His voice softened, “How do you plan to leave New York without him noticing? You know him, Chloe. Drake is territorial. Possessive. He’d know the moment you stepped a foot outside the glass house gates.”
I swallowed hard. “Then… I’ll make sure he only gets my corpse.” The words felt hollow, but at least they burned with the truth. If he could let Chiara pretend to be me, then I could vanish from his life entirely.
And then it happened. Warm, large hands wrapped around my waist, pressing me tight against someone. My breath caught.
“Wife,” Drake’s voice trembled as he buried his head in my shoulder. “Thank God! Thank God you’re alive. If anything had happened to you… I wouldn’t even want to live. I… I can’t—”
I froze, my mind screaming at me to push him off, to run, but I couldn’t.
“Luna, the fire. Are you okay?” Kieran’s voice cut in, tense and urgent. “Alpha went in after you. You couldn’t see, and he insisted on risking himself. That chandelier—if it fell, it would have—”
“Kieran, stop!” Drake growled, a low rumble that made my chest ache. “She’s safe. That’s all that matters. I don’t care about the chandelier, I don’t care about anything else.”
I could feel the weight of him on me, and the smoke stung his eyes, his skin smelled like ash, his clothes were torn, burned in places. I gasped, my heart pounding, and I hated him for it. I hated that he’d risk his life for me when he’d let Chiara live in my place.
And then I saw her. Chiara. She stepped out from the smoke, pristine in white, pulling her suitcase, elegant and deliberate. My stomach twisted.
“Alpha Thornhill,” she said softly. Her voice calm, almost mocking.
Drake stiffened, then let go of me reluctantly. He smoothed his hair and turned to her. “Honey… a business partner’s here. Just um, wait a second.”
He stepped toward her, took her hands in his, and signed with careful, deliberate motions. “Chiara, why did you come alone? Didn’t I say I’d come tonight to stay with you and the pups? I wanted to be here with you, to make sure you were safe.”
Chiara’s hands moved in response, her sign language precise, full of tension. “I missed you, Drake. I wanted to come and make things right… to atone for what I’ve done to Chloe. I… I know I’ve wronged her, and I wanted to help her.”