Rain came down hard that night, washing blood and smoke from the streets. The city looked almost clean again, well almost.
Sera sat on the edge of a rusted chair in a half-lit safehouse Kael had dragged her to. It used to be a mechanic's shop, now littered with dusty files, empty ammo boxes, and the smell of old oil.
Kael was across the room, crouched beside a table, checking his pistol with practiced calm. Every motion was precise, silent.
She hated that, how he seemed in control even after chaos.
"You going to explain," she started, "why you're suddenly playing the hero?"
Kael didn't look up. "Hero isn't the word I'd use."
"Right," she said, folding her arms. "Because that would require having a conscience."
He looked up, eyes steady, that calm, unreadable stare that made her pulse tick up for reasons she refused to name.
"I don't need you to like me, Donovan," he said evenly. "Just stay alive long enough to finish this."
Sera laughed, sharp and humorless. "You act like I need your protection."
"You do," he replied. "Because whoever planted that bomb isn't done."
Her smile vanished. "You think it was Dante Rios?"
Kael's jaw flexed at the name. "It was his style. Big, loud, precise. He doesn't miss."
"And you'd know that how?"
He hesitated, just a second too long.
"Because," she pressed, "you used to work with him, didn't you?"
Kael didn't answer. The silence was all the confirmation she needed.
Sera leaned back, shaking her head. "So that's it. Two ghosts from the same war now on opposite sides."
His eyes darkened. "You don't know what war you've walked into."
She met his gaze. "Then enlighten me."
He sighed, straightened, and walked over to the window. Beyond the glass, thunder rolled over the skyline. "Rios used to be my partner in the field. We took down networks, silenced traitors. Then he realized the system we worked for was dirtier than the criminals we hunted. He flipped, and started his own empire."
"And now you're cleaning up the mess you helped make."
Kael turned, his voice low. "We all have blood on our hands, Donovan. The only difference is who we're bleeding for."
For a while, the only sound was the rain.
Sera studied him, the scar along his jaw, the faint twitch in his left hand, the exhaustion buried behind his composure. He wasn't the monster she'd written about. He was something far more complicated.
Still dangerous though. Definitely dangerous.
She tore her gaze away. "So what now?"
"Now," he said, pulling a tablet from his duffel, "we find out who leaked your location to Rios."
He tapped a few commands, and a list of encrypted logs filled the screen. "You had three contacts who knew about that meeting. One of them's dirty."
"You hacked my files?" she asked, incredulous.
"I saved your life," he corrected. "You're welcome."
Her glare could've cut through glass. "You're impossible."
He almost smiled, almost. "So I've been told."
Hours passed in tense silence. They worked opposite each other, she decoding names and messages, he tracing coordinates and signals. The hum of rain filled the pauses between keystrokes.
At one point, she noticed the bandage on his arm, dark with blood.
"You're hurt," she said, frowning.
"I've had worse."
"That's not the point."
He didn't look up. "Don't waste sympathy on me, Donovan."
She got up anyway, found a first-aid kit on the shelf, and dropped it beside him. "I'm not wasting anything. Just don't bleed on my notes."
He glanced at her, quiet amusement flickering for a second before fading. "You're bossy."
"You're stubborn."
"Fair."
The corner of her mouth twitched, not quite a smile, but close.
It was past midnight when Kael finally pushed away from the table. "Found something."
Sera leaned over his shoulder. A face stared back from the screen... Lena Brooks.
Her stomach sank. "That's… that's my tech analyst."
"She sold your route data to Rios two nights ago. Fifty thousand dollars wired to an offshore account."
Sera felt the floor tilt under her. "That can't be right. Lena wouldn't—"
"She did."
"No," Sera said firmly. "You don't know her."
"I know betrayal when I see it."
Kael stood, grabbed his coat. "Pack your things. We're moving."
She blinked. "Moving? To where?"
"Somewhere Rios won't find you."
"I'm not hiding."
"This isn't a debate," he snapped.
Her eyes flared. "You don't get to order me around. I'm not one of your soldiers."
Kael stepped closer, close enough that his voice dropped to a dangerous calm. "No. You're a journalist who just found herself on a kill list. And unless you want to end up another name on it, you'll do exactly what I say."
The silence stretched. Sera's heart thudded hard, but she didn't look away.
Finally, she grabbed her laptop and muttered, "Fine. But I'm only doing this because I want to stay alive long enough to prove you wrong."
Kael's lips twitched, forming a smirk. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
They left the safehouse under the cover of rain. The streets were slick with reflections, and somewhere far off, a siren wailed like the city's heartbeat.
Sera followed a few steps behind, watching the way he scanned every shadow, every corner like a man who trusted nothing, not even the air he breathed.
For the first time, she wondered what it would be like to see him when he wasn't at war with everything around him.
She pushed the thought away. She had work to do, a story to finish and truth to uncover.
And he… he was just a means to an end.
At least, that's what she told herself.