The next morning came too fast.
Fina sat in the passenger seat, hands folded tightly on her lap, staring out the window as the city slid past them. Madrex drove like nothing had happened.. like he hadn't stripped her bare with his words the night before. Like he hadn't looked her in the eyes and told her, without shame, that he wanted to keep her close so he could torment her.
The silence was unbearable.
She kept replaying his voice in her head.
I want you alive. I want you aware. I want you broken.
So why was he here, driving her to work like this was normal?
"You wre quiet," Madrex said without looking at her.
"I'm thinking," she replied.
"Careful," he said calmly. "That's dangerous around me."
Her chest tightened, but before she could respond, the car slowed abruptly. The road ahead was unusually empty. Too empty.
Her instincts screamed.
"Madrex..." she started.
The sound came suddenly. Sharp and violent. A gunshot.
Fina felt the rush of air, the heat of panic and then Madrex moved. He didn't hesitate, didn't think twice. He twisted toward her, his body slamming into hers as a loud crack echoed again.
Something warm splashed against her arm.
Madrex grunted.
The car swerved, tires screeching as he forced it to a stop behind a parked truck. Fina's heart pounded so hard she thought she might pass out.
"Get down," he snapped.
She didn't move.
She was staring at him.
Blood bloomed through his shirt, dark and spreading fast. Her breath caught painfully in her throat.
"You..." Her voice broke. "You were shot."
His jaw clenched, but his eyes stayed locked on her. "You are not."
Only then did it sink in.
The bullet had been meant for her.
"Why?" she whispered.
Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance. The attackers were already retreating... shadows disappearing as quickly as they had come.
Madrex pressed a hand to his side, breathing hard. "Later," he said. "We are not done yet."
"No," she said shakily, grabbing his wrist. "Why would you do that?"
He laughed softly, even as blood slipped between his fingers. "You think I'd let someone else take what belongs to me?"
Her stomach twisted... but not the way she expected.
He had said he wanted to torment her. To break her. He had been clear. Cruel. Honest.
Yet when death came for her, he had stepped in front of it without blinking.
Confusion washed over her, thick and overwhelming.
She had learned long ago not to expect protection. Not since the day her childhood friend had walked away and never looked back. Since then, she had survived alone.
Until now.
Madrex leaned closer despite the pain, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't misunderstand this, Fina. I didn't save you because I'm good."
Her heart trembled anyway.
"I saved you," he continued, "because I decide when you suffer… and when you breathe."
The words should have terrified her.
Instead, as she held onto him and waited for help to arrive, a fragile, unwanted feeling slipped into her chest... soft, treacherous, and alive.
For the first time in years, someone had been willing to die so she wouldn't.
And that scared her more than the gun ever did.
**"
Her hands shook as she grabbed him, pressing hard against his chest where the bullet had torn through. Her palms were instantly slick, warm, real. Panic ripped through her chest so fast she couldn't breathe.
"Don't you dare," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Don't you dare die."
He didn't answer.
The ambulance was already speeding toward the hospital, tires screaming against the road. Fina barely noticed the city blurring past. All she could see was him. The man who had said clearly, brutally that he wanted to torment her.
And yet… he had stepped in front of a bullet meant for her.
Her mind refused to accept it.
Why?
She pressed harder on the wound, tears spilling freely now. She hadn't cried like this in years. Not since the day her childhood friend walked away and never looked back. Not since she learned what it meant to be truly unprotected.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered. "You weren't supposed to..."
The car screeched to a stop.
Hospital lights. Voices. Hands pulling him away from her.
"No... wait!" she cried, stumbling after them. "Please... he needs help... please!"
They pushed her back gently but firmly.
"Ma'am, stay here."
And just like that, he was gone.
Fina sank into a chair in the waiting area, her hands still stained with his blood.
Her heart wouldn't slow.
He told me he wanted to ruin me, she thought numbly.
He told me he enjoyed my fear.
So why had he done this?
She pressed her palms together, trying to stop the shaking. Her chest hurt in a way fear alone couldn't explain.
For the first time in years… someone had chosen her life over theirs.
Don't fall, she warned herself sharply.
This is how you get destroyed.
But the thought wouldn't leave.
Madrex could have moved.
He could have let it hit her.
He didn't.
Her throat tightened.
When the doctor finally came out, relief nearly knocked her over.
"He'll live," the doctor said. "But he's lucky."
The word echoed cruelly in her head.
She was allowed to see him briefly. He was unconscious, pale, stitched and still. The sight of him like that quiet, vulnerable did something dangerous to her.
She stepped back.
Too close.
This was exactly how people fell. How they forgot warnings. How they confused protection with love.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Unknown Number.
Her blood ran cold.
You're still breathing, the message read.
Good. This isn't over.
Fina's fingers curled tightly around the phone.
She looked back at Madrex through the glass once more.
Whoever was coming for her hadn't stopped.
And the man who claimed he wanted to torment her had just proven he was willing to bleed for her.
That contradiction was more dangerous than any bullet.