Accidentally Yours (Merffy Kizzmet) novel Chapter 148

Chapter 148

Because they were all here. Bruised. Burned. Breathing.

And maybe—for the first time in years–Gino let himself think about after.

Not just the next hit. Not just the next move on the board. After.

His gaze flicked to Enzo. The bastard looked ten years older even unconscious. Shadows cut under his eyes, jaw slack, the lines of command worn thin. Gino had never seen him like this–stripped, wrecked, human. It scared him more than anything.

Nico twitched in his sleep, fingers flexing like he was dreaming of a fight. Poor bastard had been holding himself together with duct tape and spite since the blast. Mutant instincts, sure, but he was still flesh and blood. And blood only went so far.

Dom shifted, groaned low, head rolling on the back of the chair. That one carried guilt like a religion. He’d keep digging with his bare hands forever if Lola let him. And she wouldn’t. She’d slap him upside the head, tell him he smelled like shit, and remind him she chose this life same as they did.

Gino smirked faintly. Yeah, that sounded about right.

He looked at her then. Really looked.

Lola lay between them all, the axis their world tilted on, and he couldn’t remember what it felt like before she crashed into them. She was chaos and charm and sharp edges, the kind of woman who could set a room on fire just by walking into it. Enzo’s fiancée, sure, but she belonged to all of them now. Not in the way tabloids would twist it, but in the marrow–deep way family happened when blood was spilled together.

And Gino wasn’t sentimental–not really. But fuck if it didn’t hit him square in the chest.

He rubbed a hand down his face, exhaled through his nose, and whispered, “We all need a goddamn vacation.”

The words hung in the quiet, absurd and true all at once.

Yeah. After this shitstorm. After the Russians were ashes and the Bellandis pushed back. After Enzo stopped looking like a ghost and Dom stopped bleeding through his bandages and Nico stopped trying to be invincible. After Lola healed enough to throw herself into trouble again, because she would, because she always would.

After.

He pictured it–Italy. Not the business trips, not the blood–stained side of the old country. Something quieter. A villa with sun–baked walls and olive groves stretching wide. Enzo could breathe there, shoulders dropping for once. Nico could drink too much wine and argue about philosophy with locals until dawn. Dom could sleep without waking in a cold sweat. Lola could laugh in the open air, barefoot, spinning in the grass with her hair catching the light.

And him? Hell, he’d find some local girl with curves and a wicked smile, charm her into his bed, and forget about guns and blood for five damn minutes.

The thought almost made him laugh.

Almost.

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14:31 Wed, Oct 8

Chapter 148

He leaned his head back, eyes hall closing, but his mind wouldn’t shut off. Images flipped behind his eyelids rubble, blood, fire, the way Enzo screamed her name like it was the only word he knew. He scrubbed at his chest, trying to push it down, but it clung.

Christ. He needed that vacation. They all did.

The first hint of dawn lightened the blinds, pale gray seeping into the room. Machines kept humming, steady, proof they were still here. Gino let his eyes close for real this time, muscles sagging, body giving in.

Tomorrow–or later today–there’d be more to do. Russians still to burn, calls to make, enemies to put in the ground. But right now?

Right now they were all alive.

And that was enough.

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