- 5 days ago
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😹
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00:00I used to believe life only fell apart in pieces, quietly, like paper tearing.
00:05But the night I met Silas Vale, mine didn't fall apart.
00:08It was ripped clean in half.
00:11I was driving through the industrial side of Ridgeport when the engine coughed and died.
00:16Like it had finally decided to give up just like me.
00:18Rain slid down the windshield in crooked streaks,
00:21and my reflection looked like a ghost trapped behind the glass.
00:25My hands were shaking, but that wasn't new.
00:27When you owe money to people who know your home address,
00:29your hands stay that way,
00:31trembling like they're trying to escape your own body.
00:35The headlights flickered once, then went black.
00:38Perfect. I hit the steering wheel.
00:41Come on, not now, I muttered.
00:42The sound of rain and my heartbeat were the only things keeping me company.
00:46My phone was dead, too, because of course it was.
00:49The street was empty except for the pale neon of a liquor store sign
00:53and the hum of something broken in the distance.
00:56Maybe a power line. Maybe me.
00:59I sat there, listening to the rain, replaying every mistake that led me here.
01:04Dad's gambling debts.
01:05The loan sharks.
01:06The stupid promise I made to keep us afloat.
01:09I didn't even notice the car pull up until the lights cut across my face.
01:13Bright.
01:14Sharp.
01:14Deliberate.
01:15My breath caught.
01:18Blacksodon.
01:19Tinted windows.
01:20The kind of quiet that meant danger.
01:23Then the passenger door opened and two men stepped out.
01:27One tall, lean, wearing a jacket that looked too clean for this street.
01:31The other had a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
01:34Raina Holt?
01:35The smiling one asked, like we were meeting for a job interview.
01:38My voice broke somewhere between yes and please don't.
01:42Who's asking?
01:44He smirked.
01:45The people you owe.
01:46You missed your deadline.
01:48They grabbed my arm before I could even think.
01:50The wet pavement burned my knees as they dragged me out of the car.
01:54My palms scraped against concrete.
01:56One of them smelled like cheap vodka and cologne.
01:59The scent of someone who thought cruelty was a personality trait.
02:02I kicked.
02:03But he just laughed.
02:05You got spirit.
02:07That's cute.
02:08The other one pressed a gun to my side.
02:10She's got one more payment left in her.
02:12Boss'll figure out what to do with her.
02:15My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a fist.
02:18I was screaming inside.
02:19But outside I stayed quiet.
02:21Fear does that.
02:23It eats sound.
02:23They shoved me into the backseat of their car.
02:26The windows fogged with my breath.
02:28I stared at the blurred shapes outside.
02:31The world still moving while mine stopped.
02:33I remember thinking, this is it.
02:36The kind of thought that settles in your bones.
02:39The drive was long, dark, silent.
02:41Every streetlight that flashed past felt like a countdown.
02:45I tried to memorize turns, signs, anything.
02:47But panic makes time bend.
02:49When we finally stopped.
02:51It was behind some abandoned warehouse near the docks.
02:54The kind of place where no one asks questions.
02:57Even if they hear a gunshot.
02:59One of them yanked me out.
03:01Rain pelting my face like shards of glass.
03:04My knees hit the ground again.
03:07The taller man leaned close.
03:08Voice low.
03:10You should have paid up, sweetheart.
03:12He reached for his gun.
03:14Then, everything changed.
03:17Three quick shots cracked through the air.
03:19One, two, three.
03:21Clean, efficient.
03:22The man beside me collapsed.
03:23His head snapping back.
03:25The other spun, aiming blindly.
03:27But a fourth shot caught him before he could fire.
03:30Silence swallowed the night.
03:32Only the rain kept talking.
03:33I didn't scream.
03:35Couldn't.
03:36I just stared as both men crumpled beside me.
03:39Steam rising from their bodies in the cold.
03:42Footsteps approached.
03:44Steady.
03:45Unhurried.
03:46Whoever it was didn't run.
03:48A man stepped into the light.
03:49Dark coat.
03:50Gloves.
03:51Cold eyes that didn't belong to this world.
03:53He wasn't police.
03:55He wasn't a savior.
03:56He was something in between.
03:58He looked at me.
04:00Really looked.
04:01And it felt like being scanned.
04:03Measured.
04:04Stripped bare.
04:06Get up.
04:07He said.
04:08Voice low.
04:09Smooth.
04:09Dangerous.
04:11I tried, but my legs wouldn't listen.
04:13My hands were slick with rain and blood.
04:15I didn't even know whose.
04:18He crouched.
04:20One knee sinking into the mud.
04:22And tilted my chin up with his gloved hand.
04:25Uranaholt?
04:26My lips trembled.
04:27Who are you?
04:29Someone who just killed the men sent to sell you.
04:31I flinched.
04:32Why?
04:33His eyes softened for half a breath.
04:36Like he was remembering something.
04:38Then they hardened again.
04:39Because they worked for someone I don't tolerate.
04:41Then what do you want from me?
04:44He stood.
04:46Towering over me.
04:47Rain dripping off the edge of his jaw.
04:49You owe money.
04:50My chest tightened.
04:52I can pay.
04:53He cut me off.
04:54Not anymore.
04:55They're dead.
04:56That debt's cleared.
04:57I stared at him.
04:58Then why are you here?
04:59A ghost of a smile flickered across his mouth.
05:02Not kind.
05:03Not cruel.
05:04Just inevitable.
05:06Because now you owe me.
05:07My stomach dropped.
05:09What does that mean?
05:10He looked over his shoulder.
05:12Scanning the street like he was expecting company.
05:15It means you don't go back to whatever miserable life they found you in.
05:19It means you come with me.
05:20I wanted to argue.
05:22To run.
05:22But something about the way he said,
05:25Come with me,
05:26sounded less like an order
05:27and more like a rescue wrapped in threat.
05:31He took off his coat and draped it over my shoulders before I could stop him.
05:35It was warm, heavy, smelling faintly of gunpowder and cedar.
05:39What's your name?
05:40I asked.
05:41Voice shaking.
05:42Silas Vale.
05:44Even his name felt final.
05:46He turned toward the car.
05:47You have ten seconds before I leave you here with their bodies.
05:51Something inside me snapped.
05:53The part that used to believe I could survive alone.
05:56I followed him.
05:58The car door slammed,
06:00trapping me in silence again.
06:02But this time it was different.
06:03He drove like he didn't fear death.
06:06And I sat there,
06:07soaked and trembling,
06:09wondering what kind of man kills for a stranger,
06:11then tells her she's his problem now.
06:14After a while,
06:15I found my voice.
06:17Why did you really help me?
06:19His hands tightened on the wheel.
06:21Because they were mine to kill,
06:23not theirs.
06:25The rain outside blurred the world into streaks of gray.
06:27I couldn't tell if he was a monster or a miracle.
06:30Maybe both.
06:31Where are you taking me?
06:33I whispered.
06:34He didn't look at me.
06:35Somewhere safe.
06:36For now.
06:37For now.
06:38He glanced sideways,
06:39and the corner of his mouth curved.
06:41The kind of smile that hides things.
06:44Until I decide what to do with you.
06:46I pressed my back against the seat,
06:49heart pounding.
06:50I don't belong to you.
06:52He didn't answer for a long time.
06:55The city lights flickered across his face
06:56like ghosts passing through glass.
06:59Then softly,
07:00almost tenderly,
07:01he said,
07:02You do now.
07:04And the car kept driving into the dark.
07:10You ever notice how exhaustion can feel like a second skin?
07:13Not just tired.
07:15The kind of worn out where your bones remember
07:17every mistake you've ever made.
07:19That's how it was.
07:20Sitting in Silas Vale's car,
07:22drenched in rain and debt that no longer existed
07:25because the men who owned it were dead.
07:27It didn't feel like freedom.
07:29It felt like a trick.
07:31He didn't speak for a long time.
07:33The hum of the engine filled the silence between us,
07:35steady and relentless.
07:37His profile was carved in light from the dashboard.
07:40Sharp, motionless, unreadable.
07:42I caught myself staring.
07:44Not because he was beautiful,
07:46though he was,
07:47but because he radiated the kind of stillness
07:49that only comes from surviving too much.
07:52I used to think people like him only existed in rumors.
07:56Turns out, rumors have a pulse.
07:59When we stopped, I didn't realize it at first.
08:02The city noise vanished,
08:03replaced by the low murmur of waves.
08:06I looked up.
08:07The docks again,
08:08but a different side.
08:09Cleaner.
08:10Quiet.
08:11Expensive.
08:12Silas stepped out first.
08:14Get out, he said,
08:16not unkindly,
08:18but with a tone that didn't invite refusal.
08:20I followed him,
08:22my sneakers squelching against the wet pavement.
08:25Ahead was a black steel gate,
08:27guarded by a man who looked like he'd been carved from bad decisions.
08:30Silas didn't even slow down.
08:32The guard nodded once and pressed a button.
08:35The gate opened without a sound.
08:37Inside was another world.
08:39A private drive curled up toward a glass-and-stone mansion,
08:43its light soft and deliberate.
08:45The rain caught the glow,
08:47making the whole place shimmer like it was pretending to be safe.
08:50You live here?
08:51I asked before I could stop myself.
08:54He gave a small shrug.
08:56Among other places.
08:58I wanted to ask how many places someone like him needed,
09:00but something told me not to.
09:03When we stepped inside,
09:04heat hit me like a wave.
09:06Everything gleamed.
09:08Marble floors,
09:09dark wood,
09:10silver fixtures.
09:11It smelled faintly of smoke and something expensive.
09:14A fireplace burned at the far end,
09:16though no one was near it.
09:18I stood there,
09:19dripping all over the immaculate floor.
09:21You really don't have to—
09:23he interrupted, voice flat.
09:25You can dry off upstairs.
09:27First door on the right.
09:28Bathroom stocked.
09:29I hesitated.
09:30Why are you doing this?
09:32He didn't look at me.
09:33You wouldn't believe the answer.
09:35I didn't move.
09:36Try me,
09:37his jaw flexed.
09:38Because when I see something broken,
09:40I don't walk away.
09:42That shut me up.
09:43I climbed the stairs,
09:44heart pounding.
09:46The bathroom was absurd.
09:48White marble,
09:49gold fixtures,
09:50towels softer than anything I'd ever owned.
09:52I stripped out of my wet clothes,
09:54wrapping one around myself,
09:56staring into the mirror.
09:58My reflection looked like a stranger.
10:01Hollow eyes,
10:02bruised lips,
10:03shoulders shaking.
10:05I whispered to her,
10:06What the hell are you doing?
10:08She didn't answer.
10:10The hot water felt like it was washing away more than rain.
10:13Guilt, fear,
10:14maybe pieces of my old self.
10:16When I stepped out,
10:17I borrowed one of the thick robes hanging by the door
10:20and padded back downstairs.
10:21Silas was sitting in an armchair near the fire,
10:25a glass of something dark in his hand.
10:28He didn't look up when he spoke.
10:30You should sleep.
10:31You're safe here.
10:32Safe.
10:33The word didn't fit him.
10:35It sounded wrong coming from a man who'd killed two people without flinching.
10:39Instead,
10:40I sat across from him,
10:41keeping the robe tight around me.
10:44I don't sleep well anymore.
10:46His eyes flicked up,
10:47sharp and searching.
10:49Nightmares?
10:49Debt collectors,
10:51I said,
10:52half smiling.
10:53But same thing.
10:54Something in his expression shifted.
10:56Not pity, exactly.
10:58Recognition.
11:00Tell me about them,
11:02he said.
11:03I laughed softly.
11:04You mean the men who almost sold me?
11:07No.
11:08He leaned forward,
11:09elbows on his knees.
11:10Tell me how you got to owe people like that.
11:13My throat tightened.
11:15I hadn't told anyone.
11:17Not even my brother.
11:17And he was the reason I owed in the first place.
11:21But something about Silas,
11:23the stillness,
11:24the authority,
11:25the unspoken danger,
11:27made lying impossible.
11:29My dad died owing fifty grand to a betting ring,
11:32I said quietly.
11:33They came after my brother,
11:34but he's seventeen.
11:36Still in school.
11:37I told them I'd pay it off in three months.
11:40Fifty grand in three months.
11:42His brow lifted.
11:43That's ambitious.
11:44I was desperate.
11:46He didn't laugh.
11:47He didn't even blink.
11:49And?
11:49I worked double shifts at the clinic.
11:52Sold my car.
11:53Took a second job waiting tables at night.
11:55Didn't matter.
11:56Every week they added interest.
11:57Every week I fell further behind.
12:00People like that don't expect payment,
12:02he said.
12:03They expect surrender,
12:04I looked up.
12:05And what do you expect?
12:07He smiled faintly,
12:08but it didn't reach his eyes.
12:09Control.
12:10A chill slid down my spine,
12:13though his voice stayed calm,
12:15almost philosophical.
12:17He stood,
12:18walked toward the window,
12:19and spoke without looking back.
12:21You want to know what I see
12:22when I look at you, Raina Holt?
12:24My breath caught.
12:26What?
12:27A woman who doesn't know how to ask for help,
12:29so she bleeds for everyone else instead.
12:32That one landed deep.
12:34Don't psychoanalyze me,
12:36I said softly.
12:37I'm not.
12:39He turned,
12:40eyes dark.
12:41I'm warning you.
12:42We stared at each other for a long moment.
12:45Something electric passed between us,
12:47sharp and wordless.
12:49He finally said,
12:50You can stay here until I figure out your situation.
12:54But you don't leave this house without me.
12:56I swallowed.
12:57Figure out what exactly?
12:59Whether you're a liability,
13:01he said,
13:02walking past me toward the stairs.
13:04Or something else.
13:06He left me there with the fire
13:08and too many thoughts.
13:10Later,
13:11I found a guest room,
13:13if you could call it that.
13:14It was larger than my old apartment,
13:16with cream sheets and a view of the sea.
13:18I lay awake for hours,
13:20replaying every word,
13:22every silence.
13:23Part of me wanted to hate him.
13:25The other part,
13:26the part that remembered the way he looked at me
13:28like I wasn't disposable,
13:30didn't know what to feel.
13:31In the dark,
13:33I whispered to the ceiling.
13:35I should be terrified.
13:37But instead,
13:38I felt something else creeping in.
13:40Curiosity.
13:42Days blurred after that.
13:44He was always half-present,
13:46working behind closed doors,
13:48phone calls and low voices,
13:50the smell of gunmetal following him like a shadow.
13:53Yet every time I passed him in the hall,
13:55his eyes lingered just long enough
13:57to make my stomach twist.
13:59Once,
14:00I caught him watching me read by the window.
14:03He didn't say a word,
14:04just stared like he was memorizing
14:06the way light hit my face.
14:08I should have looked away.
14:09I didn't.
14:10That night over dinner,
14:11I asked what he really did.
14:13He didn't lie.
14:14You already know.
14:16Mafia,
14:17I said quietly.
14:18He nodded.
14:19If you like labels,
14:21and you just...
14:22Killed those men for me.
14:23He swirled the wine in his glass.
14:25No,
14:26I killed them because they broke rules
14:27I don't forgive.
14:29You were collateral.
14:30That should have terrified me.
14:32But it didn't.
14:33Because beneath the violence,
14:34there was something else.
14:36A kind of loyalty that didn't make sense yet.
14:39After dinner,
14:40I couldn't sleep again.
14:42I went downstairs,
14:43barefoot,
14:44drawn to the sound of rain against the glass.
14:47He was there,
14:47standing by the window,
14:49phone in hand.
14:50When he noticed me,
14:51he put it away.
14:52Can't sleep?
14:53No.
14:54Nightmares?
14:54I hesitated.
14:56Memories.
14:57He nodded,
14:58like he understood too well.
14:59They don't fade,
15:00he said.
15:01You just learn to breathe around them.
15:04I stepped closer,
15:05the firelight flickering between us.
15:07And what about yours?
15:09His jaw tightened.
15:10Some ghosts deserve to stay.
15:13There it was again,
15:14that wall I couldn't see past.
15:17Before I could respond,
15:18a sound broke the moment.
15:20His phone buzzed once on the table.
15:22He glanced at the screen,
15:24and his whole body changed.
15:26Still,
15:27coiled,
15:28dangerous.
15:29He looked at me.
15:31Go upstairs.
15:33Lock your door.
15:34What's going on?
15:35Now, Raina,
15:36his tone left no room for argument.
15:38I turned,
15:39heart racing,
15:40running up the stairs.
15:42From the hallway,
15:44I heard the low murmur of his voice.
15:47Calm.
15:48Deadly.
15:49Then the front door opened,
15:52and the sound that followed wasn't thunder.
15:55It was gunfire.
16:00The sound of gunfire has a strange way of freezing time.
16:03It's not like in movies,
16:04where everything slows down.
16:06No,
16:07it sharpens.
16:08The air turns into glass,
16:09and you realize how fragile your heartbeat really is.
16:12I hit the floor before I even thought about it,
16:16crawling behind the bed.
16:18My pulse was in my ears,
16:20loud enough to drown the world.
16:21I wanted to scream his name,
16:23but my voice wouldn't come out.
16:24Fear has this way of choking you with silence.
16:26More shots.
16:27A door slammed somewhere below.
16:29Boots on marble.
16:30A shout.
16:31Then nothing.
16:32I pressed my hand against the floor,
16:35counting seconds,
16:36waiting for something.
16:37Anything.
16:39The house,
16:39once impossibly quiet,
16:41now felt haunted by sound.
16:43Then footsteps.
16:44Slow.
16:45Heavy.
16:47Coming up the stairs.
16:48I held my breath.
16:51My fingers brushed the edge of the nightstand.
16:53Cool metal.
16:55A letter opener.
16:56Pathetic weapon.
16:57But it felt like a lifeline.
17:00The footsteps stopped outside the door.
17:03Silence stretched so long it burned.
17:05Then a voice.
17:07Low.
17:07So, calm.
17:08Roughened with command.
17:10Raina.
17:11Relief hit so hard I almost sobbed.
17:14I unlocked the door with shaking hands.
17:17He stood there.
17:18Coat half undone.
17:19Blood streaked across his cheek like paint.
17:22His shirt was torn near the shoulder.
17:25His gun hung loose in one hand.
17:27You're bleeding.
17:29I whispered.
17:30It's not mine.
17:32He said,
17:33stepping past me into the room.
17:34I could still smell smoke on him.
17:37That strange mix of death and control.
17:40He turned.
17:41Shut the door quietly behind him.
17:42And looked at me like he was checking if I was still real.
17:46What happened?
17:47I asked.
17:48An old debt.
17:48He said.
17:49You?
17:50He met my eyes.
17:51Someone who thought killing me would make him rich.
17:54And now?
17:55He's dead.
17:57He said it the way people talk about brushing their teeth.
17:59Casual.
18:00Certain.
18:01But his hands trembled for a second when he reloaded his weapon.
18:05Just once.
18:06Then stillness again.
18:07I didn't know what made me move closer.
18:10Pity.
18:11Or something more dangerous.
18:13Silas.
18:14He cut me off softly.
18:16Don't.
18:17I just want to help.
18:19His eyes flicked toward me.
18:21And there was a quiet in them that scared me more than his violence ever could.
18:26No one helps me, Raina.
18:28You helped me.
18:29That stopped him.
18:30For the first time since I met him, he looked uncertain.
18:33Like I'd said something he didn't know how to live with.
18:36He exhaled.
18:37Slow.
18:38Controlled.
18:39That's different.
18:40How?
18:41He looked at me for a long time.
18:43Eyes tracing my face like he was memorizing a map he didn't want to forget.
18:47Because I didn't mean to.
18:49The words hung between us.
18:51Heavy and strange.
18:52When I reached out to touch his arm, he flinched.
18:56Not from pain.
18:57But something deeper.
18:59Then slowly he let me.
19:00There was blood on his sleeve.
19:02Tacky and dark.
19:03I didn't care whose it was.
19:05I just needed to make sure it wasn't his.
19:08You should clean this.
19:10I said.
19:11He watched me tear a strip from the edge of the sheet.
19:14My hands steady, even though my heart was breaking rules inside my chest.
19:18When I pressed the cloth to his arm, he didn't move.
19:21Just watched me.
19:22Quiet and unreadable.
19:23Why are you doing that?
19:25He asked finally.
19:26Because someone should.
19:27He huffed a sound.
19:28Not quite a laugh.
19:30You think kindness fixes people like me?
19:32No.
19:33I said softly.
19:34But it keeps me human.
19:35His gaze softened.
19:37You shouldn't be here, Raina.
19:39I didn't ask to be.
19:41He nodded once, almost to himself.
19:44No.
19:45You didn't.
19:46When I finished bandaging him, he sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.
19:52I didn't realize how close we were until his hand brushed my leg.
19:56A light, accidental touch that made my breath catch.
19:59He froze too, eyes lifting.
20:02For a heartbeat, everything else disappeared.
20:04The rain.
20:05The gunfire.
20:06The ghosts outside.
20:07Just his eyes and mine, caught in something neither of us wanted to name.
20:12You should rest, he murmured.
20:15But his voice had gone hoarse.
20:17So should you, I whispered back.
20:19He reached up, slow as if afraid I'd vanish, and tucked a strand of wet hair behind my ear.
20:25His fingers lingered, tracing the edge of my jaw.
20:29Don't look at me like that, he said quietly.
20:32Like what?
20:33Like I'm something worth saving.
20:35I didn't answer.
20:36Because part of me already knew he was.
20:38He stood abruptly, stepping back.
20:41Stay in your room tonight.
20:42Don't open the door for anyone but me.
20:45He turned to leave, but I caught his sleeve.
20:47Silas.
20:48He stopped.
20:49Thank you, I said.
20:50For not letting them take me.
20:52His jaw flexed once.
20:54Then he said,
20:55I didn't do it for you.
20:57But when he looked at me again, it was a lie.
21:00I could see it in the way his eyes lingered.
21:02Softer than before.
21:03Heavier with something unspoken.
21:06After he left, I sat in silence, wrapped in his coat again.
21:10It still smelled like him.
21:12Cedar and smoke.
21:14That night, I dreamed of him standing in the rain,
21:18watching me through a storm he refused to step out of.
21:21The next morning, sunlight finally broke through the clouds.
21:24It felt almost wrong, that kind of brightness.
21:28I found him outside by the balcony,
21:30coffee in hand, staring at the ocean.
21:32The bandage on his arm was gone.
21:35The blood, too.
21:36He looked untouched again.
21:37Like the violence had never happened.
21:39I stood beside him.
21:41Rough night, he didn't smile.
21:43You get used to it.
21:45I hope I don't.
21:46He glanced at me sideways.
21:47You planning on staying that long?
21:49I didn't answer.
21:51He took a sip of coffee, then said,
21:53I've arranged protection for your brother.
21:56A man I trust will watch him.
21:59Quietly.
22:00My head snapped up.
22:01You what?
22:02How do you even know about him?
22:03I know everything that matters, he said,
22:06tone casual but laced with something I couldn't name.
22:09Why would you do that?
22:11He looked at me then, eyes dark and steady.
22:14Because I don't like seeing you afraid.
22:17That undid me a little.
22:18The wind caught my hair, blowing it across my face.
22:21He reached out instinctively, brushing it back,
22:25and for one small second, his hand stayed there,
22:28his thumb grazing my cheekbone.
22:30It wasn't passion yet.
22:32It was something slower, heavier, like gravity.
22:36Silas, I said breathless,
22:39you scare me.
22:41He smiled faintly.
22:43Good.
22:43You'll stay alive longer that way.
22:45But his hand didn't move.
22:47Neither did mine when I reached up and touched the side of his wrist.
22:50The world seemed to hold its breath with us.
22:54Then the sound of his phone broke it.
22:57He stepped back,
22:58answering in a voice suddenly made of ice.
23:01Vale.
23:02I couldn't hear the other person,
23:05but I could read the tension in his jaw,
23:07the change in his breathing.
23:09When he hung up,
23:10he didn't look at me.
23:12We're leaving.
23:13Leaving?
23:13Where?
23:14He turned,
23:15already walking toward the hall.
23:16Because if we don't,
23:18they'll find you next.
23:19Who?
23:20He stopped at the door.
23:21The people who owned your debt
23:22weren't the only ones who wanted you gone.
23:25My stomach dropped.
23:27Why would anyone want me dead?
23:28He finally looked back,
23:30and there was something almost apologetic in his eyes.
23:34Because of me.
23:35The floor might as well have vanished.
23:37He moved closer,
23:38lowering his voice.
23:40You wanted the truth, Reina.
23:42You're not a loose end anymore.
23:43You're leverage.
23:44My throat went dry.
23:45Leverage for what?
23:47For getting to me,
23:48he said.
23:49And now,
23:50they'll come for you to make me bleed.
23:53His hand brushed my shoulder.
23:55Not rough.
23:56Not claiming.
23:57A warning disguised as tenderness.
24:00You wanted to know why I saved you,
24:02he said softly.
24:03This is why.
24:04Then he leaned in,
24:06his breath warm against my ear,
24:08voice steady despite everything.
24:10Because the moment I saw you,
24:11I knew losing you would destroy me.
24:14The words hit harder than any gunshot.
24:17Before I could answer,
24:18he stepped back.
24:19Already gone from the room,
24:21and I stood there, trembling,
24:23realizing I'd fallen for the one man
24:25whose love might just get me killed.
24:26I didn't sleep for two nights after he said it.
24:32Because the moment I saw you,
24:33I knew losing you would destroy me.
24:36That line replayed in my head like a song stuck on a loop.
24:39Too beautiful.
24:40Too dangerous to believe.
24:41We left Ridgeport before dawn.
24:45No goodbyes,
24:46no explanations.
24:47Just Silas driving like the road belonged to him and me,
24:50staring out the window,
24:51clutching the single duffel bag he told me to pack.
24:54The city bled into countryside.
24:57Grayfields.
24:58Fading billboards.
24:59Mist swallowing the edges of everything.
25:01I should have asked where we were going,
25:03but I didn't.
25:04With Silas,
25:06questions were currency,
25:07and I'd already spent enough.
25:09The silence between us wasn't awkward.
25:12It was weighty,
25:13like we were both listening for ghosts.
25:16Finally, I said,
25:17You could have told me sooner.
25:21He didn't glance at me.
25:23Would you have stayed?
25:24I didn't answer.
25:25He sighed.
25:27Didn't think so.
25:29We drove another hour before the landscape opened into cliffs and sea,
25:32endless and violent.
25:34A private airstrip appeared out of nowhere.
25:36A small jet waited.
25:38Engines humming.
25:40Silas.
25:41I said quietly.
25:43This is kidnapping again.
25:45Only if you fight me.
25:46I should.
25:49He nodded once.
25:50Then why don't you?
25:51I looked out at the horizon,
25:53where the ocean met the gray morning sky.
25:56Because every time I run,
25:57something worse catches me.
25:59That made him pause.
26:01You trust me that much?
26:03No, I said, eyes still forward.
26:05I just don't trust the world more.
26:08He didn't argue.
26:09We flew to a place that didn't have a name.
26:12Just coastline.
26:13Pine trees.
26:14And a house built into the cliff
26:15like it was trying to hide from itself.
26:17The view was endless.
26:19So was the quiet.
26:20This is safe.
26:21I asked as we stepped inside.
26:22He locked the door behind us.
26:24Safe enough for now.
26:26I wanted to ask what for now meant.
26:28But his tone made me drop it.
26:30The house was simpler than his city place.
26:33Less glass.
26:34More warmth.
26:35Bookshelves.
26:36Worn leather.
26:37A kitchen that smelled faintly of coffee and dust.
26:41That first night there, he cooked.
26:44Actual food.
26:45No guards, no weapons, no blood.
26:47Just Silas at a stove.
26:49Sleeves rolled up,
26:50moving with a precision that made even chopping onions look like strategy.
26:54I sat at the table,
26:56chin resting on my hands.
26:58Didn't think you knew how to use a pan.
27:00He gave a small grin.
27:02Eyes on the skillet.
27:03I wasn't born a criminal, Raina.
27:05No.
27:06Then what were you?
27:07He hesitated before answering.
27:09A son.
27:11Something in his tone stopped me cold.
27:13I didn't ask more.
27:15After dinner, we sat by the fire.
27:17The storm outside clawed at the windows,
27:19but inside everything felt suspended.
27:21Unreal.
27:22He poured wine,
27:23handed me a glass,
27:24and said,
27:25Tell me about your brother.
27:27Eli.
27:28I smiled faintly.
27:30He's the only reason I haven't given up yet.
27:32What's he like?
27:34Too smart.
27:35Too hopeful.
27:36Thinks the world owes him a fair shot.
27:38Silas's mouth curved slightly.
27:40Hope gets people killed.
27:42Then why haven't you given up?
27:43He didn't reply.
27:45He just stared into the fire,
27:47face caught in the flicker of orange light.
27:50For the first time,
27:51I saw the lines of weariness around his eyes,
27:54the cost of whatever empire he ran.
27:57Silas,
27:58I said softly,
27:59What did you lose?
28:00He looked at me then.
28:02Everything I ever tried to protect.
28:04There it was.
28:05The truth,
28:06small and sharp.
28:07Was it your family?
28:08He nodded once.
28:09A long time ago?
28:11I wanted to touch his hand,
28:13but he was too far away.
28:15Physically,
28:15emotionally,
28:16everything.
28:18So I just whispered,
28:19I'm sorry.
28:21He gave a low laugh,
28:22bitter and quiet.
28:24Don't be.
28:25I'm the reason they're gone.
28:26That should have made me pull back.
28:28Instead,
28:29I felt something inside me bend toward him,
28:31because I understood guilt.
28:33It was a language I spoke fluently.
28:35Later that night,
28:37after he disappeared into his office,
28:39I wandered the hallway.
28:40The air smelled faintly of gun oil and rain.
28:43I found a door half open and,
28:44stupidly,
28:45peeked inside.
28:47Stacks of papers,
28:48maps,
28:49photographs,
28:50a single picture on the desk,
28:52a woman and a little girl smiling under sunlight.
28:54Silas stood behind them,
28:57younger,
28:58almost gentle.
28:59I felt like I'd walked in on a prayer.
29:02Don't touch that.
29:04His voice came from the doorway,
29:06cold,
29:07controlled.
29:08I turned,
29:10heart racing.
29:11I wasn't...
29:12He crossed the room in two steps,
29:13snatching the photo from my hands.
29:15You shouldn't be here.
29:17I was just...
29:19You shouldn't be here, Raina.
29:21His voice cracked on my name,
29:23and that hurt more than his anger.
29:26I swallowed hard.
29:28Who are they?
29:29He stared at the photo a moment too long.
29:32They were mine.
29:33Your wife and daughter?
29:34His eyes flicked up,
29:36warning in them.
29:37Whirr!
29:37What happened?
29:38He exhaled through his nose.
29:40A rival wanted me to suffer.
29:42I underestimated him.
29:43Silence hung like smoke.
29:45I stepped closer,
29:46my voice shaking.
29:47So you built walls.
29:49And filled them with blood.
29:50He didn't move.
29:52So I wouldn't feel.
29:53And now?
29:54He looked at me,
29:55really looked.
29:56Now I do.
29:57That's the problem.
29:59The words landed somewhere deep.
30:01Before I could say anything,
30:03his phone buzzed again.
30:04He turned away,
30:06answering it with that same deadly calm.
30:08When he hung up,
30:10his expression had changed.
30:12What is it?
30:13I asked.
30:14Your brother.
30:15My stomach clenched.
30:16What about him?
30:17He's fine,
30:18he said slowly.
30:19But someone found out he matters to you.
30:21They tried to take him.
30:23I gripped the edge of the desk.
30:25Oh my God,
30:25he's safe for now,
30:26Silas said.
30:28My man handled it.
30:29For now,
30:30I repeated.
30:31That's all you ever say.
30:33It's the truth.
30:35Something inside me snapped.
30:37Then what's the point of all this?
30:39Hiding,
30:39running,
30:40pretending we're safe when we're not?
30:41He didn't flinch at my anger.
30:43The point is that you're still alive.
30:46I don't want to survive,
30:48Silas.
30:48I want to live.
30:50That got him.
30:51He turned,
30:52eyes hard,
30:52voice rough.
30:53You think I don't?
30:54The tension cracked like lightning.
30:56I took a step closer.
30:58Then stopped shutting me out.
31:00He stared at me,
31:01breathing heavy.
31:02You don't know what you're asking for.
31:04Then tell me.
31:05He grabbed my wrist suddenly,
31:06pulling me closer,
31:07his breath against my skin.
31:10His voice dropped low.
31:11You want to know who I am?
31:13I'm the man who decides who lives and who doesn't.
31:16The man who killed his own to keep the rest breathing.
31:18You still want to see that up close?
31:20My heart pounded against my ribs.
31:22I didn't move.
31:24Yes.
31:24For a second,
31:25his mask slipped.
31:26Just a second.
31:27Enough to see the man beneath.
31:29Wounded.
31:30Furious.
31:30Terrified.
31:31His grip loosened.
31:32You should hate me.
31:34I tried.
31:35I whispered.
31:36His fingers brushed my cheek.
31:38Slow.
31:39Reverent.
31:40Then try harder.
31:41I closed my eyes.
31:42I can't.
31:43He exhaled shakily.
31:45You're going to ruin me.
31:46When I opened my eyes,
31:48he was looking at me like a drowning man who'd finally found air.
31:51Terrified to breathe it.
31:53But before anything else could happen,
31:55the window behind him shattered.
31:57He spun.
31:58Gun drawn in a heartbeat.
32:00Outside,
32:00headlights flared across the cliff road.
32:03Someone shouted from below.
32:05Silas cursed under his breath,
32:06pulling me down.
32:08They found us.
32:10Glass crunched beneath our hands as he dragged me toward the back door.
32:14The air outside was freezing,
32:16filled with the sound of approaching engines.
32:18Where do we go?
32:19I gasped.
32:20Anywhere they can't follow.
32:22Bullets ripped through the wall behind us.
32:24He covered me with his body,
32:25returning fire in short,
32:27perfect bursts.
32:28The sea roared below.
32:30The night burned around us.
32:31He turned to me,
32:33eyes wild but focused.
32:36Raina, listen.
32:37If I tell you to run,
32:38you run.
32:39No.
32:40Not without you.
32:41His jaw set.
32:42Don't argue with me now.
32:44I'm not leaving you.
32:46Then we both die.
32:48Then we die.
32:50I said,
32:51voice shaking.
32:52I don't care.
32:54Something broke in his face then.
32:56A flash of emotion so raw it almost hurt to see.
32:58He cupped the back of my neck,
33:01his words rough against my ear.
33:03You're out of your mind.
33:05Maybe you made me that way.
33:07And for one impossible second,
33:10before the world exploded again,
33:12he kissed me.
33:13Fierce.
33:14Desperate.
33:15The kind of kiss that feels like surrender and defiance at once.
33:19Then he pulled back,
33:21whispered,
33:22Run.
33:23And I did.
33:28When I ran that night,
33:30my lungs burned like they were full of fire.
33:33The cliffs blurred behind me,
33:35gunfire echoing across the sea like thunder tearing through bone.
33:38I didn't look back.
33:40Not until I tripped down the embankment
33:41and saw Silas silhouetted in the light of the burning house.
33:45He wasn't running.
33:47He was fighting.
33:48I saw the flash of his gun,
33:50his body moving like a shadow between flames,
33:53and for a single frozen second I thought,
33:55He's going to die there because of me.
33:59Then something inside me broke.
34:01Cleanly,
34:02violently,
34:03I went back.
34:04By the time I found him,
34:06he was on his knees in the mud,
34:08blood running down his temple.
34:09Breathing like each inhale cost him everything.
34:12One of the attackers lay dead beside him.
34:14Another groaned in the dark,
34:16clutching his stomach.
34:18Silas.
34:19He looked up,
34:20eyes blazing through the rain.
34:22I told you to run.
34:24I'm not leaving you.
34:25He grabbed my wrist,
34:26pulling me close enough to smell gunpowder and rain.
34:29You're going to get yourself killed.
34:32I'd rather die here than go back to being nobody.
34:35He froze.
34:37That broke something in him.
34:38I could feel it.
34:40He lowered his forehead against mine,
34:42trembling.
34:43You don't know what you're saying.
34:45I do.
34:47Before he could answer,
34:48headlights cut through the darkness.
34:50An SUV barreled toward us,
34:53tires sliding in mud.
34:54He shoved me down.
34:56Stay here.
34:57Silas.
34:58He didn't listen.
34:59He fired twice,
35:00the second shot hitting the driver's side.
35:02The SUV skidded,
35:04slammed into the cliffside,
35:05metal shrieking.
35:07Then silence.
35:08Just the rain.
35:09The smell of gasoline.
35:11The sound of my heart trying to escape my chest.
35:14He staggered back toward me,
35:15face pale,
35:16blood soaking his sleeve.
35:18Is it over?
35:19I whispered.
35:20He looked past me,
35:22eyes fixed on something I couldn't see.
35:24No,
35:25it's never over.
35:26He collapsed before I could reach him.
35:28I drove for hours.
35:30I didn't know where I was going.
35:32Just that I had to keep him alive.
35:35I found a small roadside cabin,
35:37the kind no one asked questions about.
35:39Paid cash.
35:40Dragged him inside.
35:42He drifted in and out of consciousness,
35:44muttering things that made no sense.
35:47Names.
35:48Numbers.
35:49Warnings.
35:50My name sometimes.
35:52I cleaned the wound in his arm with shaking hands.
35:55The bullet had grazed him,
35:57but the blood loss was bad.
35:59When he finally opened his eyes,
36:01it was almost dawn.
36:03Raina.
36:04He rasped.
36:05You should have left me.
36:07Stop saying that.
36:08He tried to sit up.
36:10I pushed him back gently.
36:12You saved my life.
36:13You think I wouldn't return the favor?
36:14His eyes softened,
36:16but his voice stayed hard.
36:17This isn't a favor.
36:19It's a death sentence.
36:20Then we'll die together.
36:22He laughed, bitter and small.
36:24You don't mean that.
36:25I do.
36:27He stared at me for a long time,
36:29like trying to memorize my face.
36:31Then, quieter.
36:34You make me remember things I've spent years burying.
36:37Then maybe you were never supposed to bury them.
36:39He looked away,
36:41jaw-tight.
36:42You think love fixes people, don't you?
36:45No, I said.
36:46I think it makes them want to try.
36:49He didn't speak again for a long time,
36:51just reached for my hand,
36:53and didn't let go until morning.
36:55Two days later,
36:56we found out who sent the attack.
36:59The call came from one of Silas's men,
37:02a survivor from the explosion.
37:04The voice on the other end was ragged,
37:06barely there.
37:08It's Keller, the man said.
37:09He's back,
37:10and he knows about the girl.
37:12Keller.
37:14Even the name made Silas go still.
37:17He ended the call and sat in silence
37:19for a full minute before saying,
37:21He was my second-in-command.
37:23Thought he could run things better.
37:25What does he want?
37:26His eyes met mine.
37:28You?
37:28Me?
37:29He wants leverage.
37:30To destroy me the same way I destroyed him.
37:33My stomach dropped.
37:34What are we going to do?
37:36He stood, wincing from the wound.
37:38I'm going to end it.
37:39I grabbed his arm.
37:41You're not going anywhere like this.
37:43Raina.
37:44No, I said.
37:45You don't get to do this alone anymore.
37:47He stared at me,
37:49expression unreadable.
37:50Then,
37:51you really would follow me into hell,
37:53wouldn't you?
37:54I think I already did.
37:55He almost smiled.
37:57Almost.
37:58We left the next night.
38:00Drove south,
38:01following a trail of names
38:02and rumors.
38:03Every motel,
38:04every diner,
38:05every back road
38:06felt like a borrowed breath.
38:09At one stop,
38:10Silas sat across from me
38:11in a booth,
38:12eating nothing,
38:13staring at the window.
38:15You're quiet,
38:17I said.
38:18He looked up.
38:19I'm thinking about how this ends.
38:21You always think about the end.
38:23He smirked faintly.
38:24Habit of men who don't live long.
38:26I reached across the table,
38:29brushed my fingers against his,
38:31then make this one different.
38:34He turned his hand,
38:35lacing our fingers together.
38:37Different always comes with a cost.
38:39Then I'll pay it.
38:41He shook his head slowly.
38:43You already have.
38:44The way he said it,
38:45low,
38:46resigned,
38:47made my chest ache.
38:49We drove again.
38:50By sunset,
38:51we reached a warehouse by the river,
38:53Keller's base.
38:54Silas's men were already waiting in the shadows,
38:57faces grim.
38:59He loaded his gun,
39:00checked the safety,
39:02then handed me a small pistol.
39:04Just in case,
39:05he said.
39:06I stared at it.
39:08I've never...
39:09Then pray you won't have to.
39:11The night swallowed us as we moved inside.
39:13The air smelled of oil and salt water.
39:16Keller was there,
39:17waiting.
39:18Sharp suit,
39:19smile like poison.
39:21Well,
39:22he said,
39:22stepping forward.
39:23The legend himself.
39:25You brought the girl.
39:26How romantic.
39:27Silas didn't speak.
39:28He aimed,
39:29Keller laughed.
39:30Still all instinct,
39:31no soul.
39:32You know,
39:33she deserves better.
39:34He turned his eyes to me.
39:36Do you even know how many people he's killed for you?
39:39Enough,
39:40Silas said,
39:40voice low.
39:41No,
39:41Keller said.
39:42Not enough to make me forget what you took from me.
39:45The tension cracked.
39:47Gunfire erupted.
39:48Chaos.
39:49I ducked behind a crate,
39:50heart slamming in my throat.
39:52Silas moved like smoke.
39:54Efficient.
39:54Deadly.
39:55But Keller wasn't alone.
39:57Two men flanked him.
39:58One grabbed me from behind,
39:59cold metal against my neck.
40:01Silas!
40:02I screamed.
40:03He turned,
40:04eyes going wide.
40:06Keller grinned.
40:07Drop it or she dies.
40:09Silas froze.
40:10The gun trembled in his hand.
40:12Don't,
40:13I whispered.
40:13Don't do it,
40:14but he did.
40:15The gun hit the floor.
40:17Keller kicked it away,
40:18savoring the moment.
40:20That's what I wanted to see.
40:21The man who swore he'd never kneel.
40:24Bleeding for a woman.
40:25I could feel Silas's rage building.
40:28That dangerous,
40:29quiet kind that precedes blood.
40:32Keller pressed his gun against Silas's chest.
40:35Any last words?
40:36Silas smiled.
40:37Yeah.
40:38Then he looked at me.
40:39Calm.
40:40Final.
40:41When I move,
40:42run.
40:43Before I could speak,
40:44he slammed his shoulder into Keller,
40:46knocking the gun aside.
40:47The shot went off anyway.
40:49The sound was deafening.
40:51Keller fell.
40:52So did Silas.
40:54For a second,
40:55I didn't understand who was bleeding.
40:57Then I saw the red spreading across Silas's shirt.
41:00I screamed his name,
41:02ran to him,
41:03pressed my hands over the wound.
41:05No, no, no, Silas,
41:06stay with me.
41:07He coughed,
41:08blood on his lips.
41:09Told you.
41:10Not to follow me.
41:11Shut up,
41:12I said,
41:13voice breaking.
41:14You don't get to die,
41:15not like this.
41:17His hand found my cheek,
41:19weak but steady.
41:20You were the only thing I didn't want to lose.
41:23Tears blurred everything.
41:25Then don't,
41:26he smiled faintly,
41:27eyes fading.
41:28You're the reason I remember what love feels like.
41:31Stop talking like that,
41:32I begged.
41:34You'll be fine.
41:35You'll-
41:36The warehouse lights flickered.
41:38Sirens wailed in the distance.
41:39His men burst in,
41:40shouting,
41:41dragging me back as medics rushed forward.
41:43I fought them.
41:44Screaming his name until my voice gave out.
41:47The last thing I saw before they pulled me outside
41:50was Silas's hand falling limp against the concrete.
42:04They said he was dead.
42:05That's what I was told in the hospital
42:07while my wrists were still bandaged from the glass
42:09and my throat ached from screaming his name.
42:13They said Silas Vale was pronounced dead at 3.17 a.m.
42:16after bleeding out in the ambulance.
42:18They told me to rest.
42:19They told me to move on.
42:21They didn't understand that they'd just cut out the part of me
42:23that still believed in air.
42:26I didn't cry.
42:27I didn't move.
42:29I just kept hearing his last words over and over.
42:32You're the reason I remember what love feels like.
42:35After the third day,
42:37I stopped sleeping.
42:39The nightmares were quieter than the silence.
42:41Then came the message.
42:43No name.
42:43No number.
42:45Just six words on an old flip phone I hadn't used in months.
42:48If you want to see him, come.
42:51It was a warehouse address.
42:53Not the one from the shooting.
42:55This one was across the city,
42:57near the docks,
42:58where the fog never lifted
42:59and the seagulls screamed like sirens.
43:02I should have ignored it.
43:04Every part of me said trap.
43:05But grief doesn't reason.
43:07It hunts.
43:07I went.
43:08The night smelled like gasoline and salt.
43:11The building loomed over the water.
43:12Windows blacked out.
43:14Door hanging crooked on its hinges.
43:15Inside, shadows moved.
43:18Slow.
43:18Deliberate.
43:19And then I heard it.
43:20That voice.
43:22Faint but real.
43:23Raina.
43:24I froze.
43:25It couldn't be.
43:26But it was.
43:28Silas was there.
43:29Alive.
43:30But barely.
43:32He was tied to a chair,
43:33blood crusted along his jaw,
43:35face hollow from pain and whatever they'd done to him.
43:38When he saw me,
43:40something in his expression cracked open.
43:42I told you not to come.
43:44I fell to my knees beside him, trembling.
43:47You're alive.
43:49For now.
43:50He looked worse than the last time I saw him.
43:53His arm in a rough bandage,
43:55shirt torn,
43:56eyes sunken.
43:57But his voice still carried that low authority,
44:00that impossible calm.
44:02I reached for the ropes.
44:04Who did this?
44:06He glanced at the doorway behind me.
44:08Don't.
44:09Too late.
44:10A man stepped out of the dark,
44:11slow-clapping Keller.
44:12He was supposed to be dead.
44:15I saw him fall.
44:17Impressive, isn't it?
44:18He said.
44:19The legend refuses to die even when it ruins him.
44:22I stood,
44:23my pulse screaming in my throat.
44:25You shot him.
44:27Yeah, didn't take.
44:28He smirked.
44:29I thought I'd give him something worse than death.
44:32Let him watch you break.
44:33I lunged at him before I even realized what I was doing.
44:38He caught my arm mid-swing and slammed me back against the wall.
44:42Easy, he said, pressing a gun to my chin.
44:45Wouldn't want to ruin that face.
44:47Yet, Silas strained against the ropes.
44:50Touch her again and I'll end you.
44:52Keller laughed.
44:53You?
44:54You can't even stand.
44:56Try me.
44:57Something in Keller's face darkened.
44:58He grabbed a knife off the table and pressed it to Silas's throat.
45:02Say that again.
45:03Do it, Silas hissed.
45:05At least then she walks out of here alive.
45:08Keller turned to me, grinning.
45:10You see why I hate him?
45:11Always pretending to be noble.
45:13Always pretending the blood on his hands means something.
45:16I met his gaze.
45:17You're scared of him.
45:19That made him flinch.
45:20You want to break him because you can't be him.
45:23His jaw clenched.
45:24You talk too much.
45:26He shoved me toward the door.
45:28I stumbled, hit the concrete.
45:30My hand brushed against something cold.
45:32A shard of metal.
45:34Maybe from a broken pipe.
45:36He turned back to Silas.
45:39I'll let her watch.
45:41Might even let her live long enough to remember how you begged.
45:45Silas's voice was raw.
45:46Raina, don't.
45:47Keller raised the knife.
45:49Goodbye, old friend.
45:51I moved before I could think.
45:53Jammed the shard into Keller's side.
45:55He shouted, spinning, gun-firing wild.
45:58The blast grazed my shoulder, burning.
46:01Silas surged forward, tearing the ropes free, slamming into Keller.
46:04They hit the floor, wrestling for the gun.
46:06Silas!
46:07He didn't answer.
46:09The gun went off again.
46:11Once.
46:11Twice.
46:12Echoing like thunder in a coffin.
46:15Then silence.
46:17I stood there.
46:19Frozen.
46:20Chest heaving.
46:21Keller was on the floor, eyes wide open, unmoving.
46:25Silas was slumped beside him, breathing in short, shallow bursts.
46:29I dropped to my knees.
46:31You're bleeding again.
46:32He caught my wrist, shaking his head.
46:35Not this time.
46:36I pressed my hand over the wound anyway.
46:38You're not dying here.
46:39I won't let you.
46:41He looked at me like I was something fragile.
46:43You never were good at letting go.
46:45Because I love you.
46:47I said, voice cracking.
46:49And I'm done pretending I don't.
46:52Something flickered in his expression.
46:54Pain, maybe, or relief.
46:56Then faintly.
46:58Say it again.
46:59I love you.
47:01He closed his eyes.
47:03Say it one more time.
47:04I leaned close, whispering it like prayer.
47:07I love you.
47:08His hand found my face, weak but certain.
47:10Then it was worth it.
47:11I sobbed, shaking him.
47:13Don't you dare leave me.
47:15He smiled through the blood.
47:17You're tougher than you think.
47:18Outside, sirens.
47:20The whirr of engines.
47:21His men must have tracked my phone.
47:23I stayed with him until the door burst open and the medics pulled me away again.
47:27I was screaming, same as before, but this time I didn't stop.
47:31I screamed until the world went black.
47:33When I woke, I was in a hospital bed.
47:37My shoulder was bandaged.
47:38The air smelled of antiseptic and salt.
47:41One of Silas's men, the one with the scar, stood by the window.
47:46He didn't look at me when he said it.
47:49He's alive.
47:50Barely.
47:51But he's alive.
47:52For a long time I just stared.
47:55Then I broke.
47:56Not like before.
47:57Not in pieces.
47:59It was quieter this time.
48:00Heavier.
48:01A collapse inward.
48:02He was alive.
48:03Again.
48:04And somehow.
48:05That was worse.
48:06Because now I knew what it felt like to lose him.
48:09A week later, I went to see him.
48:11He was in a private recovery suite.
48:13Tubes and wires everywhere.
48:15The steady beep of the heart monitor felt like borrowed time.
48:19I sat beside him, fingers brushing the back of his hand.
48:22You almost died twice for me.
48:25I whispered.
48:26You don't get to do it again.
48:28His eyes fluttered open.
48:29Faint smile curving his lips.
48:32You came back.
48:33You didn't leave me much of a choice.
48:35I told you not to follow.
48:37And I told you I don't take orders.
48:39He chuckled.
48:40The sound dry and weak.
48:42Guess I deserved that.
48:44More than that, I said.
48:46Tears threatening again.
48:48You don't get to save me and then try to disappear.
48:52He looked at me for a long time before whispering.
48:55Then stay.
48:57I already did.
48:58His fingers curled around mine.
49:00Outside the window, the city lights flickered over the water.
49:04The night was quiet.
49:06Too quiet.
49:07I wanted to believe it was peace.
49:09Not just the space between storms.
49:11But I knew better.
49:13Every breath felt like it was holding something.
49:16One last secret.
49:18One more risk.
49:19And I couldn't shake the feeling that the worst wasn't over.
49:22That someone somewhere was still coming for us.
49:25The sea was quiet that morning.
49:31A kind of quiet that doesn't belong to cities or graves or gunfire.
49:35Just wind, salt, and breath.
49:39Eighteen months.
49:41That's how long it's been since the night everything ended.
49:45Since Keller died.
49:46Since Silas came back from the edge with more scars than skin.
49:51Eighteen months of unlearning fear.
49:52Of remembering how to live.
49:56We moved once he healed.
49:58Out of the city.
50:00Away from the noise.
50:01A small coastal town where no one asked names and the only people who noticed us were fishermen
50:06who waved at sunrise.
50:09No guards.
50:10No locked doors.
50:11No weapons under pillows.
50:13Just coffee.
50:14Sand.
50:15And the sound of the ocean breaking the silence he used to hide behind.
50:19He grows tomatoes now.
50:21You'd laugh if you saw him.
50:24The man who used to own the night.
50:25Swearing at a stubborn plant that won't stay upright.
50:29I tell him it's good for him.
50:31Humility in soil form.
50:33He rolls his eyes, but he doesn't argue.
50:36The first few months were strange.
50:39I'd wake up to seagulls and sunlight and still expect to hear gunfire.
50:43He'd have nightmares.
50:44Thrashing, sweating.
50:46Muttering names of men long dead.
50:48I'd hold him until it passed.
50:51Sometimes he'd wake up and apologize for the noise.
50:55That's how I knew he was learning to be human again.
50:58He doesn't talk about the past.
51:00Not much.
51:02When he does, it's only in fragments.
51:05A childhood stolen.
51:07A brother lost.
51:08A lifetime of choices that carved him into something unrecognizable.
51:12He says he doesn't deserve what we have.
51:13I tell him that's exactly why it's real.
51:18Tonight, the sky's violet with rain coming in from the sea.
51:22The lights flicker inside the cottage, and Silas sits by the window, reading.
51:28His reading glasses, a thing I never thought I'd see, hang crooked on his nose.
51:33He doesn't notice me watching him.
51:35He rarely does until I speak.
51:38You look domesticated, I say.
51:41He looks up, mouth twitching.
51:44Don't start.
51:46Tomatoes, glasses, flannel shirts.
51:49Who are you?
51:50He sets the book down, stretches, leans back in the chair, a man who knows better than to
51:55argue with the woman who saved his life twice.
51:58That's a low estimate.
52:00He smirks.
52:02You count differently.
52:04I count honestly.
52:04He laughs softly, that deep, quiet sound that still catches me off guard.
52:11For a long moment, we just sit there, the wind pushing against the windows, the waves
52:18crashing against the rocks below.
52:20Then he says, without looking at me,
52:24You still wake up scared sometimes.
52:27Only when you stop breathing in your sleep.
52:30He closes his book.
52:31You think I don't notice when you cry after.
52:35I look away.
52:36You're supposed to be resting, not observing.
52:40He stands, comes over and rests his hands on my shoulders.
52:45The weight of them still feels like safety.
52:48I see everything that hurts you.
52:50Then stop staring at it.
52:52He tilts my chin up.
52:54You can't fix what you don't face.
52:56And you can't protect what won't stay still, I counter.
53:02He smiles faintly.
53:04We're quite the pair.
53:06Tragic, poetic, and mildly dysfunctional.
53:10Mostly functional.
53:12On Tuesdays.
53:13His smile fades a little.
53:15Softer now.
53:17I almost didn't make it back.
53:19I know what he means.
53:21Not the gunshot.
53:22Not the blood.
53:23The coming back.
53:25The choosing life part.
53:27I know.
53:28I say quietly.
53:30But you did.
53:32He studies me for a long time.
53:34Then, low and rough.
53:37Do you ever regret it?
53:39Staying.
53:40I shake my head.
53:43You think I'd rather go back to running?
53:46He exhales slowly.
53:48I still wonder if you'd be safer without me.
53:51I turn.
53:52Face him fully.
53:54You think safety is what I came for?
53:57He blinks.
53:59Taken aback.
54:00I came because you didn't know how to live.
54:03I say.
54:04And I didn't know how to stop fighting.
54:07Now we're both learning.
54:09He lets out a shaky laugh.
54:11You always find a way to win the argument.
54:14Only when I'm right.
54:16He steps closer.
54:18You usually are.
54:20His hand finds the back of my neck.
54:22Thumb brushing my jaw.
54:24Raina.
54:25He murmurs.
54:26I hate how my name sounds better when he says it.
54:30Like it finally belongs somewhere.
54:32He kisses me.
54:34Slow.
54:35Careful.
54:35Not like before.
54:37When everything burned.
54:39This one feels earned.
54:42Lived in.
54:43Real.
54:45When he pulls back, he whispers,
54:46You saved me.
54:49No.
54:50I say.
54:51You fought for me.
54:53I just refuse to let you lose.
54:55He presses his forehead against mine.
54:57I never thought I'd have this.
55:01Neither did I.
55:03We stand there until the storm starts to break.
55:06Rain sliding down the glass.
55:08Thunder rolling across the sea.
55:10And somewhere between the lightning and the hush that follows, I realize.
55:15We made it.
55:17Not just through violence, but through the quiet after.
55:21The part that tests whether love survives peace as much as pain.
55:26I whisper.
55:28I thought I'd lost you forever.
55:31He looks at me.
55:33Those same gray eyes that used to terrify men now just...
55:37Soft.
55:38Sometimes love doesn't let go, he says.
55:42It fights back.
55:44The storm outside swallows the last of his words, but I don't need to hear them.
55:48I already know.
55:50Because every time I close my eyes, I still see that warehouse.
55:54The blood.
55:55The fear.
55:56The way he looked at me like I was the last thing keeping him tethered to this world.
56:01And now, years later, in this quiet house by the sea, I finally understand what that look meant.
56:09It wasn't about possession.
56:11It wasn't about guilt.
56:13It was the look of a man who finally found peace in someone's chaos.
56:16And somehow, against every rule of his world and mine, that peace stayed.
56:23Sometimes love isn't gentle.
56:27Sometimes it's fire.
56:28And blood.
56:29And ruin.
56:30But sometimes...
56:32Sometimes it survives.
56:33End.
56:33ADD.
56:41Data time.
56:42ADD.
56:43ADD.
56:44ADD.
56:45HUGE.
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