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Short filmTranscript
00:00I don't realize.
00:01I'm shaking until the feather duster taps against the glass desk twice,
00:05like my own hands are knocking for mercy.
00:07The sunlight pouring through the floor to ceiling.
00:10Windows is too bright for the panic curling in my ribs.
00:14It makes everything feel exposed.
00:16Every bruise, every lie, every reason I shouldn't be here.
00:19I'm not supposed to be cleaning his office.
00:21I'm not supposed to be anywhere near the man they warn everyone about.
00:25But when you owe people money you never meant to owe,
00:27when someone you once trusted decides your fear is worth more than your freedom,
00:31you do desperate things.
00:33Desperate hours.
00:34Desperate rooms.
00:35You tell your child,
00:37your baby girl who still believes mornings are safe,
00:39that,
00:40Mommy just has to work a little longer today.
00:43I swallow the thought of her.
00:45It tastes like guilt coated in dust.
00:47My voice trembles even though I'm not speaking.
00:50Just finish, Alara.
00:51Just get out.
00:52But then the elevator dings behind me.
00:54Too soft.
00:55Too civilized for the terror that slices through my spine.
00:58I freeze.
00:59I know that sound.
01:00Everyone in this building knows that sound.
01:02Only one man has access to the private elevator connected directly to this office.
01:07I don't turn around.
01:08I can't.
01:10I stand there stupidly,
01:11facing his immaculate desk,
01:13clutching the duster like it's a weapon when it
01:15isn't even remotely.
01:17One.
01:17Footsteps.
01:18Slow.
01:18Sure.
01:18Controlled.
01:19My office is usually spotless,
01:22a deep voice says,
01:23low and unhurried.
01:25So either someone made a mess,
01:27or someone's running from something.
01:29My breath folds in on itself.
01:31He's here.
01:32Cassian Valtieri.
01:33The dawn they all whisper about in Miami's.
01:36Newest gleaming ivory tower.
01:37A
01:37city I thought would save me because
01:39sunshine feels safer than
01:41shadows.
01:42Stupid.
01:43Sunlight only means the darkness.
01:44Is hiding somewhere behind you.
01:46Still,
01:46I force myself to turn.
01:49And there he is.
01:50Young.
01:51Too young for the kind of power coiled in his posture.
01:54Handsome in a way that steals breath,
01:56not gives it.
01:57Black designer shirt,
01:58top button undone.
02:00Sleeves slightly rolled.
02:01A look that says he
02:02doesn't need armor because everyone
02:04else fears him enough to become it for him.
02:07His jaw is carved like he's permanently disappointed in the world.
02:10His eyes
02:10God those eyes.
02:12They're winter wrapped around wildfire.
02:14He takes me in slowly,
02:15like I'm a painting someone hung wrong.
02:18I want to look away,
02:18but I
02:19can't.
02:20Something inside me unclenches,
02:22and knots even tighter at the same time.
02:24I
02:24I'm just finishing up.
02:26I manage.
02:27And my voice betrays me.
02:28Thin.
02:29Too thin.
02:30His gaze flicks down my arms.
02:32I forgot about the marks.
02:33Damn it.
02:35I tug my sleeves lower.
02:36Too late.
02:37His voice softens,
02:38not gentle,
02:39but lower,
02:40quieter.
02:40Like a knife deciding if the throat in front of it deserves mercy.
02:43Who hurt you?
02:45I flinch.
02:46I hate that I do.
02:47No one.
02:48I lie,
02:48which is ridiculous.
02:50Because no one doesn't leave fingerprints like fading shadows.
02:54Cassian steps closer.
02:55Each movement deliberate.
02:57Controlled.
02:57Like,
02:58he's giving me time to run,
02:59even though we both know.
03:01I won't make it three steps.
03:02That's the second lie you've told since I walked in.
03:05He murmurs.
03:06My heartbeat is loud enough to drown my thoughts.
03:09I-
03:09What was the first?
03:11That you're supposed to be here.
03:12He's right.
03:14I'm not on the schedule.
03:16I slipped into this,
03:17floor hoping the real cleaner.
03:18For this office wouldn't show up for
03:20another hour.
03:22I'm filling in for shifts nobody asked me to take because
03:24I need the money before the wrong men decide I've run out of time.
03:28I try to breathe.
03:29It shudders on the way out.
03:31Please,
03:32I whisper,
03:32hating how my voice cracks.
03:34I'll finish quickly and leave.
03:36I'm not trying to cause trouble.
03:37His eyebrows lift just slightly,
03:40like he's studying a puzzle piece that shouldn't exist.
03:43You look like trouble finds you.
03:45Whether you want it to or not,
03:47something inside me stings.
03:49Because he's right about that, too.
03:51He circles around me,
03:52not touching,
03:53just orbiting.
03:54And the air changes.
03:56It thickens.
03:58I can practically feel the power radiating off him.
04:01The kind people fear.
04:02The kind that ruins or rescues and nothing in between.
04:05My phone buzzes in my pocket.
04:07A message.
04:08My stomach falls so hard it feels like it cracks.
04:11I know who it's from.
04:12Thomas Navarro.
04:13The man who pretended he loved.
04:15Me long enough to trap me in a debt that
04:17never stops growing.
04:19The man who once held my daughter's toy bunny
04:21by the ear and smiled like my terror amused him.
04:24Cassian watches my reaction.
04:25Not the phone.
04:26Is that him?
04:28He asks quietly.
04:29I hate that a stranger can read me so easily.
04:32I hate that my eyes sting.
04:33I hate that every part of my life has led me to this.
04:36Moment.
04:37Stealing minutes in a mafia.
04:39Don's office.
04:40Praying I don't break in front of him.
04:42It's nothing.
04:43I breathe.
04:44But my voice isn't steady enough to sell it.
04:47He steps closer.
04:49Too close.
04:49Close enough that I feel the warmth of him.
04:52The steadiness.
04:53The storm he controls instead of the one that controls him.
04:56Let me see the message.
04:57My pulse spikes.
04:59No.
05:00Alara.
05:00My name in his mouth sounds like a secret.
05:03I shouldn't have given him.
05:05You don't know me.
05:06I say.
05:07And I hate how pleading it sounds.
05:10You don't owe me anything.
05:11I just need to work.
05:13I need...
05:13What?
05:14He asks, head tilting slightly.
05:16To pretend you're not afraid?
05:18His words hit me like a slap made of truth.
05:20I blink hard.
05:22It doesn't matter what happened to me.
05:24It matters to me.
05:26That stops me.
05:27As if he hears himself, he exhales once.
05:30Quiet.
05:31Sharp.
05:32And he steps back like distance might fix what he just admitted out loud.
05:36My phone buzzes again.
05:38Another message.
05:39Cassian doesn't move.
05:40His eyes, though.
05:41Those eyes sharpen like he's already making calculations.
05:44I don't understand.
05:45I can't breathe.
05:46The second message is always worse.
05:48It means Thomas is impatient.
05:50And when he's impatient, he gets cruel.
05:53There's this moment.
05:53Small, fragile, where I wish I could tell Cassian everything.
05:58Not because I trust him.
05:59I shouldn't trust him.
06:00But because something in him feels terrifyingly...
06:04Solid.
06:04Like he's the opposite of everyone who has ever broken a promise to me.
06:08Instead, I press a trembling hand to my forehead.
06:11I'm fine.
06:12I just need to go.
06:14You're...
06:14Not going anywhere.
06:16Until you tell me who you're running.
06:18From...
06:18I'm not...
06:19He cuts me off with one look.
06:21One.
06:22And I swear it strips every lie off my skin.
06:25I feel something crack inside me.
06:27The truth tries to claw its way out.
06:29But survival pushes it back down.
06:31If I say anything, you'll get involved.
06:33He laughs once.
06:34Dark.
06:35Amused.
06:36Disbelieving.
06:37Alara.
06:38I'm already involved.
06:40You walked into my office, shaking.
06:42I choke on a breath.
06:43There it is.
06:44The moment everything inside me starts unraveling.
06:46He steps closer again, slow enough for me to stop him.
06:49I don't.
06:51Who hurt you?
06:52He asks, it's softer this time.
06:54Not gentle, intense.
06:55Like he's vowing something he hasn't said yet.
06:57My throat closes.
06:59He reaches out.
07:00Not to touch me, but to hold his palm near my arm.
07:03Hovering.
07:04A promise he won't cross the line unless I let him.
07:07No one gets to do this to you, he murmurs.
07:10Something in my chest fractures wide open.
07:12I want to lean toward him.
07:13I want to run.
07:15I want both so desperately it hurts.
07:17But then, a third buzz.
07:18My hand slips to my phone before I can stop myself.
07:22The preview glows bright.
07:23Three words that drain every drop of color from my face.
07:26I found her.
07:27Cassian sees the way my knees almost buckle.
07:30Alara, he says, voice suddenly razor sharp.
07:34Tell me right now, who is he?
07:36I open my mouth.
07:37But all that comes out is air.
07:39Because the elevator behind him dings again.
07:41Someone else is coming up.
07:42He turns toward the sound, eyes narrowing.
07:44I step back, pulse screaming.
07:47And that's where it hits me.
07:49Terrifying.
07:50Undeniable.
07:51If the man stepping off that elevator is Thomas,
07:54then Cassian Valtieri might be the only person who can keep me alive.
07:57Or the one who destroys me first.
07:59When the elevator doors slide open,
08:02the sunlight flooding the private hallway flashes off the metal like it's mocking me.
08:06I don't breathe.
08:08I can't.
08:09My pulse surges so violently, I taste iron.
08:12Cassian steps slightly in front of me, not enough to cage me,
08:16but enough to make it clear he's no longer a bystander in whatever storm I've dragged into his world.
08:21A man emerges.
08:22But it isn't Tomas.
08:24Not even close.
08:25This one is tall, built like someone who lifts luxury cars for fun,
08:30but nowhere near as terrifying as the nightmare I'm running from.
08:34His suit is gray, crisp, flawless.
08:37A soldier dressed like a banker.
08:39His eyes flick between me and Cassian, landing longer on me,
08:43curiosity edging into suspicion.
08:46Boss, he says quietly.
08:48We have a situation downstairs.
08:51Cassian's voice stays level.
08:53What kind of situation?
08:54The man hesitates.
08:56A guy's been asking questions.
08:59Loud ones.
09:00About a woman matching.
09:02Her description.
09:03My stomach falls so hard it's like it wants to escape through the floor.
09:07Cassian doesn't turn toward me.
09:09He doesn't need to.
09:11I feel his attention like heat on my skin.
09:14What did you tell him?
09:15He asks the man.
09:17That he needed an appointment to be here.
09:20A pause.
09:21He didn't like that answer.
09:22It's Tomas.
09:24It has to be.
09:26He found me.
09:27In broad daylight.
09:29In the one building I thought he'd never have the nerve to walk into.
09:33I step back until my shoulder hits the corner of Cassian's desk.
09:37The man continues.
09:38He's not armed.
09:40As far as we can tell.
09:42But the guy has the kind of energy that makes the security team nervous.
09:46Cassian finally looks at me.
09:47Is it him?
09:49I can't speak.
09:51His gaze sharpens.
09:53Alara.
09:54My voice comes out like shattered glass.
09:57Yes.
09:57That one word kills whatever distance he tried to keep.
10:01Something in his expression changes.
10:03Not anger.
10:03Not surprise.
10:05Something colder.
10:06Purposeful.
10:07He turns to the man.
10:09Keep him downstairs.
10:11No one touches him until I say so.
10:13Yes, sir.
10:14The man disappears back into the elevator.
10:17The doors close.
10:18Sealing me into a sudden, crushing quiet.
10:21Cassian faces me fully.
10:23We're leaving.
10:24He says.
10:26I can't.
10:27You can.
10:28And you will.
10:29He steps closer.
10:31Slow enough to give me a chance to push him away.
10:34I don't.
10:35I can't.
10:36The space between us thrums with something electric.
10:39Something dangerous.
10:40Something I should have never let myself crave.
10:42His voice lowers.
10:44I'm not letting the man who put those bruises on you walk anywhere near you again.
10:49A breath slips out of me like relief and fear fused.
10:53Why?
10:54I whisper.
10:55His jaw flexes.
10:57Because I don't like seeing you shake.
10:59It shouldn't feel like a confession.
11:02It feels like a knife sliding straight into the center of me.
11:05I don't understand you, I say.
11:08And my voice trembles because it's true.
11:10You don't know me.
11:11You don't know anything about my life.
11:14I made a mistake coming into this office.
11:16I shouldn't have.
11:18Elara.
11:19He says my name like I'm forgetting who I am.
11:22Stop trying to convince me to leave you to the wolves.
11:25It won't work.
11:26I hate how part of me warms at that.
11:28I hate how another part clenches in panic.
11:32Because nothing about this is safe.
11:34Cassian.
11:35My throat closes.
11:37Tomas is not someone you want to get involved with.
11:40I decide who I get involved with.
11:43His eyes darken.
11:44And I'm already involved with you.
11:47My breath catches.
11:49He turns toward the hidden door near the corner of his office, the one I didn't notice until now.
11:54He presses his palm to a panel, and it slides open with a soft mechanical sigh.
11:59Come on, he says.
12:01I hesitate.
12:03Which is stupid, because the alternative is the man who hurt me coming up those stairs.
12:08Still, stepping toward Cassian feels like stepping into another life.
12:12One I'm not sure I'm allowed to want.
12:14He sees my hesitation, and something gentles in him not his expression, but the air between us.
12:21You're safe with me, he says quietly.
12:24Even if you don't trust that yet.
12:26I swallow hard.
12:27It's not safety I'm afraid of.
12:29His gaze dips to my mouth for a fraction of a second.
12:32He covers it well, but not well enough.
12:35Come with me, Alara, he murmurs.
12:38Please.
12:39That word undoes me.
12:41I walk toward him.
12:42He leads me down a narrow, pristine hallway hidden behind the office wall.
12:48The sunlight from small side windows paints thin golden stripes across the floor.
12:53Everything is warm.
12:54Bright.
12:55Too bright for the fear curling in my chest.
12:58We enter what looks like a private elevator.
13:00Sleek.
13:01Silent.
13:02And so clean it feels surreal.
13:04When the doors close, the world narrows to the two of us and the hush of a moving cage.
13:09I lean back against the wall.
13:11My body humming with adrenaline.
13:14He stands across from me, hands in his pockets.
13:17Watching me with the kind of attention that feels...
13:20Impossible.
13:21Like he's reading thoughts I don't want anyone to see.
13:24Tell me what he did, he says.
13:26I shake my head.
13:28No.
13:29Alara.
13:30You don't get to ask that.
13:32He studies me.
13:34Then why are you shaking again?
13:35Because you're too close.
13:37Because Tomas is too close.
13:39Because everything in my life feels like glass.
13:42And one wrong breath will shatter it.
13:45Because I'm tired.
13:46I say weakly.
13:47It's not the truth.
13:49It's not even a good lie.
13:51He knows it.
13:52But he lets it go for now.
13:53The elevator opens into a sunlit hallway of what looks like a private penthouse apartment.
13:58Or maybe a full floor.
14:00Hard to tell.
14:01Everything gleams with quiet wealth, light wood, sleek lines, large windows spilling Miami
14:07daylight across expensive surfaces.
14:10This is your home?
14:11I whisper.
14:12One of them.
14:13Of course it is.
14:15He almost smiles.
14:16Almost.
14:18Don't read into it.
14:19I'm in a mafia Don's penthouse.
14:22I think I'm allowed to read into that.
14:24He turns toward me, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe.
14:28You're safe here.
14:29No one gets in without my say.
14:31I feel the truth in that.
14:33And it terrifies me more than the threat outside.
14:36I walk deeper into the space, my footsteps echoing softly.
14:41Everything is so clean.
14:42So curated.
14:44So much the opposite of the life I've been clawing my way through for years.
14:47I shouldn't be here.
14:49But I can't make myself leave.
14:52Cassian stays a few feet away, letting me breathe.
14:55Or maybe letting himself breathe.
14:57His voice comes quiet.
14:59Who else knows about your daughter?
15:01My heart stops.
15:02I whip around.
15:04How do you...
15:05You mumbled something earlier, he says.
15:08Before you realized I was in the room.
15:11You said you told her you'd be home soon.
15:13Panic surges.
15:15Don't drag her into this.
15:17His expression darkens not anger, but something sharper.
15:22Protective.
15:23Dangerous in a different way.
15:25I'm not dragging her into anything.
15:28But if you have a child, that changes how I handle this.
15:31I'm the one who should handle this.
15:34He steps closer.
15:36Voice low.
15:37You tried.
15:39That's why you're shaking in my elevator.
15:41My throat burns.
15:43He's right.
15:43I hate it.
15:45But he's right.
15:46I finally say it out loud.
15:48She's five.
15:49His jaw softens fractionally.
15:52What's her name?
15:53No.
15:54Elara.
15:55I'm not telling you.
15:57I whisper.
15:58If Tomas thinks I told you...
16:00He'll...
16:01My voice cuts.
16:02I can't finish that sentence.
16:04I can't even think it.
16:06Cassian studies me like he's memorizing every flinch.
16:09Where is she now?
16:11At a friend's place.
16:12Safe.
16:13My voice cracks.
16:15I hope.
16:16You hope.
16:17He repeats quietly.
16:19Like the words personally offend him.
16:21I inhale shakily.
16:23My friend doesn't know what's happening.
16:25I didn't want to drag her into this either.
16:28Who's dragging people into danger?
16:30Cassian asks softly.
16:32You?
16:33Or the man downstairs looking for you?
16:34I close my eyes.
16:37I'm so tired of being afraid.
16:39When I open them, Cassian's watching me with a look that should be illegal.
16:43Tell me what you owe him, he says.
16:46It's not money anymore, I whisper.
16:49Not really.
16:50What is it?
16:51My throat closes again.
16:53This is the moment.
16:55The one where everything inside me either spills out or stays locked away forever.
17:00I force myself to speak.
17:02Tomas wasn't always...
17:04Like this.
17:06He pretended to care about me.
17:07He helped me when I needed it most.
17:11Or at least that's what I thought.
17:13Cassian's eyes flicker.
17:15I got sick.
17:16I continue.
17:17Hospital bills.
17:19Missed work.
17:20My daughter was only three.
17:21I was drowning.
17:23He stepped in.
17:24Said he wanted to help.
17:25Said I reminded him of someone he used to love.
17:28A bitter laugh slips out.
17:30Turns out he loved the control more than the woman.
17:32Cassian's voice is almost a growl.
17:35So he used the debt against you.
17:37He turned me into something he could leverage.
17:40I swallow.
17:41Every time I paid something off, he'd add something new.
17:45Fees.
17:46Interest.
17:46Threats.
17:48He said I owed him more than money.
17:50I owed him obedience.
17:52Cassian's jaw locks.
17:53His whole body going still.
17:55Too still.
17:56Alara, he says quietly.
17:59Has he touched your daughter?
18:00No.
18:02My voice breaks.
18:03But he's threatened to.
18:05That does it.
18:06Cassian steps away from me abruptly.
18:08Like if he stays close, he'll break something he can't unbreak.
18:12He runs a hand through his hair, the top button of his black shirt gaping slightly wider.
18:17You should have come to me sooner.
18:20I barely know you.
18:21You don't need to know me to know what I do to men like him.
18:24I stare at him.
18:26Why do you care?
18:27He looks at me then.
18:29Really looks.
18:30And I feel it everywhere.
18:31Because someone should have a long time ago, he says.
18:35Before I can respond, his phone vibrates.
18:38He checks the screen.
18:40His jaw tightens.
18:42What?
18:43I whisper.
18:44He hesitates only a breath.
18:46Then.
18:47He's gone, Cassian says.
18:49Tomas.
18:50He left the lobby.
18:51But he wasn't alone.
18:52My blood goes cold.
18:55Who was with him?
18:56Cassian lifts his eyes to mine.
18:59And the look in them guts me.
19:01A man carrying a small pink backpack.
19:03My knees nearly buckle.
19:06No.
19:07No.
19:08No.
19:09My daughter's backpack is pink.
19:11With stars on it.
19:12I feel the scream before I hear it.
19:14Trapped in my throat.
19:16Suffocating.
19:17Cassian.
19:18I choke.
19:19He found her.
19:20He has.
19:21He catches my shoulders before I can collapse.
19:24Holding me upright with hands strong enough to mimic safety.
19:28Listen to me.
19:28He says, voice fierce and low.
19:30We're going to get her.
19:32Do you hear me?
19:33I won't let anything happen to her.
19:35I'm shaking so hard I can't breathe.
19:37We need to go.
19:38I gasp.
19:39Now please, Cassian, please.
19:41He pulls me closer.
19:42Anchoring me with the steadiness of a storm that's chosen its direction.
19:46Ilara, he whispers.
19:48I'm going to bring your daughter home.
19:50The elevator dings somewhere behind us.
19:52We turn at the same time.
19:54The doors slide open.
19:55And standing inside is one of Cassian's men.
19:58Ashen-faced, out of breath.
20:00His voice breaks.
20:02Boss, we found the backpack.
20:03On the steps outside.
20:05My entire world fractures in one violent, blinding snap.
20:09Then his phone buzzes.
20:10He lifts it.
20:11Reads it.
20:12And his eyes sharpen into something lethal.
20:15Come on, he says.
20:16They found something.
20:18My heartbeat stumbles.
20:19Her?
20:20A vehicle Thomas used.
20:22Abandoned near the old marina.
20:24We have to go.
20:25He stops me with a hand on my arm.
20:27Ilara, listen.
20:29This might not be the end.
20:31He might move her again.
20:32This will be messy.
20:33I don't care.
20:34His gaze traces my face, like he's checking for cracks he can't let widen.
20:39Then he nods.
20:40Stay close to me.
20:42He leads me through another private elevator.
20:44A different one.
20:45Deeper in the penthouse.
20:47It opens to an underground.
20:48Garage filled with machines so expensive.
20:51They don't look real.
20:52He unlocks one.
20:53Black, sleek, silent.
20:55And opens the passenger door for me.
20:57The gesture is too gentle for the violence twisting through my spine.
21:01We drive.
21:02The sunlight slants through the windshield.
21:04Brightening the tension instead of softening it.
21:06My fingers grip my knees so tightly they ache.
21:09Cassian's hand stays near the gear shift.
21:12But every so often, when my breath stutters, his pinky brushes mine.
21:16Accidental or not, I don't know.
21:18But I cling to the contact like air.
21:20We reach the marina.
21:21The place is bathed in late afternoon gold.
21:24People laugh, walk dogs, live normal lives.
21:26It feels obscene.
21:28Cassian's men stand near an old storage shed at the far end of the docks.
21:31One of them approaches Cassian, glancing at me like he's not sure if I belong here.
21:36Cassian doesn't give him time to question it.
21:38Talk.
21:39We found the car.
21:41He ditched it, but...
21:42The man points toward the shed.
21:44There's something inside.
21:46My breath stops.
21:47Cassian gestures for me to stay behind him as he pushes open the shed's door.
21:52Inside, sunlight spills through slats in the walls, illuminating dust and old rope coils.
21:57And on the ground?
21:59The backpack.
22:00The same one they found earlier.
22:01Only now it's open.
22:03And next to it lies a small, plush bunny.
22:05My daughter's.
22:06My vision blurs so fast I sway.
22:08Cassian's arm catches me before I fall.
22:10It's a message, he says quietly.
22:13He wants you to know he's ahead.
22:15No, I whisper, voice breaking.
22:17He wants me terrified.
22:19He won't get to enjoy that for long.
22:21Cassian stands, lifting the bunny with surprising care.
22:24Something in his expression.
22:26Fractures, just for a second before the steel returns.
22:30His phone buzzes again.
22:31He reads it.
22:32His breath hitches once.
22:34Then he turns to me.
22:35We found them, he says.
22:37My knees give out.
22:39Cassian catches me, grounding me with hands strong enough to anchor the sun.
22:43Where?
22:44I rasp.
22:45A house outside the city.
22:46Abandoned.
22:47Quiet road.
22:48My men are surrounding it now.
22:50Then why are we standing here?
22:52Tears burn through my voice.
22:54Let's go, Cassian, let's go.
22:56He lifts my face with one hand.
22:58Gentle but firm.
23:00Alara, when we get there I need you to stay with the car.
23:03No matter what you hear.
23:04No matter what you feel.
23:06No, I need to-
23:07You need to survive this.
23:08For her.
23:09His forehead touches mine.
23:11Breath warm.
23:12Let me do the destroying.
23:14You focus on the rebuilding.
23:16Something inside me cracks open wide and raw.
23:18Please, I beg.
23:20Bring her back to me.
23:21I will.
23:22His voice is a vow forged in heat.
23:25I swear it.
23:26He pulls away.
23:28And for a heartbeat I feel the loss of his closeness like cold water.
23:31Then we're moving again.
23:33The drive feels endless.
23:34The sun hangs low but bright.
23:36Burning everything in gold.
23:38Cassian's phone buzzes twice.
23:40Updates.
23:41Confirmations.
23:42Positioning.
23:42And each one tightens his jaw.
23:45When we finally turn onto a dusty side road, my chest clenches so hard it hurts.
23:50In the distance sits a small, sunlit house.
23:52White paint peeling.
23:54Windows dark.
23:55Still.
23:56Too still.
23:57Cassian parks behind a cluster of trees.
23:59His men flank the area, waiting.
24:02Watching.
24:02Silent.
24:03He turns to me.
24:05I'll bring her out, he says.
24:07Alive.
24:08I nod, even though my hands are trembling so violently I can barely breathe.
24:12He reaches for my face again, his thumb brushing away a tear I didn't feel fall.
24:18When she's in your arms, he murmurs.
24:20I want you to remember something.
24:23What?
24:23I choke.
24:24You're not alone anymore.
24:26My heart pulls tight.
24:27He steps out before I can respond.
24:30Sunlight spills across him.
24:31Black shirt.
24:32Top button undone.
24:33Sleeves rolled.
24:34Power radiating off him in quiet, lethal waves.
24:37For a moment he looks like some kind of ruin and salvation all at once.
24:41I watch him walk toward the house.
24:43I watch the door swing open through force I can't see.
24:46I watch silhouettes move.
24:47Fast.
24:48Sharp.
24:49Dangerous.
24:50I hear shouts.
24:51A crash.
24:52A gunshot.
24:53My scream never makes it out of my throat.
24:55The world becomes sunlight and silence and fear.
24:58Then.
24:58Then.
24:59A smaller sound.
25:00A cry.
25:01High.
25:02Familiar.
25:02Terrified.
25:03My daughter.
25:04I move before I can think.
25:05But Cassian's second-in-command catches me.
25:09Holding me back as I thrash.
25:11Let go.
25:11Let go.
25:12She's in there.
25:13Alara!
25:14Cassian's voice roars across the field.
25:16I freeze.
25:17And then he emerges.
25:19Cassian steps into the sunlight carrying her.
25:21My baby.
25:22My world.
25:23My reason to breathe.
25:25Her tiny hands gripping his shirt.
25:27Her face tear-streaked but alive.
25:29Alive.
25:30I collapse, sobbing, hands shaking uncontrollably.
25:34Cassian crosses the distance in long, sure strides.
25:37And then she's in my arms.
25:38I fold around her like I'm trying to become her shield.
25:41She buries her face in my neck, trembling.
25:43I got you.
25:44I whisper over and over.
25:45I got you.
25:46I got you.
25:47I got you.
25:48Cassian stands close, breathing hard.
25:50Blood on his sleeve.
25:51Not his, but someone else's.
25:53He doesn't speak.
25:55Not until I look up at him.
25:57And when I do, the world shifts.
25:59Thank you, I breathe.
26:01He shakes his head once.
26:02Don't thank me.
26:04I have to.
26:05No, he murmurs, voice low and rough.
26:08You don't.
26:09For a long, quiet moment.
26:11We just exist.
26:12Sunlight, dust, breath, relief.
26:15The sound of my daughter hiccuping against my collarbone.
26:18Cassian looks at us like we're something he never expected to see.
26:21Something he never thought he deserved.
26:23Something he wants anyway.
26:24He steps closer.
26:26Alara, he whispers, it's over.
26:29I nod.
26:29I nod.
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