The explosion ripped through the night like thunder shattering the silence of heaven during a heavy storm.
The snow turned red, light and smoke swallowing everything.
Natalia's ears rang as she hit the ground hard, pain searing through her arm. She coughed, dazed, trying to move, but the world was a haze of fire and cold. She blinked through the smoke and saw him ,Dimitri ,his tall frame moving through the chaos, half his coat torn, face scarred with injuries , blood and fury.
He reached for her In seconds, pulling her up by the arm. "Natalia!" His voice was rough, hoarse, desperate. "Can you hear me?"
She nodded weakly, the scent of gunpowder clinging to her hair. "Yelena… she…"
"I know," Dimitri snapped, looking toward the burning wreck of the drone. The blast had taken out half the clearing, leaving behind molten snow and smoldering debris. "She's not working alone. She has somebody behind her. "
Natalia's eyes darted around the forest. "Where is she now?"
"Gone."
His tone said more than the word itself. Gone , because Yelena had planned this. Because she had wanted them alive, not dead. That was what frightened Natalia most.
Dimitri pulled her closer, hand gripping the back of her neck. "We have to leave, right now."
She nodded, still trembling. Together, they stumbled toward the vehicle. Dimitri threw open the passenger door, pushed her inside, and slid behind the wheel. The tires screeched against the snow as he accelerated, the forest blurring into specks of black and white.
For several minutes, there was only silence , the kind born from shared danger and raw adrenaline. Then, slowly, the world began to return to focus.
Natalia turned to him, voice low and trembling. "She was my sister, Dimitri. My blood. Why would she do that. I trusted her."
He didn't answer immediately. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, eyes hard and focused on the road ahead. "Because blood doesn't usually mean loyalty. Sometimes it's the first lie we ever believe."
His words cut deeper than the cold.
Natalia stared out the window, watching the snow whip past, her thoughts spiraling. Yelena's face haunted her , that empty look in her eyes, the way her voice had no warmth left in it.
"Do you think she might be working with your father" she finally asked.
Dimitri answered, jaw clenching. "My father is already dead, the only way that can happen is if he's been alive all along unknown to us"
"Then we have to find her," Natalia said, defiant. "She has the second key. Without it, the drive is useless."
He looked at her, his gaze flickering to the bruises on her cheek, the blood on her temple. His voice softened just slightly. "You almost died back there."
"I'm still alive," she whispered. "That's what matters."
He smiled faintly ,a shadow of something real. "You sound like me."
She looked at him, really looked , the dark hair damp with sweat, the intensity in his eyes, the quiet storm in his expression. There was something dangerous in the way he watched her, something that made her heart both race and ache.
And in that long, silent stretch of road, something shifted between them again , something neither bullets nor her sister's betrayal could erase.
The safehouse was hidden beneath an abandoned railway station, deep beneath the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The entrance was disguised as a rusted cargo lift, but once inside, it opened into a dimly lit network of reinforced tunnels.
Natalia followed Dimitri through the narrow corridors, her boots echoing faintly against the metal floor. The air was cold and stale, carrying the faint scent of oil and steel.
"Who built this?" she asked quietly.
"My father," Dimitri replied. "Years ago. It was meant to be a fallback point if the Volkov syndicate was ever compromised."
"And now?"
"Now it's ours."
He keyed a sequence on a console, and a heavy door slid open. Inside was a small but functional safe room: two beds, a flickering heater, and a table covered in weapons and data drives.
Natalia moved toward the table, dropping her bag beside it. Her hands shook slightly as she connected the laptop and inserted one of the drives. The encryption progress bar appeared, pulsing slowly.
Dimitri leaned against the wall, watching her. His silence was heavy, thoughtful even.
Finally, he said, "You shouldn't have followed me back there."
She looked up sharply. "If I hadn't, you could have died."
"I've been dead before."
His words carried a quiet bitterness, and she felt it ,the weight of all he had lost. She softened her tone. "You don't have to keep pretending you don't care if you live or die, Dimitri. You're not alone, at least not anymore."
He looked at her for a long time, eyes dark and unreadable. Then, slowly, he pushed away from the wall and crossed the room.
Natalia's breath caught as he stopped in front of her.
He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face, fingers lingering at her jaw. "You shouldn't say things like that," he murmured.
"Why not?" she whispered.
"Because I might start believing you."
For a moment, the only sound was the faint hum of the heater and the slow, rhythmic beep of the decryption.
Her pulse thundered. "Maybe you should."
He hesitated, just long enough for her to see the conflict in his eyes , then leaned in, his lips brushing hers softly, questioningly. The kiss was tentative at first, a clash between desire and restraint. But the second time he kissed her, there was no hesitation.
It was heat and danger and everything they had been running from, colliding in a storm of passion.
Natalia's hands moved to his chest, gripping his shirt, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them. His touch was rough, desperate, yet careful , as though afraid she'd disappear if he held her too tightly.
When he finally pulled back, both were breathing hard.
"This changes everything," he murmured against her skin.
"Maybe it changes nothing," she countered softly.
He smiled faintly, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You don't know my world, Natalia. If they find out about us…"
She met his gaze, unflinching. "Let them."
For the first time, his hard exterior cracked. He laughed quietly ,not in mockery, but in disbelief. "You're either the bravest woman I've ever met, or the most reckless."
"Maybe both."
He kissed her again, deeper this time. The world outside the safehouse , the betrayals, the blood, the lies ,the secrets, all melted away for few moments.
Hours later, Natalia sat beside him on the narrow bed, wrapped in his jacket. Dimitri had fallen asleep sitting up, one hand still on the gun resting across his lap.
The laptop's faint glow illuminated his face, the lines of exhaustion and quiet sorrow carved deep.
Natalia reached out, brushing her fingers lightly over his arm. She had promised herself never to care, never to need anyone again. But somehow, he had become the one constant in the chaos.
The decryption bar on the laptop reached 98%.
And then, suddenly , the screen flickered.
Natalia frowned. "No… no, no,"
Dimitri stirred awake instantly. "What is it?"
"The system, It's rewriting itself," she said, panic rising. "Someone's accessing it remotely."
He was on his feet in seconds. "destroy the connection!"
"I can't! It's locked from the other end."
Lines of code began to scroll across the screen, faster and faster, until a single message appeared in bold red text:
"YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD, DIMITRI."
Natalia froze. "What does that mean?"
Dimitri's face went pale. "It can only mean one thing. My father's alive."
The words hung between them like a death sentence.
Natalia felt the blood drain from her face. "Then he knows where we are."
Before he could respond, the lights flickered once ,then died.
The heater went silent. The tunnel plunged into darkness.
everywhere was still.
Somewhere in the distance, faint footsteps echoed. Not many , just one pair. Steady. Unhurried footsteps.
Dimitri raised his gun. Natalia grabbed the laptop and crouched beside him, heart pounding.
Then the steel door was opened, light spilling in from the corridor.
And there, standing in the doorway with a pistol in one hand and the Volkov family crest on her coat, was Yelena.
"Hello, dear sister," she said softly. "It looks like you've been very busy."