Rivals Redemption

chapter 11 : Fighting for us

Tina Diaz

The adrenaline from our escape was still buzzing through my veins as we ducked into a side street, the roar of the protest slowly fading behind us. Rowan and I slowed our pace, trying to catch our breath, but the intensity of everything that had just happened still clung to the air between us. The weight of the moment hadn’t left. If anything, it felt heavier, like the truth was finally about to surface.

I glanced over at Rowan. His face was a mix of determination and relief, but there was something more—something harder to place. His dark hair was tousled from the chase, and a sheen of sweat glistened on his brow, but his eyes were what held me in place. They were focused, sharp, but behind that resolve, I could see the burden he carried. The accusations against his father, the lies we’d been running from—they all hung over us like a shadow.

“That was close,” Rowan said, still holding onto my hand like letting go would unravel everything.

“Too close,” I agreed, though despite the tension, I felt a small smile tug at the corners of my lips. I wasn’t sure if it was from the thrill of success or the way Rowan’s hand stayed wrapped around mine, grounding me, like I was his anchor in this storm.

We ducked into an alleyway, leaning against the cool brick wall. For a moment, it was just the two of us. The flash drive, still warm from the server room, sat snugly in Rowan’s jacket pocket—the key to taking down Reginald, or so we thought.

“What now?” Rowan asked, his voice quieter now that the immediate danger had passed, though the weight of everything still hung between us.

“We meet with the others,” I replied, my breath still shaky, but my thoughts clearer. “Aiden’s already at the safe house. Once we get this to him, it’s only a matter of time before it all comes out.”

Rowan nodded, but he wasn’t as relieved as I expected. His brow furrowed, and he looked at me with a kind of hesitation that didn’t fit the usual confidence I saw in him. There was something more troubling him, something beyond the evidence we had just secured.

“Tina,” he began, his voice softer now, as if the world had gone quiet around us. “Back there, when the alarms went off…”

“I wasn’t going to leave without you,” I interrupted, knowing where this conversation was going. I had seen it in his eyes back in the server room, the same fear that had been gnawing at me. “You know that, right?”

Rowan’s expression shifted. There was gratitude there, but also something deeper. Something raw. His hand tightened around mine, as if he needed the contact, the reassurance. “I do. But it’s not just that. It’s… everything. You and me, what we’ve been through. What we *are*.”

His words hung in the air, and I felt something in my chest tighten. This wasn’t just about the mission, wasn’t just about the rebellion. Rowan was talking about us. The quiet moments in between the chaos. The touches, the glances, the unspoken feelings that had been growing between us, buried under the weight of our fight.

“We’re not just fighting for the cause anymore,” Rowan said, his voice barely above a whisper. “We’re fighting for us. And I need you to know… I’m all in. Whatever happens, whatever comes next, I’m not going to lose you.”

His words hit me like a wave, crashing through the walls I had carefully built around myself. I had spent so long focused on taking down Reginald and protecting Rowan that I hadn’t let myself truly feel what had been building between us. But now, standing in that alley, with Rowan’s hand in mine, there was no running from it anymore.

I reached up, cupping his face in my hand, my thumb brushing lightly against his cheek. “Rowan, I’m all in too. You don’t have to worry about losing me because I’m not going anywhere.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, the tension between us broke. He leaned in, his lips brushing mine in a slow, deliberate kiss—one that wasn’t fueled by the heat of adrenaline, but by something deeper. It was a promise. A vow that whatever came next, we were in this together.

When we finally pulled apart, the world around us seemed quieter, more focused. We had more than just the evidence now. We had each other.

But reality crept back in as Rowan’s hand lingered on mine. “We should get moving,” he said, though his voice was still soft, like he didn’t want to shatter the moment. “We need to get this to Aiden.”

“Right,” I nodded, shaking off the emotion that had settled over me. But even as we began moving again, the weight of what we had just shared stayed with me, lingering in the space between us.

As we reached the edge of the alley, the distant rumble of security forces grew louder. Reginald’s grip on the city was tightening, and things were going to get worse before they got better. But something else gnawed at me. Something we hadn’t yet uncovered.

Rowan and I thought we had what we needed to take down Reginald, but after everything we’d been through—after all the pieces we had put together—something didn’t add up. The emails, the reports, the accusations against Reginald… they felt *off*, like they had been planted. And if they were, that meant someone else was behind this. Someone who had been feeding lies into the system to ruin Reginald’s company.

As we approached the safe house, it hit me. Reginald and Victor’s mutual friend. Kevin Jonas. He had been there from the start, whispering in Victor’s ear, slowly feeding information that had poisoned their relationship and turned them against each other. And now, he was doing the same thing to Reginald. But why?

Rowan hadn’t realized it yet, but I had a sinking feeling that Kevin was behind everything. He was playing a dangerous game, hiding in the shadows while he pulled the strings, letting Reginald take the fall.

When we reached the safe house, Aiden was already waiting at the door, tapping away on his laptop. Lemi and Grace were inside, going over the next steps. Aiden’s eyes lit up when he saw us, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t over.

“Did you get the files?” Aiden asked, his usual no-nonsense tone cutting through my thoughts.

Rowan handed him the flash drive. “Got everything we need.”

But as I looked at our team, at our friends who had been fighting alongside us for so long, I couldn’t help but think that this fight was far from finished. We had the evidence, but Kevin Jonas was still out there, lurking in the shadows. And until we exposed him, this battle wasn’t over.

Whatever came next, though, I knew one thing for sure. Rowan and I would face it together.