The message came again.
"Bring Ashish alive. Alone."
Location pin attached.
An abandoned industrial dock near the river.
S4RKU didn't hesitate.
He ordered Ashish unchained.
Barely conscious. Bleeding. Weak.
But alive.
Ashish laughed softly.
"You really fell for her."
S4RKU didn't respond.
He just dragged him to the car.
Night.
Fog thick over the dockyard.
Containers stacked like silent witnesses.
Sage was there.
Tied to a chair.
Bruised - but defiant.
Her eyes locked onto S4RKU the second he stepped out of the car.
And in that look-
Fear.
Relief.
And something deeper.
The men surrounding her stepped forward.
Leader of the rival faction revealed himself.
Slow clap.
"You built an empire. But for a girl... you came alone."
S4RKU pushed Ashish forward.
"You wanted him."
The rival smirked.
"And the girl stays."
That's when it happened.
The air shifted.
S4RKU's lips curved slightly.
"You really thought I'd trade?"
Before the rival could react-
Sniper shots echoed.
Lights exploded.
Men dropped.
Chaos erupted.
Sage moved.
Fast.
She kicked the chair backward, breaking balance.
The rope around her wrists?
Already loosened.
She had been working on it the entire time.
Gunfire everywhere.
Ashish tried to crawl away-
But S4RKU grabbed him by the collar.
Pulled him upright.
"You see this?" S4RKU said calmly over the gunfire.
"This is what loyalty looks like."
Sage grabbed a fallen gun.
Fired once.
Clean.
Precise.
One attacker down.
S4RKU saw it.
A slow, dark smile formed.
She wasn't innocent anymore.
She was adapting.
The rival leader tried to escape.
Sage aimed again-
But S4RKU stopped her.
"No."
He walked forward himself.
Shot the rival in the leg.
Dropped him.
Slowly crouched.
"You touched what's mine."
Gun pressed to his head.
"No one survives that."
Gunshot.
Silence followed.
Only the sound of distant sirens.
Ashish trembled.
"You said you wouldn't kill me tonight..."
S4RKU looked down at him.
"I didn't."
He handed the gun...
To Sage.
Her hands shook slightly.
Ashish stared at her desperately.
"Sage... please-"
She looked at S4RKU.
He didn't force her.
Didn't command.
Just watched.
Choice.
Power.
Evolution.
Her finger tightened on the trigger.
And-
Gunshot.
Ashish's body hit the ground.
Silence.
The night air felt different.
Sage stood there.
Breathing hard.
Changed.
S4RKU stepped close.
Very close.
"You just crossed a line."
She looked up at him.
"So did you... when you chose me."
For the first time-
He didn't look at her like something fragile.
He looked at her like an equal.
Darkness recognizing darkness.
But as they turned to leave-
A distant shot rang out.
One surviving attacker.
A single bullet.
It hit Sage.
Her body jerked.
Then collapsed.
Everything froze.
The world went silent.
S4RKU caught her before she hit the ground.
Blood spreading fast.
His hands shaking for the first time in years.
"Sage... stay with me."
Her lips trembled slightly.
She tried to speak.
Couldn't.
Sirens growing louder.
His empire meant nothing in that moment.
Power meant nothing.
Money meant nothing.
Only her.
And she was slipping.
To Be Continued....