(ZARA & LEO'S POV).
The harbor reeked of salt, diesel, and blood. Gunfire split the night, shattering the fragile illusion of safety we'd carried from the rooftops. The rider—Aria—had pulled off her helmet, and the smirk she wore sliced deeper than any bullet could.
She wasn't just Leo's partner. She was his ghost. His unfinished past. And she'd just betrayed us.
<<<<<
ZARA'S POV.
I lunged forward, my fists clenching around the cold metal of the pistol, but Leo grabbed my wrist, yanking me back before I blew Aria's head off right there on the dock.
"Don't," he hissed, dragging me behind a shipping container as bullets ricocheted around us.
My heart thundered in my chest. "She just tried to kill us, Leo. And you're protecting her?"
"Not protecting. Surviving," he snapped, peeking around the corner and returning fire.
Surviving. The word tasted bitter. Aria moved like liquid shadow, vaulting across crates, twin pistols flashing like sparks in the dark. She wasn't aiming to kill us outright—she was herding us. Like prey. And I hated the way Leo's eyes followed her, just a little too long.
"You knew she was alive," I whispered, more accusation than question.
Leo didn't answer. Which was answer enough.
<<<<<
LEO'S POV.
The look in Zara's eyes gutted me worse than any bullet. Betrayal. Jealousy. Fury.
And she was right—I'd known. I just hadn't wanted to believe it. Aria had been my partner, my shadow, the one person I thought I'd lost in Istanbul three years ago when the mission went to hell.
But she wasn't dead. She was here. And she was pointing guns at my chest.
"She's working with them," Zara spat, firing blindly toward the dock cranes. "Leo, she's going to sell us out."
"I know," I growled, chambering another round. "That's why we can't die here tonight."
Aria's laughter floated across the harbor, chilling and familiar.
"Oh, Leo. Always the hero. Still dragging strays behind you?" Her eyes flicked to Zara with razor-sharp cruelty. "Careful. This one looks fragile. Don't want her ending up like the last one."
Zara bristled, and I saw the fire in her. She wanted to tear Aria apart. So did I.
<<<<<
ZARA'S POV.
The fight spilled onto the dock, then into the water when a stray bullet blew through the fuel line of a speedboat. Flames roared skyward, painting the harbor in orange hellfire.
"Go!" Leo shoved me as a crane collapsed behind us, metal shrieking like a dying beast. We dove into the black water, bullets tearing into the sea around us.
Cold swallowed me whole. The shock was brutal, but adrenaline kept me alive as I kicked upward, breaking the surface just in time to see Aria standing on the edge of the pier—silhouetted in firelight. Her pistol aimed at me.
"Zara!" Leo roared, slamming into me, dragging me under just as the shot rang out.
<<<<<
LEO'S POV.
Salt burned my throat. My lungs screamed. But I wouldn't let her die. I couldn't.
I pulled Zara beneath a drifting cargo barge, both of us clinging to its rusted underside as gunfire shredded the water. She clutched my arm, eyes wide, gasping against the silence of the deep.
We held there until the world above calmed. Until Aria's laughter faded into the night.
When we finally dragged ourselves onto the far side of the dock, coughing seawater and blood, Zara shoved me so hard I hit the concrete.
"You knew," she panted, hair plastered to her face. "You knew she was alive. You knew she was dangerous. And you didn't tell me."
"Zara—"
"No. Don't you dare. Don't you dare lie to me."
Her fury was fire. My guilt was gasoline. And the explosion between us was inevitable.
<<<<<
ZARA'S POV.
I wanted to shoot him. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted answers, and all I had were questions.
The night was still thick with smoke when he grabbed my wrist again—not to stop me, but to hold me, desperate, as if he already knew I might walk away.
"She wasn't supposed to be here," he said hoarsely. "Aria was dead. I buried her. Whatever this is, whatever side she's on—it's not the one I knew."
I stared at him, searching for truth in his eyes. But all I found was shadow. And I hated myself for still wanting him.
Before I could answer, headlights flared at the end of the pier. A black SUV screeched to a halt, doors flying open. Not allies. Enemies. We weren't out of the game yet.