DAMIEN'S POV
11:52 PM. Eight minutes.
I'm running faster than I've ever run in my life. Aria's beside me, Detective Park and two officers ahead of us. The bomb squad truck speeds past, sirens screaming.
My apartment building looms ahead—twelve floors of brick and glass where a hundred innocent people are sleeping. People who don't know that in eight minutes, their entire world might explode.
"The bomb squad says they need at least fifteen minutes to safely disarm it!" Detective Park shouts into his radio. "We don't have fifteen minutes!"
Fire trucks arrive. Police cars block off the street. Officers pound on doors, screaming for people to evacuate.
Residents stumble out in pajamas, confused and terrified. A woman carries a crying baby. An old man moves slowly with his walker. Too slow. Everything is too slow.
11:54 PM. Six minutes.
"Faster!" I yell at the officers helping people evacuate. "We need to move faster!"
A bomb squad technician in full protective gear sprints into the building, carrying equipment. His partner follows. They're going to try to disarm it anyway, even though they don't have enough time.
My chest feels like it's going to explode. All these people. All these lives. Because Victoria couldn't accept that I didn't love her.
Aria grabs my hand. "They're getting out. Look—they're getting everyone out."
But I count the people streaming from the building. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. That's not enough. There should be more.
"How many are still inside?" I ask Detective Park.
He's on his radio, getting updates. His face tells me everything. "At least thirty people. Some aren't answering their doors. Some are disabled and need help getting down the stairs. The elevators are shut off for safety."
11:56 PM. Four minutes.
I start running toward the building. Aria catches my arm.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going in. Those people are in there because of me. Because Victoria was obsessed with me." I pull away from her grip. "I have to help them."
"You'll die!"
"Then I die." I look at her, and my heart breaks at the fear in her eyes. "I can't let innocent people die for me, Aria. I can't."
Before she can stop me, I run into the building. Officers shout behind me, but I don't stop.
The lobby is chaos. Police officers guide residents down the stairs. I push past them, going up.
"Sir! You can't go up there!" an officer yells.
I ignore him and climb. Third floor. Fourth floor. Fifth floor.
On the sixth floor, I find an elderly woman sitting outside her apartment, crying. "I can't do the stairs. My knees won't work."
"I've got you." I lift her onto my back. She weighs almost nothing. I carry her down as fast as I can without dropping her.
An officer takes her at the lobby. "What are you doing? Get out!"
"There are more people up there!" I run back to the stairs.
11:58 PM. Two minutes.
Seventh floor. Eighth floor. My legs burn. My lungs scream.
On the ninth floor, I hear a baby crying behind a door. I pound on it. "Hello! You need to evacuate now!"
No answer. Just the baby crying.
I kick the door. Once. Twice. It crashes open.
Inside, a young mother sits on the couch, rocking her baby, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so scared," she whispers. "I can't move. I'm so scared."
"I know. But I'm here. I'll help you." I take her hand and pull her up. "We have to run. Can you run?"
She nods, clutching her baby.
We run down the stairs together. Eight floors. Seven. Six.
11:59 PM. One minute.
We're on the fourth floor when I see Aria running up toward me.
"Aria! What are you doing here?"
"Helping you, you idiot!" She takes the mother's other arm, and together we move faster.
Third floor. Second floor. First floor.
We burst out of the lobby just as the clock hits midnight.
I throw myself over Aria and the mother and baby, waiting for the explosion.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Nothing happens.
I look up. Everyone's frozen, staring at the building.
Detective Park's radio crackles. "Bomb squad to command. Device is disarmed. Repeat, device is disarmed. Building is safe."
Cheers erupt. People cry. The mother I carried out hugs her baby and sobs.
Aria and I sit on the pavement, breathing hard. We're alive. Everyone's alive.
"You're insane," Aria says, but she's smiling through tears. "Running into a building that's about to explode."
"You ran in after me."
"Like I said. Insane." She leans her head on my shoulder. "We make a good team."
For the first time in months, I feel something like hope.
An ambulance screams past us. Victoria. I'd almost forgotten about Victoria.
"Is she going to survive?" I ask Detective Park.
He shakes his head grimly. "The poison she took was concentrated. The paramedics are doing everything they can, but..." He doesn't finish.
Two hours later, we're back at the police station. They want more statements about the bomb, about Victoria, about everything.
A doctor appears in the doorway. "Victoria Ashford died ten minutes ago. She never regained consciousness."
The words hit me like a punch. Victoria is dead. The woman who killed Daniel. Who tried to kill us. Who planted a bomb to murder a hundred innocent people.
She's dead.
I should feel relief. Victory. Something.
Instead, I just feel tired.
"There's something else," the doctor says quietly. "Before she died, her vital signs showed something unusual. We ran tests on the poison in her system."
"And?" Detective Park asks.
"It wasn't the same poison that was in the wine glasses she prepared for you. That poison was fast-acting and deadly." The doctor looks uncomfortable. "What Victoria drank was a sedative. A strong one that mimicked poison symptoms. She would have woken up in a few hours."
The room goes silent.
"What are you saying?" Aria whispers.
"I'm saying Victoria Ashford didn't try to kill herself. She tried to fake her death." The doctor pulls out a report. "We found a note in her pocket. Instructions to herself. She was planning to 'die' in front of you, get taken to the hospital, then escape during transfer."
My blood runs cold. "That's impossible. We watched her drink poison. We saw her collapse."
"It was all an act. A final manipulation." Detective Park's face is grim. "She wanted you to think she was dead so you'd let your guard down. Then she'd come back and finish what she started."
"But she really died," I say. "You said she died."
"Yes. But not from the sedative she drank." The doctor's voice drops. "She died from a different poison. One that was injected into her IV at the hospital."
The room spins. "Someone poisoned her? At the hospital?"
"We're reviewing security footage now," Detective Park says. "But whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing. Medical knowledge. Access to restricted areas."
"So Victoria's dead," Aria says slowly. "But someone murdered her."
"Yes. Which means—" Detective Park's phone rings. He answers it, listens, then his face goes white. "We need to go. Now."
"What's wrong?"
"The security footage from the hospital. We found who poisoned Victoria." Detective Park shows us his phone.
On the screen is a grainy image of someone in scrubs entering Victoria's room. They inject something into her IV, then leave.
The person's face is clear in the camera.
My heart stops.
It's Professor Helen Winters. My mentor. The woman who helped us profile Victoria.
"Why would Professor Winters kill Victoria?" Aria asks.
Detective Park pulls up another image. "Because of this."
It's an old newspaper article. "Local Woman Killed by Stalker Twenty Years Ago."
The victim's photo makes my breath catch. She looks exactly like Professor Winters. Same eyes. Same face.
"Her sister," Detective Park says. "Professor Winters' older sister was murdered by an obsessive stalker when they were teenagers. The killer was never caught. Winters has been hunting people like Victoria her whole life."
"She's a vigilante," I whisper.
"She's a murderer. And now she's in the wind." Detective Park grabs his keys. "We have officers at her house and office, but she's gone. Disappeared."
Aria grips my hand. "Why would she run if she thought she was doing the right thing?"
Detective Park pulls up one more image. A list of names.
"We found this in her office. A hit list. Eight names. Victoria's name is crossed off." He points to the second name on the list.
It's mine.
"She's coming for you next, Damien. She thinks everyone involved in obsessive relationships deserves to die. Victims and survivors included."
My mouth goes dry. "That's insane. I was Victoria's victim, not her partner."
"Professor Winters doesn't see it that way. In her mind, you enabled Victoria by staying with her. You're guilty by association." Detective Park stands. "We're putting you both in protective custody until we find her."
"How long will that take?" Aria asks.
"I don't know. Winters is smart. She's been planning this for years." He looks at us seriously. "Until we catch her, neither of you is safe."
We're being escorted to a safe house when my phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number.
I open it.
"You should have saved her like I saved you. But you let her become a monster. Now I have to save everyone else from you. I'll make it quick. I promise. —H.W."
Below the text is a photo.
It's a picture of Aria and me from tonight, standing outside my apartment building.
And there's a red crosshair drawn over both our hearts.
Professor Winters isn't just hunting me.
She's hunting both of us.
And she's already watching.