Ava had never packed in silence before.
Not like this.
She stood in her bedroom, stuffing essentials into a duffel bag while Julian moved through her apartment with swift, controlled purpose. They didn't talk about what happened that morning—the photo, the camera, the man across the street. They didn't talk about danger.
They just moved.
"What do you mean by 'safehouse'?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.
Julian zipped a small black case shut. "A place I kept in case something like this happened. It's outside the city. Remote. Off the grid."
"You trust it?"
"I built it."
His tone left no room for doubt.
By the time they loaded the bags into his car—a black, unremarkable sedan Ava had never seen before—it was already past sunset. The streets were dark, the rain had started again, and her city no longer felt like hers.
The silence between them stretched until they left the city limits. Then Ava spoke again.
"Do you regret it?"
Julian glanced over. "Regret what?"
"Letting me in."
His hands tightened slightly on the wheel. "No. But I regret that I've put you in danger."
"I confronted her. The night before I left Istanbul, I told her I'd go to the police. She smiled. Said I wouldn't live long enough to try."
Ava sat beside him, barely breathing.
"She gave Elias something. A drive. Full of names, transactions. Proof. She said if anything happened to her… it would all be released. But if *I* talked, the same thing would happen."
Ava blinked. "She trapped you."
"She *owns* me. That's why Elias is here. He thinks I still have that drive."
"Do you?"
Julian turned to her, eyes dark. "Yes."
The air between them changed.
She didn't ask where it was. She didn't need to.
"You're not going to run anymore, are you?" she asked.
"No," he said. "I'm going to end this."
Ava reached for his hand, laced their fingers together.
And for the first time since the storm began, she saw something in Julian's eyes she hadn't seen before.
Not fear.
Resolve.