The morning at La Brune didn't arrive with golden rays; it came with a grey, biting cold that seemed to seep through the stone walls. Ava woke up on the sofa in Liam's chambers, her body aching from the awkward position. The fireplace was nothing but cold ash now.
She looked toward the bed, but it was empty. The silk sheets were barely ruffled, as if the man who lay there didn't sleep, but merely waited for the world to end.
Ava stood up, rubbing her arms to get the circulation going. Her blonde hair was a mess, and her clothes—the plain ones she had worn from Providence felt like a costume that no longer fit the woman she was becoming. She walked over to Liam's desk. There, amidst the maps and blood-stained files, sat a small glass of amber liquid and the gold key Marcus had given her.
"You should be in your room."
The voice was like a whip. Ava jumped, turning to find Liam standing by the window. He was dressed in a sharp, black suit again.
Not a single hair was out of place. The man who had crumbled in her arms last night, whose blood she had wiped away, was gone.
"I didn't want to leave you alone," Ava said, her voice sounding thin in the vast room.
Liam turned, his eyes as cold as the Swiss lake outside. "Last night was a mistake, Ava. A momentary lapse in judgment. Do not mistake my exhaustion for weakness."
Ava felt a sharp sting in her chest. The 'Ice King' had rebuilt his walls even higher overnight. "A mistake? You were bleeding, Liam! You were human for five minutes! Why are you so afraid of that?
Liam walked toward her, his pace slow and menacing. He stopped just inches away, but this time, he didn't touch her. He looked at her as if she were a problem he couldn't solve.
"Because being human is what gets people killed," he hissed. "Every time I look at you, I see the man I used to be. And that man is a liability. The Council is moving, Ava. My scouts have reported activity in the lower valley. They aren't just sending negotiators anymore. They are sending 'The Cleaners'."
Ava's blood ran cold. She knew that name. The Cleaners were the Council's elite assassination squadmen who didn't leave survivors, men who erased entire families from history.
"Then let me help," Ava said, grabbing the edge of his desk. "I have the chip. I've started decoding the files in my head. I know where the Council hides their offshore accounts. I know how they fund their wars!"
Liam's expression didn't change, but his eyes narrowed. "You will do nothing. You will go to the North Wing, and you will stay there under double guard. Silas!"
The door opened instantly. Silas looked as if he hadn't slept either. His eyes flickered to Ava with a look of pure disdain.
"Take her. If she leaves the room, I want the guards replaced with men who know how to follow orders," Liam commanded.
As Silas led her away, Ava felt a surge of fury. She wasn't just a bird in a cage anymore; she was a weapon he refused to use. But as they walked through the corridors, she noticed something. The guards were moving with a sense of urgency. The heavy steel shutters on the windows were being closed.
The castle was going into lockdown.
Back in her room, Ava didn't sit and wait.
She went straight to the library shelves. She remembered a map she had seen in the basement a layout of the old tunnels beneath the castle. If Liam wouldn't let her help, she would find her own way to the truth.
She found a hidden latch behind a row of leather-bound books. It was old, rusted, and required all her strenth to move. With a groan of metal, a small panel slid open.
But before she could step inside, the entire castle shook.
A massive explosion thundered through the mountain. The sound was deafening, followed by the frantic wail of sirens. Ava was thrown to the floor, her ears ringing. Dust and plaster fell from the ceiling like snow.
"They're here," she wispered, her heart leaping into her throat.
The Cleaners hadn't waited for the valley meeting to settle. They had brought the war to Liam's doorstep. Ava scrambled to her feet, her mind racing. She could hear gunfire echoing from the courtyard,the rapid staccato of automatic weapons.
She looked at the hidden tunnel, then at the locked door. She knew Liam was out there, in the middle of the fire, fighting a war he had started to protect her.
"I'm not staying in the cage, Liam," she said to the empty, dusty room.
She grabbed a heavy brass lamp and smashed the window. The cold air rushed in, along with the smell of smoke and ozone.
Below, in the courtyard, she saw the dark shapes of men in tactical gear swarming the gates. And in the center of the chaos, she saw a flash of black—Liam, standing his ground, a gun in each hand, looking like a god of death.
He was outnumbered.
Ava realized then that the chip wasn't just data. It was the only thing that could stop this. She pulled the chip from her boot and looked at the hidden tunnel. It led to the communication hub. If she could get there, she could broadcast the Council's secrets to every major news outlet in Europe. She would burn their world down before they could burn hers.
But she had to move fast. The sounds of fighting were getting closer. The enemy was inside the walls.
Dont die, Liam, she thought as she stepped into the dark, narrow tunnel. Stay alive long enough for me to save you.
The tunnel was tighter than it looked on the map. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and rotting wood, making it hard for Ava to draw a full breth. She held her phone's flashlight between her teeth, her hands trembling as she felt along the cold, slimy stone walls. Every explosion from above sent a shower of dust down on her, and for a moment, she feared the entire mountain would collapse and bury her alive.
But she couldn't turn back. The sound of Liam's gunfire was getting more distant, replaced by the heavy boots of 'The Cleaners' entering the castle halls.
Clang!
Ava froze. A sound came from behind her the metallic scrape of the secret panel being forced open. Someone had found her trail.
"Search every inch!" a voice boomed from the room she had just left. It wasn't Silas. It was a cold, guttural voice that belonged to a professional killer. "The girl has the chip. If you find her, do not kill her yet. We need the encryption key.
Ava's heart hammered so hard against her ribs it felt like it would crack. She turned off her flashlight, plunging herself into absolute darkness. She pressed her back against the wall, her fingers clutching the brass lamp she had brought as a weapon. She could hear them the heavy, rhythmic thuds of tactical boots entering the tunnel.
"She went this way," another voice wispered, much closer now.
Ava scrambled forward, crawling on her hands and knees in the pitch black. Her nails tore against the rough floor, and her knees were bleeding, but she didn't stop. She saw a faint glow up ahead—a rusted iron grate that led to the communication hub's ventilation shaft.
With a burst of desperate strenth, she kicked at the grate. It didn't budge. She kicked again, a sob of frustration escaping her throat. On the third try, the bolts gave way, and she tumbled into a small, cold room filled with humming servers and blinking green lights.
This was it. The heart of La Brune's digital empire.
Outside the reinforced glass window of the hub, she could see the courtyard. It was a scene from a nightmare. The snow was no longer white; it was stained a deep, horrific crimson. Liam was back-to-back with Marcus, surrounded by a dozen men in black tactical gear. Liam was moveing like a shadow, his movements blurring as he fired and reloaded with a precision that was terrifying to watch.
But he was bleeding again. A new gash across his shoulder was soaking his suit jacket. He was tiring. Even an Ice King couldn't fight forever.
Ava turned to the main console. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. Because of the months she spent hiding in Providence, she had learned how to bypass basic firewalls. She inserted the digital chip.
"Come on... come on..." she pleaded.
The screen flickered. Access Denied.
"No!" she screamed, slamming her fist on the desk. She tried again, her mind racing back to the conversations she had overheard in the bunker. Liam's password wasn't a date or a name. It was a coordinate the place where they first met.
She typed in the numbers.
The files began to upload. Thousands of documents—names of Council members, bank transactions, orders for assassinations—began to flood into the global server. But the progress bar was slow.
15%... 20%...
Suddenly, the heavy steel door of the hub began to spark. Someone was using a thermal torch to cut through.
Ava looked at the courtyard. A sniper was leveling his rifle at Liam's chest. Liam was busy fighting three men at once; he didn't see the red dot dancing on his heart.
"LIAM!" Ava screamed, knowing he couldn't hear her through the soundproof glass.
She had to make a choice. If she stayed to finish the upload, the world would know the truth, but Liam would die. If she distracted them, the upload might fail.
Ava didn't hesitate. She grabbed the heavy brass lamp and threw it through the server's main power bank, creating a massive electrical arc. The room exploded in a shower of blue sparks. The hub's external alarms began to blare,,a sound so loud it shook the entire courtyard.
The sniper flinched, his shot going wide and hitting the stone pillar next to Liam.
Liam looked up, his eyes finding the hub's window. For a second, their gazes locked across the chaos. In that moment, the tyrant was gone. Only the man remained, his face pale with horror as he realized Ava had put herself in the line of fire.
The hub door burst open. Two men in black masks stepped in, their weapons leveled at her head.
"The chip," the leader growled. "Give it to us, and we make your death quick.
Ava stood tall, her hands behind her back, where the computer was still quietly uploading the final files. 95%... 98%...
"You're too late," she said, a cold smile touching her lips. "The world is watching now."