Pain returned first. Dull and throbbing. Then light, sharp and fluorescent. Selena blinked against the glare overhead, her wrists bound to a velvet chair, her dress torn. Her throat ached from smoke and screaming, her lips cracked from dehydration.
Adrian's voice cut through the fog. "Welcome back, my love."
She turned her head slowly. He stood before her, dressed in a tailored navy suit, not a wrinkle out of place. The room they were in looked like a private gallery minimalist, expensive, cold. Abstract art adorned the walls. Beneath them, blood might as well have stained the floor.
"What is this?" she croaked.
He crouched before her. "This? This is the reckoning. You thought you could betray me? You and your detective boy-toy?"
Selena met his eyes. "We already did."
Adrian smiled darkly. "Then this will hurt beautifully."
He stepped aside. Two guards dragged in Jace, bloody and semi-conscious, his shirt ripped open, exposing bruises and cuts. His eyes were half-lidded, groaning against a gag in his mouth.
Selena screamed. "Let him go!"
Adrian leaned close. "You still care for him. That's... disappointing."
He nodded to one of the guards, who plunged a needle into Jace's neck. Within seconds, he stilled, eyes rolling back.
"No! What did you do?!"
"Nothing permanent," Adrian said. "He'll wake. But by then, you and I will have had a long overdue... reunion."
He ran his hand along her collarbone, tracing it with a lover's precision and a sadist's delight. Selena recoiled.
In a different wing of the estate, Vivienne sat at her dressing table, watching the chaos unfold on a surveillance monitor. Her lips curled in distaste.
"Idiot. I told him not to touch her."
Her assistant stood by, eyes darting nervously. "Should we intervene?"
Vivienne tapped her nail on the glass of champagne. "No. Not yet. Let him dig the grave. We'll provide the eulogy."
Selena sat still, watching Adrian circle her like a predator. He picked up a silk scarf, running it through his fingers.
"I loved you, you know," he said. "Gave you everything."
"You gave me chains," she replied, voice icy. "And lies. I loved you too, once. Before I knew what you really were."
Adrian's expression hardened. "Then allow me to reintroduce myself."
He yanked her to her feet and pulled her against him, forcing a kiss. She bit his lip, drawing blood. The metallic taste filled his mouth and his rage.
He snarled. "You think you're still in control?"
"I don't think I know."
She stomped on his foot, kneed him in the groin, and grabbed a letter opener from the nearby desk, slashing her bindings free. Adrian fell back with a grunt, howling in pain.
Selena turned to Jace, adrenaline surging. She pressed her fingers to his neck. Pulse weak but there. She slapped him lightly.
"Jace! Wake up!"
He groaned, eyes fluttering open.
She ripped his restraints loose, helping him up. "We have to move."
Footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Jace grabbed a chair leg as a makeshift weapon. "Go left. Storage hallway."
They ran.
Vivienne watched it all unfold with a smirk. "Release the plan. Send the files to Interpol."
The assistant moved quickly.
Within minutes, international agents had what they needed: names, dates, evidence. The Royce Papers became public. Adrian's empire began to collapse.
Selena and Jace burst through a side door into the estate's greenhouse, the air thick with orchids and steam. The scent of blooming jasmine mixed with the acrid residue of gunpowder.
"You good?" she asked.
He nodded, breathing heavy. "Hurts like hell. But I'm with you."
She leaned up and kissed him, hard. Their bodies crashed together in defiance of the chaos. Her fingers gripped his bloodied shirt, and his hand cupped her cheek with aching gentleness.
"We survive. Together."
Gunfire cracked behind them. Glass shattered. They ducked behind a row of marble planters.
Adrian's voice boomed: "You think you can run from me?!"
Selena stood. "Not running. Rising."
She tossed a gas canister they'd snatched from the security room earlier. Smoke filled the greenhouse. Jace grabbed her hand and pulled her into the mist.
Behind them, the estate began to burn. Flames devoured everything Adrian had built his art, his power, his secrets.
Hours later, they sat in a safehouse on the coast, overlooking a stormy ocean. The fire's heat seemed to have followed them, lingering in their skin, their breath, their glances.
Jace wrapped Selena in a thick blanket, his hand resting protectively over her belly. Rain tapped the window like quiet applause.
She looked out. "He'll come again."
Jace nodded. "Then we'll be ready."
Selena turned to him. There was blood at the corner of his mouth, bruises along his ribs. She leaned in and kissed him softly at first, then deeper, fiercer, need burning through her like wildfire.
"I need this," she whispered against his lips.
He responded with a growl that was both pain and passion. His hands explored her body with reverence, relearning each curve, each sigh. Clothes fell away like ash.
Their bodies met with quiet urgency, movements slow but intense. They made love on the narrow bed as rain hammered the roof each touch a promise, each breath a vow.
Selena arched beneath him, fingers tangling in his hair. "You still want me? After all of this?"
He kissed her throat. "More than ever. You're mine. In this life and the next."
She gasped as he moved inside her, their rhythm syncing with the storm's heartbeat. Moans, cries, and whispered names filled the air.
After, breathless and sweat-slicked, she rested her head on his chest.
"I want a new life," she whispered.
"You'll have it," he promised. "We'll build it from ashes if we have to."
She smiled into his skin. "We already are."
Outside, lightning cracked. Inside, two fugitives, lovers, and warriors lay tangled in each other—bodies warm, souls bruised, but hearts unbroken.
The world was crumbling but they were still standing.