Sometimes love saves you…
Sometimes it burns everything else to ashes.
Engines roared outside....
Not one....Not two.....
A whole convoy....
Darian's eyes darkened. "They found us."
He grabbed my wrist, pulling me away from the window just as glass shattered behind us. A bullet cracked through the frame and buried itself in the wall
I screamed....
He pushed me down. "Stay low!"
Chaos hit like a wave...boots, shouting, gunmetal clinking against the floor. The air filled with smoke and dust as Darian pulled me behind the desk.
"Who are they?" I gasped.
His jaw tightened. "People I used to work for."
He pulled a gun from his coat....sleek, black, quiet. "And now they want what you have."
I clutched the flash drive tighter, my heartbeat loud in my ears. "So what happens if they get it?"
He looked at me for half a second, eyes softer now. "Then your father's death means nothing."
Before I could reply, the door burst open. Three men in black rushed in, guns raised.
Darian moved first.
He shot once....clean, fast. The man dropped. Then he kicked the table over, using it as a shield. The next bullet hit the wood inches from my face. I ducked, shaking.
"Run when I say," he whispered.
"What about you?"
He smiled faintly. "I'm not planning on dying today."
He waited for a pause in the gunfire, then grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the hallway.
We ran....his grip firm, his breath steady, mine broken.
Dust filled the corridor. Old papers flew as we passed. Another shot rang out, grazing the wall beside my head.
We turned a corner, straight into two more men.
Darian didn't stop...
He pushed me behind him and fought like a man who'd done it too many times before. Quick, sharp, dangerous.
One man fell..... then another, but not before the second one fired.
The sound tore through me before I even realized what happened.
Darian staggered...
"Darian!" I screamed.
He looked down at his side. Blood....Red, warm, too much.
"I'm fine," he muttered, pressing a hand against it. "Move!"
I wanted to argue, but there wasn't time. He grabbed my arm again and we ran through the back door into the open air.
The sky was gray. Rain was falling again hard and fast.
Engines revved behind us....
"Where are we going?" I shouted.
He pointed toward the water. "The dock!"
We ran across the gravel, our shoes slipping on the wet ground. My heart felt like it would explode. Every step echoed like thunder.
Then more shots....
Wood splintered near my feet.
"Go!" he yelled, pushing me ahead.
I reached the dock first, breath tearing from my throat. The waves crashed hard against the old planks. A small boat waited there, tied loosely.
"Get in!" he shouted.
I climbed in, shaking, my fingers fumbling with the rope. He jumped in after me, his shirt soaked and his side bleeding badly.
The boat rocked and he started the engine just as the men reached the shore.
Bullets hit the water. Splashes everywhere.
He pushed the throttle and we sped into the storm.
Rain hit my face, cold and sharp. Wind howled through my hair. Darian's knuckles were white on the steering handle, his eyes locked on the horizon.
"You're bleeding," I said, voice trembling.
He laughed weakly. "You just noticed?"
"Stop the boat...we can help you."
"No time," he said. "They won't stop until they get that drive."
I looked down at it, still in my hand. My initials. My father's secret.... The reason for everything.
"Darian," I whispered, "what's on it?"
He hesitated....
Then, quietly, "Everything your father died to protect."
"What do you mean?"
"Evidence," he said. "Names....Accounts....Videos.... Every dirty secret of the people who run the city. The ones who killed him."
I froze.
"You mean...my father didn't just die in that accident?"
He looked at me with something close to sorrow. "No, Adanna. They made it look like one."
Tears blurred my vision....
The boat rocked harder....
"And you… you worked for them?"
He nodded once. "Until I met you."
I wanted to scream, to hit him, to throw the flash drive into the sea. But all I could do was stare at him, at the man who'd lied, saved me, and still somehow looked like he'd break if I said the wrong word.
"I was supposed to find the drive," he said softly. "Deliver it and end the bloodline."
"And you couldn't?"
He smiled faintly, blood dripping from his side. "You talk in your sleep, you know. You said you believed in me. That you trusted me." He laughed quietly, voice weak. "No one's ever said that to me before."
"Darian, stop talking like that." My voice cracked. "You're going to be okay."
He winced, one hand still on the wheel. "You always say that too."
The rain poured harder. The coastline faded behind us. Just the storm, the water and his labored breathing.
Then I saw it...lights in the distance. Boats following.
"They're still coming!" I shouted.
He nodded, eyes cold now. "Then we end it here."
He turned the boat sharply toward a dark stretch of rocks. "Hold on!"
The crash came like thunder.
We hit the shore hard. The impact threw me forward, pain shooting up my arms. Darian fell beside me, groaning, blood pooling fast.
I crawled toward him. "Darian! Look at me!"
He smiled weakly. "Told you… I'm not planning on dying today."
"Then stop bleeding like you are!"
He laughed once, then coughed, wincing. "You sound like him."
"Like who?"
He met my eyes. "Your father."
The world tilted. "What?"
He nodded faintly. "He didn't just warn me about them...He begged me… to find you."
I froze. "That's not possible! he died before...."
"I met him a week before the crash," Darian whispered. "He knew they were coming. He said if they ever reached you, I had to protect you… even if it meant lying."
Tears stung my face, mixing with rain. "You...you knew him?"
"He told me you'd hate me one day," Darian murmured. "Said love would be your biggest strength… and your biggest weakness."
I held his face. "Don't do this. You're not dying here."
He smiled again, weaker this time. "You really don't listen."
I ripped part of my dress and pressed it against his wound. He hissed but didn't stop me.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I whispered. "Why let me believe you were the enemy?"
He looked past me, at the storm. "Because if you knew the truth too soon, they'd kill you before you even knew what you were fighting for."
"Who are they, Darian? Tell me!"
He took a shallow breath. "The Syndicate. The people behind your father's death...Behind my orders. Behind everything."
Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting his face....pale, soaked, but still beautiful in a way that hurt.
He reached into his pocket, hand trembling, and pulled out a small folded paper...wet, but still legible.
He pressed it into my palm. "If I don't make it… go there. You'll find the rest."
"Don't say if," I said, voice breaking. "Say when."
He smiled faintly. "When, then."
Sirens echoed faintly behind us. The Syndicate's men were getting closer.
I looked down at the paper. There was an address scribbled on it. A warehouse in Apapa.
"Darian.... please. Get up. We have to go."
He tried, but his body gave way. I caught him, shaking. "Don't close your eyes!"
"I just need… a second."
"Darian....."
"Adanna," he whispered, voice fading, "whatever happens next… don't lose that drive. It's not just files. It's your father's voice. His last words."
My breath caught. "What?"
He smiled faintly. "He recorded it for you...Said you'd find it one day."
Tears poured freely now. "You can't leave me. Not after everything."
He reached up weakly, his fingers brushing my cheek. "I told you before, Ada. I didn't plan to fall for you."
His hand fell limp.
"No!" I screamed. "Darian!"
The sound of engines grew louder behind me. Lights swept across the shore.
I grabbed the flash drive, shoved it into my pocket, and pressed my forehead against his chest. His heartbeat was faint but still there.
He was alive. Barely.
I looked toward the approaching lights, fear rising again.
If I stayed, they'd kill us both....
If I ran, maybe I could save him....
I took a shaky breath, wiped my tears, and whispered, "I'll come back. I promise."
Then I ran into the storm, into the dark, into whatever truth waited next.
That was the night everything changed again.
The night love became a war and the only thing I knew for sure was that, Darian had lied to protect me, not destroy me.
But the people chasing us weren't done.
And now that I had the flash drive…
they'd burn the whole city to get it back.
To be continued.....