The safe house sat on the outskirts of Gentry Woods — an old medical research cabin abandoned years ago and swallowed by ivy and fog.
Frederick assured her it was untraceable.
> "This place doesn't exist in any database," he'd told Aria. "Even Lucia won't find it."
She wanted to believe him.
But Lucia always finds what she wants.
Inside the cabin, the silence was stifling.
Aria sat at the edge of the creaky bed, staring at the fireplace. Her hands trembled, not from cold — from fear of what she'd become.
An accomplice.
A fugitive.
A woman sleeping under the same roof as the man who once ruined her.
Frederick emerged from the bathroom, shirtless, a bandage around his left shoulder where the guard had shot him days ago.
Even injured, he moved like a predator.
> "The perimeter's clean. For now."
Aria didn't respond.
He walked closer, poured her a glass of whiskey.
> "Drink."
> "Why? To forget everything?"
> "To survive tonight."
The first sound was soft — a twig snapping.
Aria turned toward the boarded window.
> "Did you hear that?"
Frederick froze.
He moved to the kitchen, grabbed the hidden revolver beneath the sink.
Then all hell broke loose.
Three shadows crashed through the back — masked, armed, fast.
Lucia's mercenaries.
Frederick shoved Aria behind the couch and opened fire.
The first bullet hit one in the leg — he went down, groaning.
But the second leapt the coffee table and tackled Frederick, slamming him against the wall.
> "RUN, ARIA!" he shouted, gasping as the mercenary pinned his throat.
Aria didn't run.
She grabbed a fire poker and stabbed it through the attacker's shoulder.
The safe house lit up in chaos.
Gunfire, screams, broken glass.
One mercenary lit a match and tossed it into the curtains.
The place ignited.
Frederick grabbed Aria's hand, dragging her through the smoke-filled hall as the roof groaned above them.
> "There's a tunnel under the floorboards," he choked. "MOVE."
They dropped into the crawlspace just as the entire roof collapsed.
Above them — fire.
Behind them — blood.
Ahead — only darkness.
They crawled for thirty feet before emerging in the woods.
The night air was cold, cruel.
Aria collapsed to her knees.
> "She knew where we were," she whispered.
> "Impossible."
> "Then how did they find us?"
Frederick looked around, breathing heavily, eyes scanning.
> "Someone's feeding her intel."
> "Your people?"
> "I don't have people anymore."
Aria looked him dead in the eyes.
> "Then maybe it's you."
Frederick flinched — not because she was wrong, but because he didn't know anymore.
The wind howled as Aria and Frederick crouched beneath the overpass.
They hadn't slept.
Not since the fire.
Not since the blood.
The night was freezing. Mud clung to their boots. Shadows clung to their backs.
Frederick stared into the dying fire he'd built with broken sticks and an old flare kit.
Aria's arms were wrapped tight around herself.
Her body was cold.
But her gut?
It burned.
She hadn't spoken since the safe house collapsed.
Until now.
> "She's playing a bigger game, isn't she?"
Frederick's voice was a whisper.
> "Lucia doesn't just want revenge. She wants… legacy."
---
✦ Scene: The Phone That Shouldn't Ring
Suddenly, a sound shattered the night.
A beep.
A vibrating tone from inside Frederick's coat pocket.
> "That's impossible," he said, stunned. "We burned everything."
He pulled it out — a burner phone neither of them had turned on.
It lit up on its own.
One message.
> 1 New Video — From: Unknown
He hesitated.
Aria snatched it from his hand.
Pressed play.
Lucia appeared on screen.
Elegant.
Smiling.
A crimson dress. Hair tied into a black braid.
She stood in front of a single chair.
Tied to that chair, beaten and bruised — was a young woman.
Eyes swollen. Lips cracked.
> "No…" Aria gasped. "No. No no no—"
It was her sister.
> "Hello, darling Aria," Lucia said, her voice like poisoned velvet. "You've taken something precious from me. A toy. A game. A man."
> "So I thought… I'd take something of yours."
She leaned close to Aria's sister and ran a gentle finger down her cheek.
> "Her name is Marie, isn't it? She begged me to stop after the first finger."
Aria screamed.
Frederick reached for the phone, but she shoved him away.
> "LET ME SEE IT!"
Lucia continued.
> "I'm giving you 48 hours. If you don't come home — alone — I'll send you back her tongue next. One petal at a time."
She smiled.
The screen went black.
Aria fell to the ground, shaking.
> "She has Marie. She has my baby sister."
> "Aria—"
> "Shut up. Don't talk. Don't you dare talk."
Frederick stepped toward her.
> "We can get her back."
> "How? More lies? Another safe house?"
> "No more running."
He dropped the phone.
Crushed it underfoot.
> "We go to her."