The gunshot ripped through the hallway, the sound sharp enough to tear the air apart. Mara stumbled backward as splinters of the doorframe exploded beside her. Evelyn yanked her toward the kitchen.
"Mara-MOVE!"
Another shot.
A flash of metal.
The shadow figure closed in.
Mara ducked behind the counter, heart thundering like it was trying to escape her ribcage. She could taste copper-fear or adrenaline or both.
"Evelyn!" Mara yelled. "Get down-"
But Evelyn wasn't running.
Evelyn had grabbed a heavy glass lamp and swung it at the attacker the moment he reached the kitchen doorway.
It smashed against his shoulder, sending him staggering.
"Go!" Evelyn screamed, grabbing Mara's wrist.
Mara tried to pull her toward the back exit, but Daniel's voice cut through the chaos-cold, amused, terrifyingly calm.
"You always were too attached, Eve."
Evelyn froze.
Daniel fired.
Mara tackled Evelyn down just in time, the bullet shattering the tile behind them. Pain shot through Mara's elbow as she hit the floor, but she kept moving, dragging Evelyn across the tiles.
The shadow figure recovered and lunged again-this time with a knife glinting in his hand.
Mara fired twice.
The figure dodged the first shot.
The second grazed his arm.
He hissed but didn't stop.
Evelyn screamed, "Mara, run-forget me, go!"
"Not a chance," Mara growled.
They scrambled toward the door, but Daniel stepped into the kitchen and kicked it shut with his heel.
Trapping them.
He raised his gun again, aiming directly at Mara.
"Enough," he said quietly. "You're making this harder than it needs to be."
Mara stood slowly, shielding Evelyn behind her, gun trembling in her hand.
"Daniel," she said, voice shaking with rage and heartbreak, "don't do this. You don't have to hurt her."
Daniel blinked at her, confused.
"Hurt her?"
A small smile touched his lips.
"Mara... I never wanted to hurt Evelyn."
Evelyn gasped behind her. "Daniel-"
"I needed her," he continued softly. "I chose her for you."
Mara's stomach dropped.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Daniel stepped closer, tilting his head as if she were a slow student.
"Evelyn was the variable. The emotional tether. The weak spot."
His eyes gleamed with dark admiration.
"And she worked perfectly."
Evelyn's knees buckled. "Daniel... no..."
Mara's chest tightened painfully. "Evelyn, look at me-did you help him? Did you know what he was doing?"
"No!" Evelyn sobbed. "I swear, Mara, I didn't-he lied to me, he said he needed protection, that someone was trying to kill him-"
"And she believed every word," Daniel said, bored. "She was a useful piece. But now she's in the way."
He raised the gun toward Evelyn.
Mara didn't think.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't hesitate.
She fired.
Daniel twisted at the last second-the bullet tore through his shoulder, sending him crashing into the counter. His gun clattered across the floor.
Mara grabbed Evelyn and ran toward the back door-
-but the shadow attacker slammed into her, tackling her into the wall.
Mara's head snapped sideways, stars bursting across her vision. Hands closed around her throat, squeezing hard.
Her fingers clawed at the attacker's wrist, nails scraping skin. She tried to lift her gun but her arm wouldn't move. Her lungs burned.
Then-
A scream.
A heavy thud.
The pressure vanished.
Mara collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Evelyn stood over the attacker, blood on her trembling hands, a kitchen knife dripping red.
"Mara-Mara are you okay?" Evelyn cried, voice cracking as she pulled Mara up. "Please-please don't pass out-I'm sorry-I'm so sorry-"
Mara forced herself upright, grabbing Evelyn by the shoulders.
"You saved my life," she rasped. "You hear me? YOU saved me."
Evelyn sobbed against her shoulder.
But the moment was shattered by a slow clap.
Daniel.
Leaning against the counter, blood soaking his shirt, smiling like nothing in the world had gone wrong.
"Well done," he said softly, almost proud. "Both of you."
Mara raised her gun again. "Stay back."
Daniel lifted his hands, still smiling.
"I didn't come here to kill Evelyn, Mara."
"Then what?" Mara snapped. "What do you want?"
Daniel looked directly into her eyes.
And for the first time, Mara saw something in him she hadn't seen before.
Devotion.
Obsession.
Love twisted into something monstrous.
"I want you," he said simply.
The room went cold.
Evelyn whispered, "Mara... don't let him talk. Just shoot him."
But Mara couldn't move.
Daniel stepped closer, unarmed, bleeding, yet terrifyingly calm.
"You don't remember what happened before I disappeared, do you?" he asked softly.
Mara's jaw clenched. "I remember everything."
"No," Daniel whispered. "You remember the version you made yourself believe."
He reached into his pocket with slow, careful movements.
Mara aimed at his chest.
"Don't," she warned.
But Daniel simply pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Her breath caught.
The envelope.
From her desk.
Unopened.
Daniel held it out to her.
"Read it," he said gently. "It's time you knew the truth."
Mara shook her head.
"I'm not playing your games."
"This isn't a game," Daniel said quietly. "It's the answer. To everything."
Evelyn grabbed Mara's arm. "Don't touch it, Mara-he's manipulating you-"
Daniel's voice dropped to a whisper.
"It's from Dad."
The world stopped.
Mara felt the floor disappear beneath her.
"No..." she whispered. "That's impossible."
Daniel just looked at her with heartbreaking softness.
"Open it."
Mara's hands trembled uncontrollably.
Because their father had been dead for fifteen years.
Because Daniel was right-
She didn't remember everything from before he disappeared.
And because deep down, buried where she never dared look-
she had always feared this moment.
She reached toward the letter-
-but before her fingers touched it, Daniel leaned close and whispered something that turned her blood to ice:
"You were never supposed to survive that night."
Then the kitchen window exploded inward.
More figures.
Masks.
Guns.
Everything went black.