I watched her face closely as a voice came through the static, rough and garbled."...city under lockdown… martial law... all units, report to secure zones immediately. Civilian curfew in effect."My heart sank.Martial law.Whoever was behind the attacks had succeeded in throwing the city into complete chaos.This was bigger than I’d feared.Aqsa’s eyes met mine, and I could see the same realization dawning on her."Martial law? They’re shutting everything down.""Means we’re running out of places to hide," I said grimly. "They’ll be looking for us everywhere."She swallowed, her face pale."Then what do we do? How do we get out of the city if they’re locking it down?"I thought for a moment, the pain in my shoulder a dull roar in the background."We don’t. We lay low at the safehouse. Let this blow over."Aqsa frowned, her voice low and anxious."And what if it doesn’t blow over? What if this is just the beginning?"I didn’t have an answer.I could only hope that whoever was pulling

Magbasa pa

"We don’t have a choice," Kareem said, his voice calm but firm. "If we move now, we’re dead."I stopped, turning to face him."So what? We just hide here forever? You said it yourself, this is bigger than we thought. It’s not going to end unless we make it end."He didn’t respond right away, and for a moment, I saw the weariness in him.The cracks in his armor.But then he stood, crossing the room until he was standing right in front of me."We’ll figure this out," he said softly, his eyes locking onto mine. "I promise you."His closeness was overwhelming, the tension between us unbearable.I wanted to trust him.I wanted to believe that he had all the answers.But the truth was, we were both in way over our heads.And I wasn’t sure either of us would make it out alive.28KAREEMThe hours dragged on as we waited in the safehouse, the silence only broken by the occasional crackle of the radio or the distant sounds of the city’s unrest.Martial law had locked down everything.We couldn

Magbasa pa

The danger, the fear, the uncertainty of everything—it all faded into the background, leaving only the heat that had been building between us since the beginning."I don’t like waiting," she whispered, her voice softer now.I leaned closer, my voice barely above a murmur."Neither do I."For a second, everything hung in the balance.The distance between us vanished, and before I could stop myself, I was pulling her closer, my lips finding hers in a kiss that was as desperate as it was inevitable.She kissed me back, fierce and hungry, her hands gripping my shirt as if she needed something—anything—to hold onto.The fire that had been simmering between us exploded, and in that moment, the rest of the world didn’t matter.Not the city, not the danger, not the enemies circling closer.It was just us, and the raw, undeniable connection we couldn’t ignore.29AQSAHis kiss was everything I’d been trying to suppress, everything I didn’t want to admit I needed.Kareem’s hands gripped my wais

Magbasa pa

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Devil's Inferno: A Dark Romantic Conspiracy Thriller: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 23

21

22

23