Becoming Mrs DeLuca novel Chapter 107

**Through Shadows We Painted Our Forever by Erynn Vel Coren**
**Chapter 107**

**ADRIAN**

Day five.

The calendar perched on my desk proclaimed it was Tuesday, yet the days had blended together into an indistinguishable mass of time. Each hour felt like an eternity, stretching on endlessly, as if the universe itself conspired to keep me in this limbo.

I hadn’t changed my clothes since Saturday. The fabric clung to me, a reminder of my neglect, while my face bore the marks of my self-imposed exile—stubble shadowing my jaw, and my cheeks hollowed out, betraying the chaos within. My eyes, bloodshot and sunken, reflected a man consumed by rage and adrenaline, a man who had forgotten the taste of anything other than bitter coffee.

Upstairs, Valentina lay asleep at last, her body finally surrendering to the embrace of slumber after two doses of melatonin and three hours of my futile attempts to soothe her. I had held her tightly, feeling her tears soak through my shirt until her sobs dwindled into silence. Sofia, our little angel, was curled against her mother like a kitten, her thumb nestled in her mouth—a habit she had long outgrown since she was two.

The house around me lay in an eerie silence, so profound that I could hear the refrigerator humming two rooms away, its mundane noise mocking me with the normalcy I desperately craved.

I sat in my office, shrouded in darkness, the only light emanating from my phone, its glow a fragile barrier against the encroaching shadows. Damien’s last text lingered on the screen, taunting me with its simplicity.

[Still nothing. I’m sorry, boss.]

I had read those words so many times that they had lost their meaning, becoming just a jumble of letters. Our last lead had been a dead end, just like all the others that had come before it.

Then, a new text arrived, and my heart sank when I saw it was from Marco. But as I swiped to open it, time seemed to freeze, the weight of anticipation heavy in the air.

[I know where he is. He’s in a cabin off in the woods. It’s a small cabin that Rico recently bought. I’m ten minutes out. -M]

My fingers reacted instinctively, racing ahead of my thoughts.

[You wait for me. – A]

I was already in motion, shrugging on my jacket, keys in hand, guns checked and loaded. I flew down the stairs, taking them two at a time, my heart pounding as I paused outside the bedroom door. Valentina lay on her side, one hand protectively cradling her belly, the other wrapped around Sofia. The moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating her face, revealing the tear tracks that were still drying on her cheeks.

I pressed my palm against the doorframe, committing the sight of them to memory—two beautiful souls sleeping peacefully—before I gently closed the door behind me. My fingers moved quickly as I sent Damien a brief message, the urgency of our situation propelling me forward. We might have found Stefan.

The drive felt surreal, like I was trapped in a fever dream. I sped through red lights and ignored stop signs, reckless in my desperation. My phone buzzed incessantly with Damien’s messages, demanding to know where I was headed. Valentina’s name flashed across the screen twice before I silenced it; I couldn’t bear to hear her voice right now. If I did, I would shatter.

Forty-three minutes later, I veered off the main road, my tires kicking up gravel as I barreled down a narrow service road that led into the heart of the forest. The trees loomed around me, closing in like walls, until my headlights caught sight of Marco’s black sedan, partially concealed under a stand of pines.

He leaned against the hood, drenched to the bone, hair plastered to his forehead, a gun dangling loosely in his hand.

“You’re late,” he remarked, a hint of reproach in his voice.

“How many men are there?” I asked, urgency tightening my chest.

“Two. One’s on the porch, the other is walking the perimeter. There might be a third inside, but I can’t be sure. Stefan’s in the back bedroom, locked from the outside. I saw him through the window.”

A flicker of relief washed over me, sharp and painful, like a blade between my ribs. I gripped Marco’s shoulder in silent gratitude, my mind racing as I formulated a plan. “How did you find this place? It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

“I overheard Rico making some calls. Come on, we have to move now.”

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