- 2 days ago
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00:00I shouldn't be alive to tell you this.
00:02That's the first truth.
00:04The second is that I never meant to be part of their world.
00:08I was just trying to survive mine.
00:11Rent was two months late.
00:13My phone bill had turned into a threat.
00:16Every message from my landlord made my stomach clench like a fist.
00:20My parents thought I was doing fine.
00:22They didn't know I was translating menus for cafes and fake resumes for desperate students just to buy groceries.
00:28Then came the email.
00:30Need a discreet translator.
00:32One-time job.
00:33Cash.
00:34I almost deleted.
00:35It too vague, too easy.
00:37But my account balance laughed at me and I said yes.
00:41They sent a car.
00:42Black.
00:43Silent.
00:44Anonymous.
00:46The driver didn't speak.
00:48Just looked at me through the mirror once.
00:50Like checking if I was stupid enough to go through with it.
00:53I was.
00:55The city outside blurred into gray.
00:58Then into nothing.
01:00When we...
01:01Stopped.
01:02It was in front of a warehouse dressed like an office.
01:04Steel doors.
01:05Tinted glass.
01:06Men who didn't blink.
01:08Inside, the air was heavy.
01:10Not with smell, but with tension.
01:12My heels clicked too loud on the concrete floor.
01:16I told myself I was just here to translate, not to exist.
01:21Three men were waiting at a table.
01:24They looked like wolves in suits.
01:27Their voices were low, foreign, sharp.
01:29They were speaking Russian, and that was my job.
01:33To turn it into English.
01:36I opened my notebook, forced my hand not to shake.
01:39Then someone said a name.
01:41His name.
01:43Roman.
01:43It hit like an echo I hadn't meant to recognize.
01:48Everyone in the city had heard it.
01:50The name you didn't say too loud.
01:52The man you didn't cross.
01:54He ran things.
01:56Quietly.
01:57Efficiently.
01:58Brutally.
02:00They called him.
02:01The man who doesn't raise his voice.
02:04And I was sitting there.
02:06Hired by his enemies.
02:08Writing down every word they planned against him.
02:11Halfway through the meeting.
02:13The door opened.
02:14And the air changed.
02:16He walked in.
02:18Roman wasn't supposed to be there.
02:20I knew that the way everyone else froze.
02:23The wolves went silent.
02:25The room went colder.
02:27He didn't shout.
02:28He didn't even look angry.
02:31He just existed.
02:33Like someone who never had to explain why he was feared.
02:36His eyes scanned the table.
02:38Then landed on me.
02:40Keep talking.
02:41He said to them.
02:43Voice calm.
02:44Almost bored.
02:45I'm curious what you've been planning.
02:48I couldn't move.
02:50My throat locked.
02:51One of the men grabbed for his gun.
02:54But Roman's hand was faster.
02:56Smooth.
02:57Silent.
02:58Final.
02:58I heard a thud.
03:00Metal clattered.
03:02My heart stopped.
03:03He turned to me.
03:05As if I was next.
03:06You.
03:07He said softly.
03:09Translate.
03:10I tried.
03:11The word stumbled out.
03:13The word stumbled out.
03:14Fractured.
03:14Trembling.
03:16Russian to English.
03:18English to nothing.
03:19I was translating threats and betrayal while standing in the middle of both.
03:24Every sentence felt like a confession.
03:25When it was done, two men were on the floor, one still breathing, one not.
03:32The other had vanished.
03:35Roman looked at me again, and for a second I thought he'd kill me just for being there.
03:39Instead, he said, you shouldn't have been in this room.
03:43I didn't know.
03:45You knew enough.
03:47He started walking toward me.
03:51Each step was deliberate, slow, almost patient.
03:55His suit was spotless, his expression unreadable.
03:59I backed up until my shoulders hit the wall.
04:02Please, I didn't.
04:03He stopped close enough that I could smell the clean, sharp scent of his cologne.
04:08Something expensive and restrained.
04:10Like him.
04:12What's your name?
04:14Eva.
04:15He said it once, quiet.
04:17Like testing how it felt in his mouth.
04:19Then again, lower.
04:22Eva.
04:23I don't know why that made my knees weak.
04:26Maybe because he said it like he'd known it long before I spoke it.
04:29He looked me over.
04:31Not like a man looking at a woman.
04:33But like someone memorizing a witness.
04:36You're coming with me.
04:38I can't.
04:39You can.
04:40Or I'll make sure the people you just translated for don't get another chance to hire you.
04:45There was no room for argument.
04:47The car ride was silent except for my heartbeat.
04:49I tried to count streetlights, memorize turns, do anything that made me feel like I wasn't disappearing.
04:56He didn't look at me once, just rested his hand against his jaw, lost in some dark calculation.
05:03When the car stopped, I realized we were at a mansion on the hill, the kind of place you see once and never again.
05:09He got out first.
05:12I hesitated until his voice came, low through the open door.
05:17Inside.
05:18Translator.
05:19I followed him into a world that didn't fit me.
05:23Marble floors.
05:24Dim lights.
05:25Everything too perfect.
05:27The walls felt like secrets.
05:30He led me into a study.
05:32Books.
05:32Whiskey.
05:33Silence.
05:33I stood there, clutching my bag like it could save me.
05:38He poured a drink and handed it to me.
05:41I didn't take it.
05:43Who sent you?
05:44He asked.
05:45I don't know.
05:46It was an email.
05:48From who?
05:50No name.
05:51Just payment details.
05:53He tilted his head.
05:55You expect me to believe you'd walk into that warehouse without knowing who you were working for?
06:00Yes.
06:01His brows lifted.
06:03A trace of disbelief.
06:05Maybe amusement.
06:06You're either very stupid or very desperate.
06:11Both.
06:12I said quietly.
06:14He stared at me then.
06:15And something changed in his eyes.
06:18Something not soft, but curious.
06:21You translate Russian?
06:23And a few other languages.
06:25Stay here.
06:27You'll work for me now.
06:29That word, work, sounded like a trap.
06:32You're not giving me a choice, are you?
06:35He smiled faintly, the kind that never reached his eyes.
06:39No.
06:40He left me in that room, and for hours I sat there listening to the silence.
06:45I thought about running, but every door was guarded.
06:49Every window locked.
06:50I was surrounded by men who treated fear like currency.
06:56When he came back, it was late.
06:59He sat across from me, leaned back, watching me like I was something he hadn't decided to keep or destroy.
07:05Why do you do it?
07:07He asked.
07:09Translate?
07:10No.
07:11Survive like this.
07:13You're clearly not built for this world.
07:16I hesitated.
07:18Because the other world doesn't pay rent.
07:20He almost laughed.
07:22Almost.
07:23There was a pause.
07:25A quiet kind of tension that made my chest tighten.
07:28I didn't know what he wanted from me.
07:31Not then.
07:33Then he said.
07:34They wanted to use you against me, but you didn't tell them what you heard.
07:39I didn't have the chance.
07:41You had enough time.
07:43He leaned forward, and I could feel the heat of his stare.
07:47Tell me the truth, Ava.
07:49Did you ever work for anyone else before them?
07:53No.
07:54Lie again and you'll regret it.
07:56My throat closed.
07:58No.
07:59He watched me, waiting for something.
08:02Fear, breakdown, confession.
08:04When I gave him none, he nodded once.
08:07Then you'll stay here until I decide what to do with you.
08:11He stood.
08:13His presence like a shadow that moved even when he didn't.
08:16He stopped at the door.
08:18One more thing.
08:20I looked up.
08:22If anyone asks, you were never in that warehouse.
08:25You never saw me.
08:27You never translated anything.
08:28Why are you letting me live?
08:32I asked before I could stop myself.
08:34He turned, eyes unreadable.
08:37Because when they said your name in that room, he said, voice low and dangerous, I already knew it.
08:45My pulse stuttered.
08:45What does that mean?
08:48It means, he said, you were never a stranger to me.
08:53Then he left.
08:54And that's how it started.
08:56The night I met the man whose name I'd been hired to destroy.
08:59And who somehow whispered mine before I ever spoke it.
09:02That was the first time I realized that survival doesn't always mean escape.
09:07Sometimes it means surrendering to something you don't understand.
09:11I told myself I'd find a way out in the morning.
09:14But by morning, I wasn't sure I wanted to leave.
09:17When you wake up in someone else's house, silence feels heavier than noise.
09:22His mansion was all glass and shadows.
09:24Even the morning light looked cautious.
09:27I didn't know where to go.
09:29So I stayed in the guest room like a well-trained prisoner.
09:32Food appeared at the door.
09:34Clothes, new, folded, too expensive, waited in the wardrobe.
09:38My phone was gone.
09:40He'd taken it.
09:41Three days passed before he spoke to me again.
09:45Roman didn't knock.
09:46He never needed to.
09:48He just filled the room.
09:50And everything inside me obeyed gravity again.
09:53You've been quiet, he said.
09:56You took everything I could make noise with.
09:59That earned a faint lift of his mouth.
10:01You have a sharp tongue for someone who almost died last week.
10:05I'm a translator, not a threat.
10:08He stepped closer.
10:09In my world, everyone is a threat until I decide otherwise.
10:14I wanted to roll my eyes.
10:16But fear kept my muscles disciplined.
10:18Then decide.
10:20Because I'm tired of wondering whether I'm working for you or being held hostage by you.
10:24He looked almost surprised by my audacity.
10:27You'll work for me, he said.
10:29And you'll be safe while you do it.
10:31Define safe.
10:33No one touches you.
10:34No one questions you.
10:36You do your job.
10:37You eat, you sleep, and you stay alive.
10:38And if I leave?
10:40His voice didn't rise.
10:42It didn't have to.
10:43Don't.
10:44That was how our contract began.
10:47Not written.
10:48Not signed.
10:49Just spoken between fear and inevitability.
10:52My job was to translate documents.
10:54Calls.
10:55Coded messages.
10:56Anything that crossed his desk from his contacts abroad.
10:59The irony burned.
11:00I'd been translating his enemy's words.
11:02Now I was translating his.
11:04I saw things I shouldn't have.
11:06Shipments, trades, political names whispered like ghosts.
11:10Every file was a reminder that I was standing in quicksand, pretending it was solid ground.
11:15He watched me work sometimes, leaning against the wall, silent, unreadable.
11:21When he wasn't there, I could breathe.
11:23When he was, I forgot how.
11:26One evening, while I typed, I felt his presence before I saw him.
11:32You're translating that wrong.
11:34He said.
11:36I froze.
11:37You speak Italian?
11:38Enough to know when you're softening the words.
11:41I'm not softening.
11:43I'm contextualizing.
11:45Context gets people killed.
11:47He came behind me, reading over my shoulder.
11:50His breath touched my neck when he spoke again.
11:53Try again, I did.
11:54My fingers stumbled over the keyboard.
11:57His nearness short-circuited thought itself.
11:59After a long moment, he murmured.
12:02Better.
12:03Then quietly.
12:04You tremble when I stand this close.
12:07I turned in my chair.
12:10You like testing people, don't you?
12:12He leaned closer, eyes dark and steady.
12:14Only the ones who don't break easily.
12:17That was the first time I realized his cruelty wasn't chaos.
12:20It was curiosity.
12:21He wasn't trying to destroy me.
12:24He wanted to understand why I hadn't already fallen apart.
12:27Days bled into nights.
12:29I learned his rhythms.
12:30The way he paced when thinking.
12:32The way his voice turned soft when he gave orders that meant violence.
12:35He never shouted.
12:37Never needed to.
12:37The weight of his silence did the work.
12:40But sometimes I caught glimpses of something else.
12:44Stillness.
12:45Exhaustion.
12:47Something almost human.
12:49He'd come into the study late, loosen his tie, pour a drink, and sit in silence while I translated.
12:56One night, he asked,
12:57Why do you keep looking at me like that?
13:00Like what?
13:01Like you're trying to find something I buried.
13:04Maybe I am.
13:06He didn't answer, but he didn't tell me to stop, either.
13:10A week later, the mansion changed.
13:13The guards doubled.
13:15The tension in the air turned electric.
13:17I heard whispers.
13:18Someone had betrayed him.
13:20Someone inside his circle.
13:22I should have stayed out of it.
13:23But curiosity is a disease, and I was already infected.
13:28I found a file on his desk one night when he was gone.
13:31Names, bank accounts, coded messages.
13:33One stood out.
13:35The same symbol used in the documents I'd translated for his enemies.
13:38It wasn't them who'd found me.
13:41It was him.
13:42I'd been hired by his people, not his enemies, to test my loyalty.
13:46To see if I'd bend, break, or sell information.
13:49I was furious.
13:50Not because he'd used me, but because he'd done it so quietly.
13:53Like I was just another chess piece.
13:56When he came back, I was waiting for him in his office.
14:00You knew, I said.
14:01He didn't pretend otherwise.
14:03Yes.
14:04You used me.
14:05I tested you.
14:06What's the difference?
14:08He poured himself a drink.
14:10You're alive.
14:11That's your justification?
14:12He finally looked at me.
14:14Really looked.
14:15You think I can afford trust?
14:17Every person near me wants something.
14:19Power, money, blood.
14:20I needed to know what you'd do if I left you in a room full of liars.
14:24And now you know.
14:25I know you didn't sell me.
14:27That's rare.
14:28I laughed bitterly.
14:29Congratulations.
14:30You found one idiot who doesn't want to kill you?
14:33Don't mistake restraint for stupidity.
14:36His voice softened.
14:38You're not like them, Eva.
14:39You walk through hell and still smell like mercy.
14:42That one hit deeper than I wanted.
14:45Don't romanticize me.
14:46I was just scared.
14:47Fear doesn't make people honest.
14:49Desperation does.
14:51He took a slow sip, then set the glass down.
14:54Stay with me.
14:55Work for me.
14:56Not because you have to.
14:57Because you want to.
14:59I shook my head.
15:00You don't want me working for you.
15:02You want me near you.
15:03That's different.
15:04He smiled without denial.
15:06Maybe.
15:06He reached out then, fingers brushing my wrist.
15:11A small electric contact that made my breath stutter.
15:14You don't have to be afraid of me, he said.
15:18That's the problem, I whispered.
15:20I think I should be.
15:22For a long time, neither of us spoke.
15:25The air was thick enough to drown in.
15:27Then, without warning, he stepped back.
15:29The moment breaking like glass.
15:31Get some rest, Eva.
15:33But I didn't sleep that night.
15:34I replayed every look, every word.
15:37The line between fear and fascination had vanished.
15:40I hated him for it.
15:41I hated myself more.
15:43The next morning, chaos exploded.
15:47Shots in the courtyard.
15:48Shouting.
15:49Smoke.
15:50I hid under the desk as glass shattered.
15:53The guards were yelling in Russian.
15:55When the door burst open, it wasn't Roman.
15:57It was one of his men, bleeding, wild-eyed.
16:00They're inside, he shouted.
16:02Move!
16:03He dragged me through the hall.
16:06My legs barely worked.
16:07We turned corners, dodged bullets.
16:09Ran until my lungs screamed.
16:11Then, Roman appeared.
16:13Calm in the middle of destruction.
16:15Gun in hand.
16:16Eyes like ice.
16:18He grabbed my arm.
16:20Come with me.
16:21What's happening?
16:22Someone sold me out.
16:24I almost laughed.
16:25You mean the trust test failed?
16:27His jaw tightened, but he didn't answer.
16:29He led me down a back corridor into a service tunnel that smelled of oil and rain.
16:34At the end of it, he stopped and turned.
16:37You leave here and don't look back.
16:39What about you?
16:40I'll clean it up.
16:42Roman, don't argue.
16:44He shoved a folded piece of paper into my hand.
16:47Go to this address.
16:48Tell them I sent you.
16:49You'll be safe.
16:51I looked down.
16:52The address was somewhere outside the city.
16:54My voice broke.
16:55You're staying?
16:56Someone has to make sure they don't follow you.
16:59That's suicide.
17:00He smiled faintly.
17:02It's Thursday.
17:04Roman.
17:05He leaned down, his forehead nearly brushing mine.
17:08You asked once why I knew your name before you said it.
17:12Yes.
17:13Because I've had someone watching you for months.
17:15Because you were translating for people too close to my business.
17:19And I needed to know who you were.
17:21And when I saw you that night, I knew I couldn't let them have you.
17:25You ruined my life to protect me.
17:27He looked tired.
17:28It's the only kind of protection I know.
17:31The sound of footsteps echoed down the tunnel.
17:34Shouting, closer now.
17:35He pushed me toward the exit.
17:37Go.
17:38I'm not leaving you.
17:39He grabbed my face, his voice breaking for the first time.
17:43You don't understand, Eva.
17:44If you stay, they'll use you against me.
17:47I can't let that happen.
17:48And then he kissed me.
17:49Not gently.
17:50Not sweetly.
17:52Desperately.
17:53Like a man who finally realized what he'd destroyed.
17:56When he pulled away, he said,
17:58If I live through this, I'll find you.
18:02And before I could answer,
18:04he turned back into the smoke, gun raised, and vanished.
18:08I ran.
18:10I ran until my lungs tore,
18:12and my heart forgot how to beat.
18:14The address led to a safe house,
18:17a small cabin in the woods.
18:19Too quiet.
18:19Too clean.
18:21I stayed there for three days,
18:23waiting for a sound, a call, anything.
18:26Nothing came.
18:28I watched the news.
18:30No mention of him.
18:31No explosion.
18:32No raid.
18:33Just silence.
18:34And that silence was worse than death.
18:37Every night.
18:39I replayed his words,
18:40his voice, the way he'd said my name,
18:42the way he'd looked at me like he already knew the ending.
18:45I didn't know if he was alive.
18:48I didn't know if I wanted him to be.
18:50All I knew was that I'd fallen in love with the man I was hired to translate against.
18:54And he was gone.
18:55They say time heals, but that's not true.
19:02Time just teaches you how to live with an ache that never leaves.
19:05Three months after that night, I was still in the cabin.
19:09The quiet wasn't peace, it was punishment.
19:11Every creak in the floor,
19:13every car that passed the distant road made my stomach tighten,
19:16waiting for something that never came.
19:18Roman hadn't come back.
19:20The world had gone on without him.
19:22I hadn't.
19:23I tried to build a routine.
19:24Translation gigs again.
19:26Anonymous clients.
19:27Smaller jobs.
19:28Anything to convince myself I could return to being invisible.
19:32But nothing felt right.
19:34Every language I touched reminded me of him.
19:36Every word carried an echo of his voice.
19:38I'd dream about that last kiss.
19:40The smell of smoke.
19:42His hand at the back of my neck.
19:44The way he said,
19:44If I live through this, I'll find you.
19:46And I hated that I still believed him.
19:48By the second month, I'd started walking into town once a week.
19:52It was a small coastal place.
19:53Fishermen.
19:54Old women selling bread.
19:55Kids on bikes.
19:57No one knew me.
19:58I liked that.
19:59Being unknown felt like safety.
20:02Until one morning,
20:03a black car parked outside the bakery where I worked part-time.
20:06The same make.
20:07The same color.
20:08The same cold familiarity.
20:10For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
20:12But it wasn't him.
20:13Just a stranger buying coffee.
20:15The disappointment was sharper than fear.
20:17That was the day I realized I had to stop waiting.
20:19I packed my bag that night and left the cabin behind.
20:23I went back to the city.
20:24It felt smaller than I remembered.
20:26Or maybe I'd just learned to see the cracks.
20:28The old apartment building was still there, but someone else lived in my unit now.
20:33I found a cheap room downtown, started freelancing again,
20:36and pretended not to glance over my shoulder every time a car slowed near me.
20:41He was gone.
20:41I had to live like that was permanent.
20:44But some nights, when the city went quiet and the hum of the street faded,
20:48I swore I could still feel him near me.
20:51Like he was watching, unseen, waiting for me to rebuild before he stepped out of the dark again.
20:57That illusion kept me sane longer than truth would have.
21:00Then one morning, everything changed.
21:01I received an envelope, no return address.
21:05Just my name, written in neat, deliberate handwriting I recognized instantly.
21:09Inside was a single photograph.
21:11Me, walking through the marketplace last week.
21:14And a note.
21:15Keep your head down.
21:17They're watching.
21:18My heart slammed against my ribs.
21:20He was alive.
21:21But if he was alive, then someone else was, too.
21:24The ones who'd attacked the mansion.
21:25The next few days passed like a fever.
21:27I kept expecting him to appear.
21:29He didn't.
21:30But someone else did.
21:32A man showed up at my door.
21:33Slick hair.
21:34Expensive shoes.
21:35Fake smile.
21:37Miss Torres?
21:38Yes?
21:39Roman sends his regards, he said.
21:42And I barely had time to notice the glint of metal before the world exploded into motion.
21:47I ducked.
21:48The shot tore through the wall behind me.
21:50I ran.
21:51Down the hall, through the stairwell, into the street.
21:53My body moved before my mind caught up.
21:55I ran like survival was a language I'd been fluent in forever.
21:58Someone grabbed my arm halfway down the alley.
22:01I screamed until a hand covered my mouth.
22:04Ava.
22:05Roman.
22:06He pulled me behind a dumpster, pressed me against the cold brick wall, eyes scanning the street.
22:12His clothes were dark, simple.
22:14His jaw was bruised.
22:15He looked different.
22:17Harsher, thinner.
22:18But his eyes hadn't changed.
22:20Quiet, he whispered.
22:22I froze.
22:23The sound of footsteps passed.
22:25Then silence.
22:26When it was clear, I turned on him.
22:28You left me there.
22:30He didn't flinch.
22:31You were safer without me.
22:33Safe?
22:34You call this safe?
22:35I pointed toward the street.
22:37Someone just tried to kill me.
22:39I know.
22:40That's why I came.
22:42You came months too late.
22:44He met my eyes, and for the first time, he looked like he didn't know what to say.
22:49I didn't have a choice.
22:51Everyone says that.
22:52You do.
22:54He sighed, stepped back, and ran a hand through his hair.
22:58After that night, I had to disappear.
23:00Half my men were dead.
23:02The others turned.
23:03I've been trying to clean it up ever since.
23:05And you couldn't send one word.
23:07I thought distance would keep you alive.
23:10You don't get to make that choice for me.
23:12The silence that followed wasn't calm.
23:15It was volcanic.
23:16His control cracked just slightly, enough for me to see the exhaustion underneath.
23:21He reached out, but I stepped back.
23:23Don't, I said.
23:25Not unless you're going to stay this time.
23:27His jaw tightened.
23:29It's not that simple.
23:31Then don't pretend it is.
23:33We stared at each other like the space between us was glass about to shatter.
23:38Then his expression softened.
23:40You changed, he said quietly.
23:42So did you, he smiled faintly.
23:45You're not afraid of me anymore?
23:47I am.
23:48Just not for the same reasons.
23:51He looked at me for a long moment, then said,
23:53Come with me.
23:55Please.
23:56I should have said no.
23:58Every instinct screamed that this man would ruin me again.
24:01But something deeper, something I didn't understand,
24:04said yes before I could think.
24:05We drove for hours, out of the city, through the rain,
24:10until the skyline disappeared behind us and the ocean replaced it.
24:13He stopped at an old coastal safe house, empty and silent.
24:17Inside, the fireplace still worked.
24:19He lit it without speaking.
24:20The flames cast his face in gold and shadow.
24:23Why bring me here?
24:24I asked.
24:25Because they'll come again, and I won't let them find you.
24:29I'm tired of being hidden, Roman.
24:31I'm tired of losing everything I try to protect.
24:35He sat down, and for the first time since I met him, he looked human.
24:40Just a man, not a myth.
24:42The armor had cracks.
24:43I joined him on the floor by the fire.
24:45Neither of us spoke for a while.
24:47The rain on the windows filled the silence.
24:50Finally, I said,
24:52When they said your name in that warehouse,
24:54I thought you were the villain.
24:56And now?
24:57Well, I think you were just someone who forgot what peace felt like.
25:02He looked at me.
25:03Something raw in his gaze.
25:05I don't deserve peace.
25:07No one does.
25:08That's why it's precious.
25:10He reached for my hand.
25:11This time I didn't pull away.
25:13I hurt you, he said quietly.
25:15Used you?
25:16Lied to you?
25:17Yes.
25:18And you still came with me.
25:20Maybe I'm a fool.
25:22Maybe, he murmured,
25:23thumb brushing my wrist.
25:25You're the only good thing I've ever touched.
25:28That confession broke me open.
25:31Months of silence, fear, and resentment,
25:33all of it cracked under those words.
25:36He leaned in.
25:37Not to claim.
25:38Not to dominate.
25:40But to rest his forehead against mine.
25:42I don't know how to love the right way.
25:45Then start by not running.
25:47He didn't.
25:49The next few days were a blur of quiet.
25:52He'd go out, come back bruised or tired.
25:53I stopped asking where.
25:55The fire became our truce.
25:57We'd sit there in silence until the world outside stopped existing.
26:00But peace doesn't last in our story.
26:02It never did.
26:03One night, the sound of engines broke the calm.
26:06Lights flooded the windows.
26:08His men shouted from outside.
26:10He pulled me to my feet.
26:11Go through the back.
26:13No.
26:14Not again.
26:15He cupped my face.
26:16Voice rough.
26:18You have to trust me.
26:20I did.
26:21And it cost me everything.
26:22He hesitated.
26:24Just a second too long.
26:26The door crashed open.
26:28Gunfire erupted.
26:30I dropped to the floor.
26:31He returned fire, yelling orders I couldn't hear over the chaos.
26:35I crawled toward him, but a hand grabbed my ankle, dragging me back.
26:40I kicked, hit, screamed.
26:42The man fell, but Roman had already taken a bullet to the shoulder.
26:46Blood.
26:47Real and terrifying.
26:48I crawled to him, pressed my hand against the wound.
26:51Roman, look at me.
26:53His eyes met mine.
26:54Calm, even now.
26:56Don't cry.
26:57Then stop giving me reasons to.
26:59He smiled faintly.
27:01You always were stubborn.
27:02The gunfire stopped.
27:04His men had taken the rest down.
27:06Silence fell.
27:07Thick and brutal.
27:09Stay with me, I whispered.
27:10He looked at me like I was the last thing he'd ever see.
27:14I told you I'd find you, he said softly.
27:17Then he passed out.
27:18He lived.
27:20Barely.
27:21Weeks in recovery.
27:22Far from the city.
27:23Far from that life.
27:25I stayed.
27:26Not because he asked, but because I wanted to see what love looked like when it wasn't
27:30wrapped in fear.
27:31It wasn't pretty.
27:32It was quiet.
27:33Raw.
27:34Honest.
27:35He couldn't undo what he'd done.
27:37I couldn't forget it, but somewhere between bandages and sleepless nights, something fragile
27:42grew.
27:43Something that felt almost like peace.
27:45Months later, when the scars on his shoulder faded to pale lines, we sat on the porch of
27:50that same safe house watching the sun drown in the sea.
27:53He took my hand.
27:54You could still walk away.
27:56I could, I said.
27:58But I'm tired of running.
27:59He nodded, eyes on the horizon.
28:02I don't know what tomorrow looks like.
28:04Neither do I, I said.
28:07That's the point.
28:08We sat there in silence.
28:11Two broken people who had somehow made it through the fire.
28:14I thought about that girl from the beginning.
28:17The one desperate enough to take a job translating for criminals.
28:21She was gone.
28:22In her place was someone who'd been burned, rebuilt, and found a strange kind of strength
28:27inside ruin.
28:28This wasn't the life I planned.
28:31It wasn't the love I expected.
28:32But it was ours.
28:33And somehow, after everything, we found our way home.
28:37If you made it this far, maybe some part of this story found you for a reason.
28:41If it did, stay with me.
28:42Subscribe, like, and tell me where in the world you're listening from.
28:46There's more to come.
28:47More love.
28:48More ruin.
28:49More truth whispered in the dark.
28:51More disclaimer.
28:52Bye.
28:53Bye.
28:56Bye.
28:56Bye.
29:05Bye.
29:06Bye.
29:07Bye.
29:11Bye.
29:12Bye.
29:13Bye.
29:14Bye.
29:15Bye.
29:15Bye.
29:17Bye.
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