Chapter 33

VICTORIA –

The phone rings. One long buzz. It’s Darius. He never calls unless it’s important. The moment I answer, his voice is low, urgent. “They found you.” 

My body locks up. “How?” 

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter now. You need to get out. Now, Victoria.” There’s a finality in his tone that brooks no argument, and I don’t ask anything else. I just drop the phone.

“Avery, Darling.” I whisper as I shake her gently. Her eyes flutter open, still clouded with sleep. She looks so soft like this. So safe. I wish I could let her stay in that state. 

“What’s wrong?” she asks, already sitting up, already reading the panic in my face. 

“We have to go. Take Juno, grab whatever you need. Now.” 

She doesn’t move at first. “What’s happening?” 

“There’s no time. Trust me.” 

She nods slowly, but I see the questions behind her eyes. I wish I had the time to answer them. I don’t. But I do have one more thing I can do. I take her hand, lead her down the hall. Press a hidden panel beside the bookshelf. A soft click. The wall opens. The panic room. “Go inside,” I whisper. 

She freezes. “No.” 

“Avery–” 

“No. I’m not hiding while you–” 

“Listen to me.” I cup her cheeks with both hands “I need to keep you safe. That’s the only thing that matters right now.” 

Her eyes well up. “Victoria, please–” 

“I need you to do this for me.” She stares at me, breathing hard. Then finally–finally–she steps inside with Juno clutched to her chest. I press a kiss to her forehead. “I love you,” I say. “More than anything.”

A sob escapes her lips and I catch a tear with my thumb, my eyes pleading with her. With a final, painful glance, I pull my hand away and close the panel shut.

A beat.

And then, everything happens fast. The front door explodes off its hinges. Two men in tactical gear pour in, weapons raised. My gun is already drawn. I am ready to kill.

But then a third figure steps calmly through the shattered frame.

Jason.

He isn’t in gear. He’s in a dark coat, his hands in his pockets, looking around the safehouse as if he’s admiring the decor. A cold smile plays on his lips.

“Hello, Victoria. Cozy place you’ve got here.” His eyes, flat and predatory, sweep over me. “It wasn’t easy to find you, I must admit, But now that the formalities are over, we can finally… conclude our business.”

My aim doesn’t waver from the centre of his chest. “Why are you doing this? Turning your back on everything we built?”

A slow, condescending smile spreads across his face. “Why? It’s really not that complicated, Vic. It’s money.”

“Money?” The word is a curse on my lips. “The Organization pays you more than fairly.”

“Fairly?” He barks a laugh, the sound hollow in the tense space. “The Organization pays a salary. The men you’ve been so efficiently removing from the board? They pay fortunes. Legacies. The kind of money that doesn’t just buy things, it buys lives. It buys freedom from ever having to take orders again.” His gaze hardens, all pretence of camaraderie gone. “You were always too principled to see it. You fight for a cause. I fight for the highest bidder. And right now, Victoria, you are very, very bad for business.”

Disgust coils tight in my stomach. “You sold us out for a paycheck.”

“On the contrary,” he says, his voice dangerously smooth. “I’m making a permanent investment.” His grim smile widens. “Say goodnight, Victoria.” He gestures to the two armed men, but before their fingers can find the triggers, a sound tears my focus away. The panic room door slides open.

Avery bursts out, eyes wide, face pale, but with a fire in her hands. She’s holding my spare gun, and it’s aimed directly at Jason.

“Avery, get back!” I command, my voice cracking with a fear I’ve never let her hear.

She ignores me, her gaze locked on Jason. “Get away from her.”

The two operatives shift, their rifles rising. Two red laser dots instantly land on her chest—one on her heart, one on her throat.

My world narrows to those two points of light. “Avery, don’t–” My voice is a strangled plea.

But she’s not listening. She moves toward me, stepping in front of me, shielding me with her body, her gun still trained on Jason.

“Step away from her,” one of the operatives barks.

“No,” Avery says, her voice trembling but defiant. “You shoot, I shoot. He dies first.”

Jason actually chuckles, a low, ugly sound. “Brave little thing, isn’t she? So reckless.”

“Avery,” I whisper, trying to sound calm, trying to project any semblance of control, “I need you to listen to me–”

I reach for her waist, trying to pull her behind me, but she clings tighter. One arm locked around my waist, the other still aiming the gun. A shield made of love and recklessness.

And I know. I know what’s coming. I see the subtle shift in Jason’s posture, the almost imperceptible nod he gives his men. I can’t let it happen.

So I do the only thing I can. I pull her in, her body flush against mine – and I turn us. I spin her behind me. My back is to them now, my body a wall between her and their guns.

I close my eyes and I whisper, “I’m sorry.”

BANG.

One shot. It punches through me – hot, deep, merciless. A searing tear just below my shoulder blade.

I stumble. Avery’s scream tears through the air. “Victoria!”

My knees buckle. The floor rushes up to meet me, but she catches me. Cradles me.

“No no no no no– Victoria, please–” Her hands are on my face. I can’t feel them. The world is tilting, blurring at the edges.

“Look at me, stay with me,” she cries, her voice cracking, breaking, shattering. “Please stay with me–”

I try to speak. Her name. Just her name. But the words are stuck. I taste blood.

Over her shoulder, I see Jason holster his pistol. He looks down at us, his expression one of cold satisfaction.

“Target neutralized,” he says, his voice flat and final. “Let’s go.”

Their footsteps retreat. Doors open. Close. Gone.

And Avery is still holding me. Her sobs are the only sound in the room now.

And I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.

×××

AVERY –

She collapses in my arms.

And for a second – just a second – I think maybe she’s still breathing, maybe we still have time, maybe–

But there’s blood. So much blood.

It’s soaking into her shirt, into mine, onto the floor. My hands are slick with it as I press them against her back, desperate, frantic, useless.

“Victoria–please,” I whisper. “Please. Don’t do this.”

Her head is resting in the crook of my arm. Her eyes flutter. Her lips part like she wants to say something, but no sound comes out. Just a breath. Shallow. Hollow.

I lean down, our foreheads pressed together. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

Tears spill from my eyes like they’ve been waiting for this moment to fall apart. My chest aches. My lungs scream. But I won’t let go. I can’t.

“You don’t get to do this,” I whisper, shaking. “You don’t get to save me and leave me, you don’t get to love me and die.”

Her lips move again. Barely. My name, I think. Or maybe it’s just the wind leaving her body.

“No–no, please–”

My sobs are choking me now. I try to hold her tighter, like my arms could keep her here, like love could stitch her back together.

But I feel it.

The stillness.

It seeps into her body, her bones, her breath.

And I know.

She’s gone.

My whole body is shaking. My voice is still pleading with her, with the universe. I rock her, like it’ll soothe her, like we’re still somewhere safe and warm and whole.

“I love you,” I cry into her hair.

The room is silent except for my breathing. My breaking.

Juno is there now. I don’t know when she came out of hiding, but she’s crawling onto the bloodied floor beside us, meowing, brushing against Victoria’s legs, confused and worried and so terribly small.

I bury my face in her neck. And I cry until I can’t see, can’t breathe, can’t feel anything but the weight of her body in my arms and the cold creeping in.

Victoria Vale is dead.

And I don’t know how to live in a world without her.

×××

VICTORIA

Final Note

I used to think I would die alone.

Not in the literal sense – I always knew it’d be violent, that I’d probably go out with a bullet in through my head and blood on my hands – but I mean alone in the way that matters. Unseen. Unheld. Unknown.

Then she walked into my life.

Avery.

God, she was a storm I never saw coming. Soft eyes, sharp mind. A laugh that cracked through my walls like thunder. I didn’t know what to make of her at first. I tried to keep her at a distance, convinced that I was poison and she deserved more than the ruin I carry.

But she didn’t run.

She stayed.

She stayed when I gave her every reason not to. She stayed through the mess, the blood, the coldness I’d wrapped around myself like armor for twenty years. She looked at me like I was someone worth unraveling, worth understanding. Worth loving.

And in the quiet of our nights – her breath on my skin, her heartbeat pressed to mine – I realized that love wasn’t weakness. That softness didn’t make me any less dangerous. It made me human.

She gave me that.

She gave me more than I knew I was missing.

I spent my whole life trying to bring justice into a world that never gave a damn about it. But Avery? She made me believe in mercy. In warmth. In a future.

I wanted that future.

I would’ve built it with her. A home. A life. A thousand more mornings of burnt coffee and shared silence and kisses that meant everything. I would’ve left it all behind for her. And I don’t regret that. Not for a second.

If you’re hearing this, love – if somehow you’re still listening – I need you to know this:

You saved me.

Not from the world, not from the job, not even from the men who put a bullet through my heart.

You saved me from myself.

You showed me I could be more than what they made me. More than just a weapon. You taught me how to live. How to breathe. How to feel.

And God, how to love.

I hope you keep going. I hope you laugh again. I hope you wake up one day and the ache in your chest is a little lighter. I hope you keep your softness, your stubborn fire. I hope Juno sleeps on your chest every night, and you play that loud, angry music just because it feels good in your bones. I hope the world is kind to you, because you were kind to me.

Don’t let the darkness keep you.

Let it shape you, yes – but don’t let it swallow you.

And if you ever look back on us, I hope it’s with a smile.

Because for all the pain, all the chaos – I loved you with every breath I had.

So, Avery, darling…

Even though you can’t see me, know I will always watch over you.