The city still smoldered when Aria stepped out of the shadows. Her heels clicked against wet asphalt, sharp and deliberate, like a verdict. Smoke curled around broken streetlights, and sirens droned somewhere in the distance, a reminder that Sebastian's reach was everywhere. But tonight, Aria wasn't afraid. She was ready.
Lorenzo moved beside her, silent, scanning the horizon like a predator claiming territory. Dangerous, intoxicating, grounding, his presence anchored her even as chaos simmered around them.
"You know he'll strike back," he murmured, voice low, barely above the night wind.
Aria tilted her chin, letting a cold smile slip across her face. "Let him try. He thinks he owns the city. But he doesn't own me."
Her words weren't bravado. Every part of her was tuned to survival, strategy, and retribution. The flames in the streets mirrored her heart, fierce, unpredictable, unstoppable.
