Lukas's POV
I looked at her.
She was practically glowing.
Jumping around like a kid who just got handed the keys to a candy shop. Smiling so hard I thought her cheeks might fall off. I had barely stepped foot in the mansion, and she was already dragging me from one corner to another like I was a long-lost treasure.
And all this… just because I got discharged?
I mean—sure, I almost died. There was blood. Screaming. A rooftop. A psycho. But still.This level of happiness? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She looked at me like I had brought the sun with me. Like her entire world started spinning again the second I stepped into the house.
And me?
I was just trying not to limp like a dying grandpa in front of her.
I dropped down on the living room couch, groaning dramatically, "Note to self: bullets are not your friend."
She giggled. Freaking giggled. And then threw a cushion at me like this was a rom-com and not my recovery arc from hell.
"Stop being dramatic," she said, plopping down beside me with stars in her eyes.
I stared at her. Really stared.
She looked peaceful.
Not the cold, composed 'princess of steel' the world bowed to—but my girl, the one who'd yelled at me in the hospital, cried for me, kissed me like I was her air, and then refused to leave my side.
And I realized something.
I'd do it all over again—the kneeling, the bleeding, the rooftop, the panic—just to see her like this.
She looked at me, smile softening. "You okay?"
I smirked. "You look happier than me. I'm starting to feel jealous."
She shoved my shoulder lightly. "You almost died, dumbass."
"And now I'm alive. With limited walking capacity and a girlfriend who hits injured people. Amazing recovery plan."
She rolled her eyes, but her smile didn't fade.
"Adeline," I said, voice lower this time.
She turned to me, eyes locking with mine.
"Thank you. For being there. For saving me. For loving me even when I was being… me."
She blinked, a little taken aback. Then slowly leaned forward, pressing her forehead against mine.
"You've always been mine, Lukas," she whispered.
And in that moment, the pain, the chaos, the blood—none of it mattered.
Because the girl I'd protected like a job…
Now protected me like a heart.
I looked at her.
Smiling. Laughing. Jumping around the mansion like it was Christmas morning.
And me? I just sat there, quietly watching. Feeling… weird. Soft. Vulnerable.
I wasn't used to all this.
Not after my parents' death.Not after the chaos that came crashing down like a storm that never ended.
After they died, it was just… survival. Guns, power, walls—physical and emotional.I didn't celebrate things like this. I didn't have someone waiting for me with that kind of light in their eyes.
But there she was. Adeline.
Lighting up the entire damn mansion like she was the sun and I was just learning how to feel warmth again.
I shifted uncomfortably on the couch, watching her bounce toward me with her usual sass, eyes dancing. She was talking about food or flowers or God knows what, but I barely heard a word.
Because all I could think was—
"I don't deserve this. But I want to fight like hell to keep it."
She suddenly turned to me and froze. "What?"
I must've been staring too long. I blinked. "Nothing."
"No, you're doing that face again," she said, crossing her arms.
"What face?"
"The I'm-feeling-things-and-it-scares-me face," she mocked, mimicking my brooding expression.
I scoffed, half amused, half exposed. "You're annoying."
"And you love me."
Unfortunately, I did. Completely. And it terrified the hell out of me.
I leaned back on the couch, groaning. "Why are you so happy I'm back anyway?"
She looked at me like I was the dumbest man alive. "Because you're alive, Lukas. You came back to me. Not just as my bodyguard, not as the mafia's nightmare—but you. The man I love."
And just like that, the heaviness I'd been carrying cracked a little.
Because no one had said that to me in years—not since my parents. Not like this. Not with so much warmth that it burned through the cold.
So I just nodded, letting the silence wrap around us. Letting myself feel it.
The chaos outside could wait.Because for the first time in a long time…
I felt like I was home.
Just as I was settling into that rare peace, the mansion's door swung open.
Her friends barged in like a tornado dressed in high heels and glitter, squealing louder than an ambulance siren. I flinched.
"LUKAS!! You're alive!!"
"Don't scare us like that again, man!"
One of them hugged me before I could dodge, while another handed me flowers—actual flowers. I sat there, blinking like a stunned puppy.
Adeline stood in the corner, watching all of it with a grin so wide, you'd think I just won a Nobel Prize for breathing.
"Everyone wanted to see you!" she said, beaming.
I gave her a lazy smirk. "You really invited a whole cheer squad?"
She stuck her tongue out at me and turned back to her friends.
I leaned against the couch, eyes following her every move. My little doll. So full of light. So hopeful. So convinced that this was the worst injury I've ever had.
But she didn't know.
She didn't know about the stab wounds I had to stitch up myself in the back room of an abandoned warehouse.
She didn't know about the time I bled for hours in a snowstorm, thinking I wouldn't make it through the night.
She didn't know that the pain I'd gotten used to wasn't the kind that bruised your skin—but the kind that left you hollow.
She thought this was the first time I'd been this hurt.
Sweet girl. This wasn't even close.
But what she didn't realize… was this was the first time I ever wanted to survive this bad.Because this time, someone was waiting for me.
And not just anyone.
Her.
As the living room buzzed with laughter, I caught the way Selena nudged Iris, whispering something before they both looked straight at Adeline and burst into giggles.
Aurelia raised a brow. "Sooo, Princess," she dragged the word, "you finally confessed, huh?"
Adeline's face turned red faster than a stoplight.
Ariella gasped dramatically. "Wait—don't tell me this entire hospital arc was your version of a romantic gesture! Because if it is, girl… overachieving much?"
"I did not!" Adeline squeaked, hiding her face behind a throw pillow.
"She totally did," Selena chimed in, sipping her iced latte like she was sipping drama.
I chuckled quietly, arms crossed as I watched her squirm like a caught kitten.
"She was practically living in that hospital chair," Iris added, "like, one centimeter more and she'd have grown roots there."
"She didn't even let us bring her food," Aurelia smirked. "All she said was 'I don't want to leave him' in this soft tragic love heroine voice."
Adeline threw a cushion at them. "I hate all of you!"
"No, you love one of us," Ariella winked, pointing at me. "Quite literally."
She groaned and looked at me. "Lukas, say something!"
I raised an eyebrow. "What? I'm just enjoying the view." I leaned forward slightly, smirking. "Didn't know my little doll gets this red."
That earned another round of teasing from her friends while she looked like she wanted the couch to swallow her whole.
But then… she smiled. That soft, warm kind that made me feel like maybe—just maybe—home wasn't a place.
It was her.