Ella stared at the objects in Leon's hand.
The wedding ring.The bullet.
One glinted with memories, the other with menace.
She didn't cry.
She didn't move.
But her pulse?It thundered so loudly she was certain he could hear it.
Leon took a step closer.
Rain dripped from his coat, his shadow stretching across the stone floor like the specter of every broken promise.
"Choose, El," he whispered."Love me or kill me. Because I can't live in between anymore."
She wanted to scream.
Not because she feared him.
But because some part of her still loved him.
Even after the lies.The manipulation.The blood.
Because that love was a sickness.A thread wound into her DNA.
But she also knew this—
If she wore that ring again, she'd lose herself forever.
And if she chose the bullet—
She'd lose the only man who ever knew how to love her… the wrong way.
Leon wasn't a man.He was a storm in a tailored suit, lightning wrapped in silk.
And she—
She was the eye of that hurricane.
Still. Silent. Dangerous.
And now, that storm had asked her to either step inside it again,or destroy it forever.
Ella slowly reached out—and took the bullet.
The room went still.
Leon didn't flinch.He only nodded.
"Then it's war."
But before either could move—
The wall exploded.
Smoke. Flashbang.
Figures in matte black poured in—masks with violet visors, weapons drawn, moving like ghosts.
Ella hit the ground, the bullet clutched in her palm.
Leon raised his hands, but the lead figure didn't hesitate—
A tranquilizer dart embedded in his neck.
His eyes widened—betrayal.
And then—
He fell.
Unconscious.
A woman's voice, distorted through a comm:"Target neutralized. Retrieval complete."
Ella choked."Who are you?"
The lead figure removed her mask—
Sharp eyes. Familiar.
"Name's Kira Vale."
Pause.
"His sister."
"And you're not the only one who wants him stopped."
Ella stood in the wreckage—ring still in the velvet box, bullet still in her hand, and now a third player entering the war.
One who had Leon's blood…but not his madness.
Or so she hoped.