Chapter 62 – The Open Door

Chapter 62 – The Open Door
"This is all her fault!"

Pietra's voice echoed through the hideout.

Her face was completely twisted with rage.

No.

Not rage.

This was something worse.

Much worse.

Hatred.

The kind of hatred that consumes a person from the inside until nothing is left.

Fercondiny stood frozen between the two of us.

"Pietra..."

"Shut up!"

She pointed the gun at me.

My heart raced.

Instinctively I stepped back.

"You always ruin everything!" she screamed at me. "From the very first day!"

"Pietra..."

"No!"

Her eyes were full of tears.

But they weren't tears of sadness.

They were the tears of someone who had finally lost control.

"I did everything for him!"

She pointed at Fercondiny.

"Everything!"

My gaze went to him.

For the first time, Fercondiny looked genuinely uncomfortable.

"I destroyed my life for this revenge!"

"Pietra..."

"And now you're just going to let her go?"

The silence answered for him.

The answer was written on both their faces.

And that was enough.

Pietra understood.

Finally understood.

Fercondiny wasn't on her side anymore.

And maybe he never had been.

The sound of gunfire echoed in the distance.

Everyone froze.

Me included.

Another shot.

Closer.

Much closer.

One of the henchmen ran in.

"Boss!"

Fercondiny turned immediately.

"What happened?"

"They found the place!"

My heart raced.

Romeu.

My God.

Romeu found me.

The man continued:

"Aragão's men are breaking in!"

Another shot.

More screaming.

More chaos.

Pietra went pale.

"No."

"Pietra..."

"NO!"

She started pacing back and forth.

Desperate.

Completely desperate.

"They can't get in!"

"They already have."

Fercondiny answered.

Too calm.

Too composed.

Like someone who'd already been expecting it.

The henchman looked at him.

"Boss, what do we do?"

Silence.

Fercondiny looked at me.

For a few seconds.

Long seconds.

And something changed.

Definitely changed.

I couldn't explain it.

But I knew that man was making a decision.

An important decision.

Maybe the most important one of his life.

"Open the gates."

The henchman's eyes went wide.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"But they'll storm in!"

"I said open them."

My heart skipped a beat.

Pietra went still.

Completely still.

"You're doing this for her."

Fercondiny didn't answer.

"You're doing this for her!"

Her voice came out shrill.

Desperate.

Fercondiny closed his eyes for a moment.

As if he were tired.

Very tired.

"It's over, Pietra."

Those two words destroyed whatever was still left inside her.

More shots.

More screaming.

More footsteps running through the halls.

The rescue was happening.

For real.

My whole body trembled.

Romeu was there.

I knew it.

I felt it.

Romeu was coming for me.

And for the first time since it all began, I let myself believe I would get out alive.

Pietra raised the gun.

Straight at me.

My blood ran cold.

"If I can't have what I want..."

Fercondiny moved before she even finished the sentence.

He grabbed her arm.

The gun fired.

The shot hit the wall.

Pietra screamed.

Tried to break free.

Tried to hit him.

Tried to hit me.

Anything.

But it was already too late.

Two of Fercondiny's men ran over to restrain her.

She thrashed.

Cried.

Screamed.

Completely out of her mind.

"Let go of me!"

"Pietra!"

"I hate you all!"

She looked straight at me.

With so much hatred that I felt a chill.

"Especially you!"

I didn't answer.

Because there was something deeply sad about that scene.

Pietra didn't look like a winner.

Didn't look like a powerful villain.

She just looked like someone who had lost everything.

Including her own sanity.

Fercondiny stepped closer.

My body tensed.

By instinct.

But he only pulled a key from his pocket.

And unlocked the cell door.

I stood frozen.

Not believing it.

Free.

I was free.

"Go."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Go."

My heart raced.

"Fercondiny..."

He let out a bitter laugh.

"Don't thank me."

"Why?"

Because I needed to understand.

I needed to.

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then he answered:

"Because it was never you."

The words hit me full force.

"What?"

"It was never you I wanted to destroy."

My chest tightened.

Because I finally understood.

All that time.

All that war.

All that revenge.

It was never about me.

It was always about Dom Aragão.

Fercondiny looked away.

As if admitting that was hard.

"When you find your father..."

His voice dropped lower.

Heavier.

"Ask him who mine was."

My heart raced.

"Fercondiny..."

"Go, Mikaella."

For the first time, he didn't look like an enemy.

He just looked like a man carrying pains too old.

Wounds too deep.

And a loneliness no one should have to carry alone.

Explosions echoed from the floor below.

More gunfire.

More screaming.

Chaos had taken over the place.

Fercondiny pointed to the door.

"Run."

I didn't need to hear it twice.

I started running.

But I stopped at the doorway.

I turned back one last time.

Fercondiny stood still.

Watching.

Not fleeing.

Not fighting.

Not trying to stop anything.

Like a man who had finally decided to end a war.

Our eyes met.

And for the first time since we'd known each other...

I felt sorry for him.

Real pity.

Then I ran.

Ran through the corridors.

Ran toward the gunfire.

Ran toward freedom.

Ran toward the man I loved.

Not knowing that, a few minutes later, Romeu would find an empty cell.

And a Fercondiny strangely willing to wait for him.