The sun was just beginning to peek through the cracks in the boarded windows—soft gold on bare skin, lighting the edges of the lovers tangled in each other like a secret too sacred to say aloud.
Lilly lay still, watching Sam sleep.
God, she looked peaceful. Like nothing had bled. Like her father hadn't ordered her death. Like they hadn't spent the night proving how far two hearts can fall when they stop pretending, they don't care.
But peace was always temporary in Lilly's world.
And at 6:04 a.m., it shattered.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Three sharp knocks.
Not friendly.
Not cautious.
Coded.
Lilly's body moved before her mind caught up. She rolled out of bed, naked, reaching for the gun beneath the mattress like it was part of her. Sam jolted awake beside her, heart pounding already, adrenaline snapping her from sleep into survival.
"Lilly?"
"Quiet," Lilly whispered. "Stay low."
She pressed a finger to Sam's lips, then kissed them once soft and swift, a final shot of sweetness before the storm.
Another knock. Then silence.
No voice. No movement. Just stillness so loud it roared.
Lilly approached the door slowly, gun raised. Her breath was shallow. Calculating.
There were only three people who knew this location. Only one who'd use that knock.
She cracked the door open—
—and the world tilted.
Alyx.
Her old contact. Ghost from another life. One of the last people she trusted.
Bleeding. Pale. Leaning against the frame like a puppet with the strings cut. "They know," Alyx rasped. "Lilly—they know everything."
Lilly caught them before they collapsed.
Sam was there in seconds, tossing a blanket around her own body as she helped drag Alyx inside.
Alyx was shaking, blood pooling beneath them.
"There's a mole," Alyx coughed. "Inside Athena's network. Maybe inside yours too. Everything's compromised."
"Who?" Lilly demanded.
Alyx's eyes fluttered.
And then the knife dropped.
"Ava"
Lilly's blood ran cold.
Ava—her old handler. The one who'd trained her. Raised her. Lied to her face for years. The one she'd almost trusted more than anyone.
Almost.
Sam looked between them. "You know her?"
"She taught me how to disappear," Lilly said grimly. "And how to kill."
Sam swallowed. "So… what now?"
Lilly looked at Sam. Really looked.
At the woman who had just become the one person she couldn't lose.
The room spun with blood, betrayal, and beginnings.
And Lilly said, "Now we run. Again. Only this time—"
She looked out the window.
Eyes dark. Body coiled.
"We stop running before someone else dies."