The sound of gunfire shattered the night. Every muscle in my body was tense, my breathing shallow as I crouched behind the rusted metal container, gripping the rough surface for stability. My ears were ringing from the explosion of noise, but my focus was locked on Clara.
She moved like she had been born for this—swift, controlled, precise. Every shot she fired found its target, every move calculated. But Richard wasn’t backing down.
His men swarmed around him, forming a shield as he barked out orders, his voice calm despite the chaos. He was confident. He believed this was his fight to win.
But he underestimated us.
He underestimated her.
I turned, searching for Marcelo and Evelyn in the fray. Marcelo was taking down Richard’s guards one by one, his movements brutal and efficient. Evelyn was moving along the shadows, hacking into the security system, trying to disable any reinforcements Richard might call in.
Leo was nowhere to be seen.
My stomach twisted.
I didn’t have time to wonder where he had gone before Clara’s voice snapped me back into focus.
“Bela, stay down,” she warned, ducking behind the crate next to me.
A bullet whizzed past, embedding itself into the wood inches from my shoulder.
Panic surged through me, but I pushed it down. “I’m not leaving you.”
Clara’s jaw clenched. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
I shook my head. “Then we die together.”
Something flickered in her eyes—fear, frustration, maybe something softer.
But before she could respond, Richard’s voice cut through the noise.
“Clara!”
She stiffened.
Slowly, she turned, rising just enough to see him standing in the open, his gun lowered.
A challenge.
I grabbed her wrist. “Don’t.”
She didn’t look at me. “I have to.”
Before I could stop her, she stepped out from behind cover, gun raised, facing the man who had been haunting us for weeks.
Richard smiled. “There she is.”
The world narrowed to them.
Two warriors, two sides of the same coin, standing on the edge of something irreversible.
Clara’s voice was steady. “It’s over, Richard.”
He tilted his head. “Is it?”
His fingers twitched at his side. I saw it before Clara did.
A hidden blade.
A second too late, Clara noticed the same thing.
Richard lunged.
She fired.
The shot grazed his side, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
He slammed into her, knocking the gun from her hand, sending it skidding across the pavement. Clara fought back instantly, twisting in his grip, but Richard was stronger, fueled by desperation.
I ran forward before I could think.
Richard had her pinned, one hand gripping her throat, the other raising the blade.
“No!” The scream tore from me as I grabbed the gun off the ground.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t hesitate.
I just pulled the trigger.
The shot rang out.
Richard staggered back, his eyes wide in shock as his hand went to his chest. Blood bloomed against his shirt.
Clara gasped for air, stumbling backward as Richard fell to his knees.
He looked at me, his lips curling into something almost amused.
Then he collapsed.
The docks fell silent.
Clara turned to me, her breath ragged.
I didn’t realize I was shaking until she reached out, steadying me with both hands.
“You.” She swallowed, her voice uneven. “You shot him.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “I—” My hands trembled around the gun. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Clara exhaled, her fingers tightening around mine. “I know.”
The weight of it hit me all at once.
It was over.
Richard was dead.
But so much had already been lost.
The next few hours were a blur.
Marcelo and Evelyn took care of the bodies, making sure there was no trace of what had happened here.
Leo returned, limping and bloody, but alive.
I barely registered any of it.
Clara never left my side.
We drove back in silence, the city lights passing by in a hazy glow.
By the time we reached the apartment, exhaustion settled into my bones, but my mind wouldn’t stop racing.
Clara walked me inside, guiding me to the couch before kneeling in front of me, her hands on my knees.
“Talk to me,” she whispered.
I shook my head. “I don’t know how.”
She hesitated, then reached for my hands. “You saved my life.”
I let out a broken laugh. “And I ended someone else’s.”
Clara’s grip tightened. “He would have killed us both.”
I knew she was right.
But it didn’t make it easier.
Tears burned my eyes. “I don’t want to be this person.”
She moved closer, pressing her forehead against mine. “You’re not.”
I closed my eyes, letting myself fall into her.
For the first time in weeks, I let myself breathe.
I woke up hours later, the sky just beginning to lighten outside the window.
Clara was still beside me, asleep on the couch, her arms wrapped around me as if she was afraid I’d disappear.
I reached up, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
She stirred, her eyes fluttering open.
“Morning,” she murmured.
A small smile tugged at my lips. “Morning.”
For the first time in a long time, we weren’t running.
We weren’t hiding.
We were just here.
Together.
And maybe that was enough.