Gunfire didn't sound like in the movies.
It cracked through the hallway like lightning—sharp, violent, too close.
Amira felt the shockwave hit her chest before her ears caught up.
Leonardo pulled her sideways just in time, slamming her into a recessed doorway as bullets tore into the wall where her head had been seconds before.
"Stay behind me," he growled.
But she didn't stay still she grabbed his arm, grounding him before he threw himself into death without thinking.
"Leonardo, wait!"
He didn't listen.
He never listened when she was in danger.
He spun out of the doorway and fired two quick shots. One guard dropped. The others ducked behind the metal pillars, shouting orders into their comms.
Vass's voice carried down the corridor like a cold wind.
"Bring them alive. Preferably."
Leonardo cursed under his breath.
"That means he wants to torture you," he muttered.
Amira's throat tightened. "And you?"
Leonardo's jaw clenched. "He wants to break me."
She swallowed.
"He can't."
"He can," Leonardo said. "If he gets you."
He took her wrist and pulled her down the side hall.
"Move."
East Wing – Lower levels
They moved fast too fast for her lungs, not fast enough for the danger behind them. Leonardo opened a service hatch with his shoulder, practically forcing her inside a narrow catwalk filled with pipes and humming wires.
"Watch your step," he warned.
The space was barely wide enough for them to move. She kept her hand on his back, feeling each breath he took, each tremor of tension in his muscles.
"You shouldn't have come," he said, voice low, clipped.
"And yet I'm here."
"You shouldn't be."
She almost laughed at the irony.
"Leonardo, I crossed two borders for you. I infiltrated this compound. I—"
"DON'T."
It wasn't a shout.
It was worse a crack in his voice.
She froze.
He turned slightly, enough for her to see his eyes—burning, furious, terrified in a way she'd never seen before.
"You don't understand what he'll do to you," he said. "What he'll make me do."
Her heart stuttered.
"Then let's not give him the chance."
For a moment, he just stared at her like she was a miracle and a curse he didn't know how to survive.
Then his jaw set again.
"Stay close."
Security Control Room – 07:18 AM
Vass stood before the surveillance wall, hands clasped behind him, watching the screens flip through angles of hallways, stairwells, and locked doors.
His expression wasn't angry.
He was delighted.
"Look at him," Vass murmured. "He moves differently when she's there."
An officer beside him swallowed nervously. "Sir, if they reach the east stairwell, they might bypass—"
"They won't," Vass said calmly. "He knows I want that route to look safe."
The officer blinked. "You… set it up as a trap?"
"Of course I did."
A soft smile.
"I taught him to look for patterns. And I taught him that I always leave one weakness to tempt the arrogant."
He tapped the screen showing the stairwell.
"And Leonardo is nothing if not arrogant."
Back on the catwalk
Leonardo dropped into a maintenance room and helped Amira down. The space was filled with old circuit boxes and dusty shelves. A vent hummed in the corner.
He listened really listened.
Boots.
Radios.
They were surrounding this area.
"We need to move faster," he said.
Amira touched his arm. "Leonardo… look at me."
He didn't.
She stepped closer. "Please."
When he finally met her eyes, she spoke softly.
"You left because you wanted to protect me. But I'm here now. With you." A breath. "So whatever happens next… we face it together."
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
He didn't deserve her.
He had never deserved her.
But he needed her more than he needed air.
"Together," he echoed.
Before he could say anything else, a metallic click echoed above them.
Leonardo reacted instantly pulling Amira down just as something dropped from the ceiling vent.
A flash grenade.
He covered her with his body
White light exploded through the room.
Sound shattered.
The floor lurched under Amira's knees.
She felt Leonardo yank her to her feet, half-blind, ears ringing.
He shoved them both through a door into a lower corridor.
Guards were already converging.
"This way," he barked.
"Leonardo, you can barely see!"
"I don't need to see to kill."
She didn't doubt it.
But Vass didn't want him dead.
And that terrified her more.
A staircase carved into a trap
They reached the east stairwell.
Empty.
Too empty.
Amira hesitated.
Something was wrong.
She felt it like cold fingers down her spine.
"Leonardo…"
"I know."
His voice was flat.
Hard.
"It's a trap."
She exhaled shakily. "Then we go another way."
"No," he said quietly. "We go through."
"Why? That's suicide."
"Because Vass expects me to avoid my own patterns."
He scanned the stairwell carefully.
"So I break him by stepping into them."
She stared at him. "That doesn't make sense."
"It does to him."
He started down the stairs.
She grabbed his jacket. "Wait!"
He turned.
And she saw it clearly now his plan wasn't bravery.
It was sacrifice.
"You're trying to draw them to you," she breathed. "You want to split their attention."
"And get you out," he said.
"No." Her voice broke. "You're not leaving me behind."
He leaned down, forehead touching hers for a second that felt like it broke something open inside both of them.
"You don't understand," he whispered. "He wants me alive. He wants you broken."
"And you'll let him?" she whispered back.
A faint, shattered sound left him.
"I'd rather die."
"Then don't leave me."
That froze him.
She felt it.
He stepped back, breath shaking once.
Then he reached out and laced their fingers together.
"Fine," he murmured. "We face it together."
The trap springs
Halfway down the stairs
A metal gate slammed shut above them.
Another slammed below.
Locked.
Surrounded.
Vass's voice echoed through the speakers hidden along the walls.
"Oh, Leonardo…"
His tone soft, playful, cruel.
"You walked exactly where I wanted."
Leonardo pushed Amira behind him, gun raised.
"Stay close."
"Obviously!" she snapped.
Shadows moved on the landing below.
Armed men.
Dozens.
Vass continued:
"Let's make this interesting."
A hiss filled the air.
Gas.
"Leonardo" she grabbed his coat, coughing.
He ripped off his jacket and pressed it over her nose and mouth, shielding her with his own body.
"Hold on—!"
Guards surged up the stairs.
Leonardo charged forward like a storm given a name.
He fought like a man who had nothing left to lose and everything left to protect.
One guard fell.
Another crumpled under a brutal blow.
But there were too many.
Far too many.
A strike to his ribs made him stumble.
A baton cracked against his arm.
Another hit his shoulder.
Amira screamed his name—
Four guards grabbed him.
Pinned him.
Forced him to his knees.
He still fought.
Still thrashed.
Still refused to break.
But then one of them touched her.
And Leonardo went silent.
Not beaten.
Not defeated.
Silent
in the way a predator becomes just before it kills.
Vass stepped into view at the bottom of the stairs, untouched, unhurried, almost gentle.
"There she is," he murmured, eyes sliding to Amira. "The reason you're weak."
Leonardo's voice was a raw, animal snarl.
"Don't touch her."
Vass smiled.
"I don't need to. You already did the damage for me."
He lifted his hand.
"Take them."
And the world went dark.
Leonardo reached for her.
Amira reached for him.
Their fingers brushed
Then separation.
Then nothing.