Rain poured from the overpass in hard, icy sheets, soaking the cracked concrete and turning the world into a blur of silver and shadow. The SUV's engine ticked softly as it cooled, steam rising from the hood like breath from a dying animal.
Inside, Aria's heartbeat wasn't beating,
it was breaking.
Caspian was already out there.
Facing him.
Facing The Shadow.
Alone.
And she was locked inside a steel box with the taste of his kiss still burning on her mouth.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the door handle,
but his voice echoed in her skull like a command forged in fire:
Lock.
The.
Door.
Her shaking thumb hit the button.
Click.
Her breath fractured.
Outside, Caspian stepped into the rain like he owned it. Like the storm had been waiting for him.
Rafael slid out from the other side, moving low, covering angles, a silent phantom with a gun ready. But he wasn't the one The Shadow watched.
It was him.
Only him.
Caspian approached slowly, shoulders squared, drenched suit clinging to his frame, every line of him carved in lightning.
The Shadow stood in the open, hood dripping, mask blacker than the night behind him. His posture was too still. Too calm. Too controlled.
A man who had killed more people than he had spoken to.
A man who was sent for her.
Aria swallowed hard. "Please… please don't hurt him."
Her whisper fogged the glass.
She pressed her fingertips to the window as the two men closed distance,
one a monster raised in darkness.
The other a monster forged by loss.
They stopped ten feet apart.
Ten feet from death.
Caspian spoke first, voice a low, lethal cut.
"You came for the wrong girl."
The Shadow tilted his head slightly like a predator studying prey.
Or…
confirming a target he had already chosen.
A flicker of lightning illuminated the glint of metal at his side.
A blade.
Not a gun.
He wanted to kill Caspian up close.
Rafael moved to flank, but The Shadow didn't even look at him.
He only lifted one finger.
And pointed it at Aria.
Aria's lungs collapsed.
Caspian took a single step forward, placing himself solidly in the line of fire.
"Touch her," he growled, "and I'll carve your heart out myself."
The Shadow finally spoke.
His voice was low. Smooth. Eerily calm.
"She knows something."
Caspian's jaw clenched. "She knows nothing."
"She will," The Shadow said. "The notebook. The files. The truth your father left behind."
Aria froze.
Caspian stiffened.
Even Rafael hesitated.
Caspian's voice dropped into something murderous.
"You don't get to say his name."
The Shadow tilted his head again.
"I wasn't talking about your father."
Lightning cracked the sky wide open.
Caspian's breath hitched.
Rafael swore.
"What the hell does that mean?" Rafael barked.
The Shadow didn't answer.
He simply moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
A blur of black slicing through rain.
Caspian launched forward at the same moment, drawing his gun but The Shadow was already airborne, kicking the weapon out of his hand.
Steel clattered across the concrete.
Aria gasped. "No… Caspian!"
He dodged the first strike, barely—clashing forearms, pivoting, driving a knee into The Shadow's ribs, but the man absorbed the hit like he was made of stone.
The second strike came harder.
A blade flashed.
Caspian twisted, but not fast enough.
Steel kissed skin.
Rain mixed with blood.
A line of red bloomed across Caspian's forearm.
Aria's vision blurred. "No, no… "
Rafael fired a warning shot, forcing The Shadow back two steps.
But The Shadow didn't retreat.
He spun, grabbed something from his belt and hurled it at the SUV.
Aria screamed.
Caspian lunged.
The object hit the SUV roof with a thunk—
and rolled off harmlessly.
Not a bomb.
Not a knife.
A small metal cylinder.
Rafael spat, "A tracker. He's marking the car"
But The Shadow wasn't aiming for the SUV.
He had thrown it to force Caspian to take his eyes off him.
And it worked.
The Shadow was already behind him.
Caspian turned too slow.
Aria's breath died in her throat.
The blade rose.
Fell.
"CASPIAN!" she screamed.
He caught the attacker's wrist inches before impact, muscles straining violently, teeth clenched, blood running down his arm.
The Shadow leaned in, whispering something only Caspian could hear.
But Aria caught it through the glass.
The wind carried it to her like poison.
"She looks like her."
Caspian froze.
For the first time, truly froze.
The Shadow twisted the blade, sliding it dangerously close to Caspian's throat.
Rafael fired again, forcing him to step back.
Caspian staggered.
Aria slammed her fists against the window.
"Let me out! Let me out… Caspian!"
But the doors were locked.
By him.
And he wasn't looking back.
Rafael shouted, "Cas… MOVE!"
The Shadow charged again.
Caspian blocked with his injured arm, grunting in pain. The blade slashed across his shoulder.
Blood hit the wet ground.
Aria's voice cracked. "Caspian, stop, RUN! PLEASE…"
But he didn't run.
He stepped into the strike, disarming The Shadow with raw force and slamming him into a support pillar.
Metal clanged.
Rain splattered.
Concrete cracked.
Caspian grabbed the man by the throat.
"This ends now."
The Shadow didn't fight the choke.
He didn't struggle.
Instead, he leaned closer, mask inches from Caspian's face… and whispered:
"Look. In. The. Notebook."
Caspian's grip faltered.
Just enough.
The Shadow drove a knee into his ribs, breaking the hold, flipping backward with inhuman grace, retrieving his blade mid-motion.
Rafael fired again, but this time The Shadow vanished behind a pillar.
Gone.
Silence swallowed the space under the overpass.
Rain hammered the pavement.
Aria's heart slammed against her ribs.
Caspian stood in the open, chest heaving, rain mixing with the blood running down his arm and shoulder.
He looked like a man inches from breaking.
Rafael scanned the shadows. "I lost him. He's gone."
Aria couldn't breathe.
Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
She unlocked the door with shaking fingers and stumbled out, feet splashing into a cold puddle.
"Caspian"
He flinched at her voice.
He wouldn't turn.
Wouldn't look.
She went to him anyway.
Her hands touched his arm gently, blood warm under her fingertips.
He stiffened.
"Aria," he whispered, broken. "Don't."
Her breath cracked. "You're hurt."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding…"
"I SAID I'M FINE!"
The shout echoed under the overpass, slicing through her chest.
Rafael froze.
Even the rain seemed to hesitate.
Caspian's fists trembled at his sides.
Aria swallowed hard. "You… you scared me. I thought he was going to…"
"He didn't," Caspian growled.
"But he tried!"
"And he failed."
His voice was ice now.
Cold. Sharp. Unreachable.
She stepped in front of him, forcing him to meet her eyes.
He didn't look at her face.
He looked at her lips.
The same lips he'd kissed like he was dying.
The same lips he was now terrified to touch again.
Her voice softened. "Caspian… what did he mean? About the notebook?"
Caspian's eyes darkened with something she had never seen before.
Fear.
Real fear.
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Rafael stepped forward, face grim. "Boss. We need to move. Now. If he tagged the car, they know exactly where we are."
Caspian didn't speak.
He turned abruptly, snatched his discarded gun from the ground, and walked to the SUV like nothing had happened.
Like he hadn't almost died.
Like he hadn't kissed her.
Like he wasn't bleeding for her.
Aria followed him.
She reached for his hand.
He recoiled, not in disgust.
In agony.
"Don't," he rasped. "If you touch me again, I'm going to…"
He stopped himself.
Jaw tight.
Breathing uneven.
Aria whispered, "What?"
Caspian looked at her finally.
Really looked.
And the truth spilled out like a confession he couldn't swallow anymore.
"Lose control."
The words rippled through her entire body.
Her breath trembled.
She stepped closer, slowly because the truth was, she was losing control too.
"Maybe," she whispered, voice shaking, "I don't want you in control."
Lightning cracked.
Caspian's expression shattered.
Rafael coughed loudly. "Please don't do this here, I'm begging."
Caspian tore his gaze away, visibly forcing himself to breathe.
"Get in the car," he said quietly. "Both of you."
Aria hesitated.
Her pulse hammered.
Her heart felt like it was splitting open.
But she obeyed.
Not because he told her to.
Because he was bleeding.
Because he was breaking.
Because he had kissed her like she was the last good thing in his world.
As she slid into the passenger seat, she watched him through the rain, the way he stood under the overpass, chest rising and falling, shoulders tight, blood dripping down his fingers.
A man at war.
A man hiding a truth that terrified him.
A man she shouldn't want…
But did.
Caspian climbed into the driver's seat, jaw set, eyes straight ahead.
The SUV roared to life.
"We're going to your apartment," he said finally. "We're getting the notebook."
Aria's breath hitched.
"What if the truth is worse than what we already know?" she whispered.
Caspian didn't look at her.
His voice was cold.
Haunted.
Broken.
"It is."
The SUV sped into the storm.
Behind them, hidden in the shadows beneath the overpass.
The Shadow watched them go.
Unhurt.
Unshaken.
Waiting.
And whispering into the rain:
"She looks exactly like her."