Tittle: The Funeral and the Bullet
Black.
It was the only color Selene Hart had worn in days. Not just on her body, but in her heart, her mood, her godforsaken future.
The funeral smelled of rain and old money—wet earth, wilted lilies, the hushed whispers of people who had smiled at her father in life and sharpened knives behind his back in death.
Sebastian Hart—media mogul, empire builder, master manipulator.
Dead. Gone. And now the vultures circled.
She stood alone beside the closed casket. Her mother was three rows back, sunglasses hiding tears—or guilt. Probably both.
Selene didn't cry. Not for him. Not for anyone. She kept her spine straight, her expression neutral. The world could burn around her and she wouldn't flinch.
Because weakness was an invitation. And someone had already RSVP'd with blood.
A man shifted to her right—too fast, too close.
Her eyes flicked to him. Just a mourner. Nervous. Sweating. Clutching a folded note.
She stepped away.
Another twitch in the corner of her eye. This time, from the church balcony.
Then she saw it.
The faintest glint of metal.
A sniper's scope.
And then—
Red.
A laser dot, steady on her shoulder.
No scream came. Only instinct.
Her heel slipped. Her breath caught.
And then
"Down."
The voice hit like thunder. A hard arm slammed around her waist, yanking her down behind the casket. Wood splintered above them as the first bullet ripped through the air.
Gunfire echoed through the sanctuary. Screams. Glass shattered. Chaos erupted.
Selene gasped, her heart kicking like a trapped animal. She looked up—
And stared into the coldest, most unreadable eyes she had ever seen.
Kai Voss.
Six-foot-four of silence and threat.
Black tactical shirt, combat boots, Kevlar peeking under a long coat.
Not part of the funeral.
Not invited.
Not friendly.
"I told them you'd be a target," he said, calm as hell, as another bullet hit the marble floor inches from her head. "They didn't listen."
"Who the hell are you?" she hissed, breathless.
"Your last option."
He stood, fired twice, and dropped the sniper with clinical precision.
M
Then he turned back, his hand outstretched. "Get up. We're leaving."
She didn't move. "I didn't hire you."
"No," he said, tightening his grip on her wrist. "But your mother did."
Ten Minutes Later — Black SUV, Moving Fast
"You're bleeding," he said flatly.
"It's not mine," she snapped. "Where are you taking me?"
"Safehouse."
"Define 'safe.'"
He cut her a look that said don't push me. "No windows. One exit. Armory in the basement. I built it myself."
She stared at him like he was mad. "Do I look like a damsel in distress to you?"
He didn't blink. "You look like a corpse in the making."
She turned away, jaw tight, ignoring the way her hands were still trembling. She hated that he had touched her. Hated more that it had felt… grounding.
"You have a name?" she asked.
"Voss."
"Just Voss?"
"It's all you need."
She scoffed. "You don't talk much, do you?"
"Only when I need to. And right now, you need to listen."
The SUV turned sharply. Sirens wailed in the distance. The city blurred past in streaks of grey and neon.
"You're not safe," he said. "This wasn't a warning shot. It was a kill order."
"No shit," she muttered.
Voss's hand gripped the wheel tighter. "They're coming hard and fast. Whoever wants you dead—they know what you have."
"I don't have anything."
His gaze cut to her, unreadable. "Everyone has something. You just don't know what it is yet."
Later That Night — Safehouse
The safehouse was stone, steel, and shadow. Remote. Impenetrable. Cold.
So was he.
Selene stood near the fireplace, arms crossed, watching him disassemble a rifle with obsessive precision.
"You some ex-CIA type?" she asked.
"Doesn't matter."
"You ever kill anyone?"
He looked up slowly. "You really want to know?"
"Depends. Are you planning to kill me too?"
His eyes lingered on her. "Only if you give me a reason."
She swallowed. Not fear. Not quite. Something else. Something sharp and electric in the way his voice wrapped around threats like they were love notes.
"Why do you care?" she asked.
"I don't," he said. "But someone paid me to keep you alive. And I don't break contracts."
"Even if I make it hard for you?"
He stood. Moved closer.
"You already are."
The air between them cracked. Tense. Too hot.
"I don't need protection," she whispered.
"Yes," he said, stepping even closer, his voice low, lethal. "But you do need a leash. Because the people coming for you? They don't stop. They don't sleep. And they don't miss twice."
Selene tilted her chin. "And what are you, Voss? My savior?"
His lips barely moved. "No. I'm your last sin before the grave
The rain hadn't stopped for hours.
It came down in slow sheets, hissing against the windows of the safehouse like whispered warnings. Selene sat on the edge of the couch, a wool blanket wrapped loosely around her shoulders, watching droplets slide down the glass. Her knees were drawn up, bare feet cold against the hardwood.
Across the room, Kai Voss stood by the kitchen counter, cleaning his second gun.
He hadn't said much since they arrived. No small talk. No comfort. Just silence and sharp steel, the occasional metallic click of a weapon being loaded, locked, checked again.
Selene hated silence. It reminded her too much of the last few seconds before something terrible happened.
And tonight, the silence was deafening.
"I can't sleep," she said, breaking it.
Kai didn't look up. "You should try."
"Hard to sleep when someone just tried to assassinate you in a church."
Still nothing.
She dropped her feet to the floor and stood. "Do you ever sleep, Voss?"
"I do what I need to."
"Wow. That's almost poetic."
His hands paused. Just briefly. "Sarcasm won't make you safer."
"No, but it makes this less unbearable."
He finally looked at her. And for a moment, she saw it—the man beneath the armor. Tired. Controlled. Wound too tight.
She stepped closer.
"You don't want to be here, do you?" she asked softly.
"I'm not here because I want to be."
"Then why?"
He didn't answer. Just turned away and started packing up.
Selene crossed her arms. "I didn't ask for you."
"I didn't ask to save you."
They locked eyes across the room. And suddenly, the air thickened. Like the walls themselves were holding their breath.
"You could've let me die," she said.
"I should have," he muttered.
But he hadn't. And they both knew it.
An Hour Later
Selene lay on the guest bed, staring at the ceiling. The room was too quiet, too sterile. She hadn't been alone like this in years.
Not since the incident.
Not since her father had locked her in that dark room and told her silence was safer than truth.
She clenched her fists.
There was a knock.
She sat up instantly. "What?"
Kai's voice came from the other side. "We need to talk."
"About what?"
"Security."
She opened the door slowly.
He stood there, shirt slightly damp from a perimeter check, dark hair wet at the ends, tension radiating off him like heat.
"You sleep with a gun too?" she asked.
He lifted one brow. "Do you?"
She gave a cold smile. "Depends who I'm sleeping next to."
He stepped inside without a word. Closed the door.
Selene crossed her arms, ignoring the fact that she wasn't wearing much—just one of his oversized T-shirts and her pride.
He gestured toward the dresser, where her purse had been dumped.
"Tell me what's in there."
"My wallet. My ID. Lip gloss. Why?"
"No tracker?"
Her brow furrowed. "Why would there be a—"
He didn't wait. Crossed the room, unzipped the inner pocket, and pulled out a tiny black device the size of a coin.
Her heart stopped.
"That wasn't mine," she whispered.
"I know."
"Then who—?"
"Someone planted it. Probably at the funeral. Maybe before."
Her stomach twisted. "They were tracking me the whole time."
He nodded once. Calm. Cold. Efficient.
Selene sank onto the bed, hands trembling.
"I'm not safe," she said.
"No."
Her eyes lifted to his. "Are you going to keep me safe?"
Kai stared at her for a long, long moment. Then he said, "I'll try."
The Next Morning
The safehouse was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by pine trees and silence. Birds called in the distance, a mocking counterpoint to the chaos they'd escaped.
Kai made black coffee. Selene sat at the window, legs curled beneath her, staring at a forest that felt more like a cage.
"We need to talk about your father," he said eventually.
Her shoulders tensed. "He's dead."
"That doesn't mean his secrets are."
She turned slowly. "What do you think I know?"
"I think you don't know anything yet," he said. "But someone thinks you do."
Selene laughed, bitter. "My father didn't tell me anything. He barely looked at me. I was a liability."
Kai nodded. "Then why are you still alive?"
The question hit harder than it should've. She stood, walked to the back door, opened it.
A cool wind wrapped around her legs.
"I don't know," she admitted.
Kai stepped up behind her. "We'll find out. But you need to tell me everything. Every meeting. Every conversation. Every strange detail in the last two weeks."
"I can't remember everything."
"You'll try."
She turned to face him.
He was so close. His eyes like storm clouds. His jaw tight.
"Why do you act like this doesn't affect you?" she asked. "Like you don't feel anything?"
"Because feelings get you killed."
"Maybe. Or maybe they keep you human."
Something in his expression shifted. Just slightly. A crack in the armor.
Then he turned away. "Pack light. We move tonight."
Later — The Shower Scene
The water ran hot and thick.
Selene stepped under it, trying to scrub the memory of fear from her skin. But it clung. It always clung.
She closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the tile.
Suddenly—
A noise.
Soft. Controlled. But there.
Her hand darted to the towel rack.
"Voss?" she called.
No answer.
She turned the water off. Wrapped herself in the towel. Opened the door.
He stood there.
Not looking at her. Looking past her. At the window behind her, where the lock had been snapped.
"Someone tried to break in," he said quietly.
She froze. "What?"
"Get dressed. Now."
On the Run Again
They were in the car within minutes. Selene didn't even have shoes on. Just sweatpants, a hoodie, and a pounding heart.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"New drop point."
"Who the hell is chasing us?"
Kai glanced in the rearview mirror. "People who don't leave witnesses."
Selene's mouth was dry. "Why me?"
"Because you're not just your father's daughter."
"What does that mean?"
Kai didn't answer.
Instead, he hit the gas—and the world blurred again.
They checked in under fake names. A roadside motel with flickering lights and no working cameras. The safest unsafe place they could find.
Kai dropped the duffel bag on the floor. Unzipped it. Pulled out two pistols, a burner phone, and an old photograph.
Selene's eyes narrowed. "What's that?"
He showed her.
It was a photo of her father.
Younger. Smiling.
Next to a girl she didn't recognize. Pale. Dark hair. Holding a baby.
"Who is she?" Selene asked.
Kai didn't speak.
But his voice cracked when he finally said, "My sister."
Selene stared at him. "Your sister knew my father?"
"She didn't just know him," he whispered. "She died because of him."
Her blood ran cold.
The silence in the motel room wasn't just heavy—it was crushing.
Selene stared at the photograph in Kai's hand, her heart thudding like war drums in her chest. His voice still echoed in the back of her mind.
"She died because of him."
A thousand questions begged to be asked, but her throat felt too dry to form words.
Kai finally set the photo down on the edge of the table. His hands were steady. Too steady. Like he'd spent years learning not to shake.
"She was twenty-four," he said. "Her name was Mila."
Selene blinked. "She looks… like me."
"She looked like a lot of girls who never got to tell their stories."
She took a small step forward, drawn by something deeper than curiosity—something desperate, something human. "What happened to her?"
Kai's jaw tensed. "She trusted the wrong man. Believed the wrong promises. Got in too deep."
Selene sat slowly on the edge of the bed, her voice soft. "You think my father—"
"I know he was involved."
The weight of his words settled between them like a loaded gun.
She stared at her hands. "I didn't know."
"I didn't expect you to."
"You've been protecting me," she whispered, "when I'm the daughter of the man who ruined your life."
Kai's silence was more telling than any confession.
"Why?" she asked.
His eyes darkened. "Because I promised myself I'd never let another girl die for his secrets."
Later That Night
The motel room smelled faintly of mildew and old cigarette smoke, but Selene didn't care. She couldn't sleep. Again.
The weight of Kai's story lingered like a storm cloud.
She paced the floor, arms wrapped around herself, replaying the words he'd said—each one a shard slicing deeper into her thoughts.
She paused at the window. Rain had returned, tapping softly on the glass like fingers of the past trying to get in.
Then she heard it.
The creak of the floor behind her.
She turned.
Kai was standing there, shirtless, sweatpants hanging low on his hips, eyes shadowed but locked on her.
"I couldn't sleep," she said, barely above a whisper.
"Me neither."
He stepped closer.
"You okay?" he asked.
She swallowed hard. "No."
Kai's gaze dropped to her trembling hands. "You're scared."
She nodded. "Aren't you?"
"Always."
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. Then, slowly, she stepped into him—until her fingers brushed the skin of his chest.
"Why does it feel like I've known you longer than I have?" she whispered.
"Because trauma ages everything."
She looked up at him. "Do you ever wish you could go back? Undo it?"
He didn't answer.
But his hand lifted, brushed a strand of damp hair from her cheek.
Selene's breath hitched.
The air between them sparked like wire on wire—hot, dangerous, and too close to combustion
Kai leaned in.
Not all the way. Not yet.
Just enough that their foreheads nearly touched.
"I shouldn't want this," he muttered.
"But you do," she said.
His lips hovered a whisper from hers. "Yeah."
Her heart pounded.
But then—
He pulled back.
"We can't," he said. "Not until you're safe."
And he walked away.
Selene didn't sleep that night either.
The Next Day
Selene woke to Kai's voice.
"Pack your things. We move in twenty."
She groaned. "Again?"
"They found this place. We're compromised."
She blinked at him, dazed. "How?"
"Because someone close to your father isn't just watching you—they're inside your circle."
Selene sat up. "You think I'm being betrayed?"
"I think you're not paranoid enough."
In the Car
They drove in silence for an hour before Selene finally spoke.
"You think Mila was like me?"
Kai didn't take his eyes off the road. "In some ways."
"Did you love her?"
"She was my sister."
"That's not what I meant."
The air shifted.
Kai gripped the wheel tighter. "I was gone most of her life. Military. Black ops. I came home when she died."
Selene's heart twisted. "I'm sorry."
He glanced at her. "She trusted a man who promised her protection. Power. A future."
Selene swallowed. "And that man was my father?"
"No proof. Just patterns. Enough to hunt. Not enough to convict."
She turned toward the window. "Maybe I didn't know my father at all."
"You didn't."
New Safehouse — The Warehouse
The next hideout was worse than the last.
An abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city. No power. Just darkness, rust, and dust.
Selene rubbed her arms. "This is safe?"
"For now."
Kai set up a perimeter while she explored the inside. It looked like a place where nightmares came to rest. Broken chairs. A bloodstained rag. Empty bottles.
But when she touched the wall, something caught her attention.
A symbol.
Etched into the metal. Barely visible.
A triangle overlaid with an eye.
She called out, "Kai!"
He was there in seconds.
"What is it?"
She pointed.
His eyes narrowed. "You've seen this before?"
"No. But it's familiar. Somehow."
He stared at it a moment longer. "That's the mark of The Concord."
Selene blinked. "What's that?"
"An old network. Secretive. Ruthless. Your father used to deal with them before he pulled out."
"Pulled out?"
Kai's eyes darkened. "When he realized they were turning on him."
Selene felt ice crawl down her spine.
"Do you think they're the ones after me?"
Kai didn't answer.
But she could tell the answer was yes.
Flashback Scene — Selene's Childhood
That night, in the quiet of the warehouse, Selene finally told him everything.
About the locked rooms. The whispers. The days her father disappeared.
"He used to bring home envelopes," she said. "Sealed. He never opened them in front of me."
Kai leaned against the wall. "Messages?"
"Maybe. Or threats."
He crossed the room and crouched in front of her.
"You're not safe because of who you were," he said. "You're a target because of what you might have."
"Have what?"
He met her eyes. "Keys. Codes. Locations. You don't know you know them. But they're buried. Somewhere."
She shivered. "And they'll kill me for them."
He nodded.
"Then you're the only thing between me and death."
"I know."
That night, Selene stepped outside for air. The stars were choked by clouds, but she didn't care. She just needed to breathe.
She didn't notice the shadow until it was too late.
A gun pressed to her spine.
"Don't scream."
The voice was familiar.
Her eyes widened. "Derrick?"
Her father's old assistant. The one she'd trusted.
He smiled. "You should've stayed quiet."
She backed up. "You were working with them?"
"Your father made enemies. He didn't pay his debts."
"You're going to kill me?"
"I'm going to take what's in your head."
The gun clicked.
And then—a shot rang out.
But not from Derrick.
From behind him.
Derrick dropped, blood pooling at his chest.
Kai stepped out of the dark, gun raised, eyes burning.
Selene ran to him, heart racing.
"I thought
"I was watching," he said. "I never left you."
She collapsed against him, sobbing into his chest.
His arms wrapped around her, strong, warm.
"Why does it feel like you're the only thing keeping me from breaking?" she whispered.
He held her tighter. "Because I am."