. Stacks of hundred-dollar bills, just like before. All of it, apparently.
I closed the envelope and looked at him. "Gabriel, I—"
"You don't have to say anything," he interrupted. "Just be safe."
I nodded and turned toward the door again, Elise leaning heavily on my arm.
"One more thing," Gabriel said.
I halted but didn't turn around.
"If you want to leave, I will let you go. But I can only do that if you leave far away from here, where no one can find you. Even if it's just for a few days."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean these men had connections. Partners who won't be happy about what happened tonight. You need to disappear for a while, until I can clean up the mess."
"How long?"
"A week. Maybe two."
I was about to ask him where he expected us to go when the front door opened behind us. I spun around, my heart racing, but it was just Sophie.
"Sophie?" I stared at my best friend in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," she said, pulling me into a tight hug. "I was so worried when you didn't come back."
"How did you find us?"
"Your professor called me. Told me you were safe and gave me this address."
I looked over Sophie's shoulder at Gabriel, but he was focused on some papers one of his men had handed him.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Sophie continued, then turned to include Elise in the hug. "Both of you."
"We were just leaving," I told her.
"Perfect timing then." Sophie grinned and dangled a set of keys in front of my face. "Because I have a surprise for you."
"What kind of surprise?"
"The kind that involves a beach house in the Outer Banks and a week of doing absolutely nothing but relaxing."
I blinked at her. "Sophie, I can't…”
She was practically bouncing with excitement. "It's all paid for. All-expenses-paid, one-week vacation for three. Food, accommodation, even spending money."
"Who paid for it?"
Sophie glanced toward Gabriel, who was still pointedly not looking at us. "Let's just say you have a very generous employer."
"Gabriel paid for a vacation?"
"He said you'd been through a lot and needed some time away to recover. He wasn't wrong."
I looked at the keys in Sophie's hand, then at the envelope of money in mine. I snapped my eyes back to where Gabriel had been standing just moments ago, ready to say something – thank you, maybe, or goodbye, or I don't know what.
But he was gone.