They both escaped the city hall when the chaos began.
Dwayne did not slow down. He had a grip on Rubby's hand as he pulled her through the mess behind the building. Gunshots were still loud behind them.
Rubby tripped. "Wait!" He stopped away catching her before she fell to the ground.
"You have to keep moving, " he said in a fainting voice. "You got me into this!" she said.
"I know, " he said simply. That answer made her calm down for a second.
Another gunshot sounded closer. "Let's go, " he said again.
This time she did not argue. "Do you trust me?" Dwayne asked. "No, " Rubby said.
"Good. If you do not trust me now you will trust me later. Let me give you some time to think about it" Dwayne said.
Just get in the car Dwayne said. She entered the car looking at her back, front, left and right.
The ride was quiet and tense with a lot of things not said.
"What just happened?" Rubby finally asked. "Someone wanted a fight, " Dwayne said. "Or someone wanted something, " she said. He looked at her briefly.
"What do you mean?" Rubby hesitated, said slowly "Those shots were not ordinary."
Dwayne's fingers got tighter on the wheel.
"I saw something before the shot, " she said. "One of the men at the back was not looking at the room, he was looking at you."
Dwayne's eyes got sharper. He told Rubby to describe the man.
"The man is tall and he wore a dark coat. He did not look like he belonged to either family."
"That does not help." "I know, " she said. ". He smiled."
Dwayne frowned a little. "At what?" "At you " she said quietly. There was silence in the car.
They finally stopped in a town far from the city. It was a place they could stay to avoid trouble and attention from both their families after what happened.
Yet Dwayne was worried. They got to the town at night. The roads were bad because of the rain, which made everything seem weird.
Rubby was scared and worried that their past would catch up with them.
They were in danger. During the day they tried to live like normal people as if nothing happened and at night they were reminded of the troubles they thought they had left behind.
One night, Dwayne saw Rubby on the phone talking loudly with her hands on the wall hitting her legs on the ground still yelling on the phone, which made him nervous.
As Dwayne realized that the real problem was not their safety but their families, they had to face the truth about their past and how it is hurting their love for each other.
They had to deal with their families and the things they had done.
"Do you really not regret choosing me?" Rubby asked. "No, " Dwayne said.
"Even if it started with a fight?" "Yes, " Dwayne said boldly.
"You are either crazy. You know something I do not." Dwayne did not answer because he was not completely sure.
The silence between them was long and was not empty. It was filled with thoughts that neither of them fully understood yet.
Rubby moved towards the window looking out into the street.
"That man, " she said suddenly. "The one I told you about."
Dwayne looked up. "What about him?" "I have seen him before."
"Where?" Dwayne asked calmly. Rubby frowned a little trying to remember.
She turned to face him. "I saw him in our house." She stammered.
Dwayne's face got harder. "When?" Dwayne asked.
"A week ago. During one of my brother's meetings."
"That is not possible, " Dwayne said. "If he is not a Covington."
"He is not, " she cut in. "I would have remembered him but he did not belong there."
Dwayne stood up fully alert. "Did your brother see him?" "I do not think so, " she said slowly.
Dwayne walked towards her, his mind already thinking ahead.
"If he was in your house and at the meeting tonight."
"Then he is not on either side " Rubby finished. "He is playing both."
The realization settled between them like a loaded gun.
"This was not about breaking the agreement, " Rubby whispered. Dwayne nodded slowly. "No."
"It was about making sure it never worked, " she added.
"And making sure we chose each other, " Dwayne said. That made her pause. "What?"
Dwayne's voice got a little lower. "Think about it. The deal only works if the right people choose each other."
Rubby's heart skipped a beat.
"Do you think someone wanted this?" "I think " Dwayne said carefully "someone needed us." "For what?" she asked.
He did not answer because he did not know.
That uncertainty was something he was not used to.
Then a sudden sound cut through the silence.
A faint click, both of them froze. Dwayne's head turned towards the door.
Then another sound came. A soft vibration.
Rubby frowned. "What is that?" Dwayne moved quickly looking around the room.
His eyes landed on the table near the wall.
He saw a phone, none of them had put it there. The vibration stopped, everywhere was silent.
Rubby's voice got lower, in that lowered tone she said "That wasn't here before."
"No, " Dwayne said. They approached it carefully, like it might explode. The screen of the phone lit up, a message popped up with an unknown number, Dwayne picked it up slowly.
Rubby leaned closer, her breath unsteady, the message read; "You were never supposed to survive the hall."
The second message came in; "But now that you have escaped, do not trust your families."
Rubby's chest got tighter.
Dwayne's face got darker as the third message appeared. This one made the air in the room much colder.
"The fight is not between Tomlinson and Covington."
There was a pause.
Then the last message popped up. The message stated; "The fight is against both of you".
Rubby's face changed, her face scrunched up. The veins on her face were visible, her heart got very heavy.
She stepped back a little. "This— does not make sense." She stammered.
Dwayne stared at the screen and at that moment something felt wrong in a way he could not control.
Not a fight. Not an enemy. Something bigger. Something hidden.
"Dwayne," Rubby whispered. He did not respond.
His eyes were fixed on something now. He looked at the back of the phone, he found a small symbol, engraved and almost invisible but he recognized it instantly, he held the phone strongly.
"What is it?" Rubby asked.
Dwayne's voice became more quiet than before, shaken underneath.
"That is impossible."
"Dwayne, what is it?" Rubby asked. He turned the phone slightly so she could see, then she saw a symbol carved into the metal and a serpent coiled around a dagger.
Rubby frowned. "What does it mean?" Dwayne looked at her. And for the first time since she met him there was something in his eyes she had never seen before, not anger, not calmness, not control, but fear.
"That symbol, "he said", belongs to a group that was wiped out years ago.
Rubby's breath stopped for a second. "What group?"
Dwayne's jaw got tighter. The ones who used to control all the families but they do not exist anymore". He added.
Rubby shook her head a little. "Then who sent the message?" She asked.
Dwayne looked back at the phone, the symbol and the words.