Page 44 of Hooked On Victor
“He could’ve. That day at the clinic—he looked right at you. If he’d wanted to, he could’ve taken everything from me in seconds. But he left us untouched. And this…” He held the flash drive up between two fingers, letting it catch the pale lamplight. “This is a warning. A gift. Both.”
Her eyes softened.
“He’s blood,” she murmured.
Victor’s throat worked visibly.
“Another forgotten cousin,” he said, voice cracking. “Just like me.”
Silence pressed in around them.
The wind picked up outside, rattling the loose shutter with renewed fury.
Rose didn’t let him slip back into that silence.
She reached for his free hand, fingers weaving between his like she’d always known how they fit.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
He finally looked at her.
Really looked.
Like she was the only thing in the room.
The only thing left in the world that feltreal.
His jaw worked once, twice.
Then his shoulders straightened.
“We go to Europe,” he said quietly. Firmly.
He turned the flash drive in his fingers again before setting it down carefully on the letter and map.
“We find the vault. And we end this.”
Rose’s breath hitched.
She leaned closer until their foreheads touched.
“Together,” she whispered.
Victor exhaled.
A shudder rolled through his body.
“Always,” he said.
Then he kissed her.
Slow.
Sure.
No hunger this time. No desperation.
Just promise.
