IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE END! This chapter begins the third, and final volume of SECRETLY LOVED BY THE DANGEROUS CEO. Thank you so much for sticking with me this far! Come celebrate with me in the comments! (And strap in, the roller coaster is taking off NOW!)

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Dane

They both froze.

Dane's ears hummed with the echo of the gun. He couldn't think for a minute, except to scream to himself, IS HE DEAD? But he couldn't make any sound.

Chris, breathing heavily, kept the gun trained as he side-stepped around the desk, then after a few seconds, dropped to kneel. "Yep," he said breathlessly, "right through the forehead." There was a pause and an audible swallow, then, "No pulse."

Dane blew out a shuddering breath. His hands were trembling. He'd lowered the gun, but kept his finger on the trigger, which he knew was a bad idea when he was this shaky. "What the fuck, Chris. I was about to do it," he said hoarsely.

"It was always going to be better if it was me," Chris said, his voice shaky. He stood up and backed away, his hands still cupped to hold the gun securely as he'd been trained. "You'd care too much."

Dane made himself walk around to see his father's body, twisted awkwardly on the floor, a pool of blood spreading slowly from beneath him. Dane ran a shaky hand through his hair and shook his head. "It was my job."

"I couldn't wait any longer, you were hesitating. He was going to figure it out."

Dane's rage surged again. "Don't talk to me about fucking hesitating. Where have you been?"

"I couldn't get him to call me in. If I'd shown up for anything less than a crisis without him telling me to, he would have been suspicious and he would have brought too many people."

Dane stared at his brother and it was as if two sides of him went to war.

His brother that he'd loved and protected since they were kids.

His brother who ran off half-cocked and did reckless things, then laughed about them.

His brother who had, apparently, gone further than they'd agreed. When Dane allowed him to look into a contact from Doug, against Dane's orders, Chris had gone ahead and played the double-agent.

"I told you never to let him in your head," he snarled through his teeth. "I told you not to do this. Do you have any idea how much that messed with my head when he said he owned you? I had no clue whether you were coming or not."

"Thanks for the trust, brother," Chris muttered. "There was no choice. Besides, if I hadn't, where would Lila be now? I was positioned perfectly."

"On a knife-edge," Dane growled. Then he blew out a breath. Lila. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is she…?"

"She's torn up, Dane. She didn't deserve that."

"I didn't have a choice."

Chris snorted. "Fucking victim Dane, of course you had a choice. You just weren't willing to die for it."

"Oh, and you would have been?"

Chris snapped his head around and stared at him, his blue eyes piercing. "If I had a woman like that? Yes, I would have. What if something had happened to you and that was the last thing she ever saw from you, did you think of that?"

"I had to play it straight. It was all or nothing."

Chris stood and walked over to put a finger to his chest. "And I told you not to do that. I told you not to let yourself go there—you knew this is what would happen if you did."

"It was the only way to keep her safe."

"I was with her the whole time! He would have called me if he wanted to take her out!"

"We couldn't be sure of that! And I wasn't sure of you, Chris! You didn't tell me! What was I supposed to think?"

"You were supposed to remember everything and think it through and stop fucking panicking like a pussy every time your father shows his face!" Chris swallowed and looked down at the floor behind him. "I guess I should say, showed his face. Holy shit, Dane."

"He's not coming back."

They stared at each other, a strange mix of joy and terror on both their faces.

"We did it," Chris whispered.

Dane blinked. "You did it. Are you okay?"

"No, but I'm also better than… yes?"

Dane made himself breathe. Made himself brace. "And… Lila?"

"She's fucking spitting mad. I had to lock her in the Penthouse bathroom because she didn't believe me. She fought me," he said, indicating the scratches. Dane's chest burned. "Why did she have to fight like that, Chris?"

"Because I was trying to get her to calm down and listen—she went for the phone, and she would have gone for the team outside! I needed to get out of there. But don't worry, she's fine. You need to get her out of there before she finds a way to raise the alarm. She won't believe anyone but you."

"She might not believe me, at this point."

Chris's jaw went hard. "Fucking asshole."

"Like it's anything to do with you."

Chris strode up to him and put himself in Dane's face. "You're my brother, and I love you, and I think I just proved that. So you keep that in mind when I say this: I have zero respect for you and the choices you made this week. Zero. And I'm going to leave it up to Lila to decide if she forgives you or not, but… fuck, Dane. I mean… fuck."

Dane ran a trembling hand through his hair and blew out a breath. "You don't have to respect me, you just need to wait until you live it, then you can decide if there was another choice. Right now, we need to get out of here. What's the exit strategy?"

"I'm taking you out at gunpoint. But I'm guessing we won't see anyone. He's got everyone—"

They both jumped and whirled, pulling their guns up as the door into the hallway opened and Felix stepped in. When he saw them, he looked back out the door, then came in, closing it behind him, his eyes wide and brows up.

Dane trained his weapon on Felix's chest.

Felix put his hands up and stepped away from the door so they could see him. "Don't worry, boys. I'm… kind of hoping you just did my dirty work." He walked slowly along the wall, never stepping closer to them, until he could see behind the desk. Then he nodded and, with his arms still up, backed towards the door again.

"You guys need to get out of here," he said, beaming. "I'll clean up this mess."