The estate smoldered beneath the morning sky, smoke coiling like serpents over shattered marble and twisted iron. Bella stood at the edge of the terrace, boots firm, rifle slung over her shoulder. Every sense was sharpened, every heartbeat a drumbeat of power, danger, and the magnetic pull between the two men at her sides.
Crystal's hand brushed hers as he moved closer, fingers grazing deliberately, possessively. His dark eyes burned with a mixture of rage and desire. "You're insane," he murmured, voice rough, low, heavy with heat.
"And?" Bella tilted her head, lips curling. "Insanity has always served me well."
Christian stepped in from the other side, body pressing close enough for the warmth of his heat to coil around her. His fingers brushed the small of her back as he guided her behind cover. "You're reckless," he said, voice deep, measured, dangerous. "One move, and—"
"—and I survive," Bella finished, her grin sharp, wicked, her pulse thrumming at the tension, the closeness, the danger. She could feel the energy crackling between the three of them, as fierce and volatile as the fires consuming the estate below.
Crystal growled low, the possessiveness in his tone raw. "Stay with me," he said, not a command, but a promise and a warning.
"I'm always with the fire," she whispered, brushing her hand along his in a deliberate, tantalizing motion.
Christian's eyes flared, and his jaw tightened, dark, controlled, magnetic. He leaned close, so close she could feel the heat of his breath against her neck. "You're impossible," he murmured, words half teasing, half claiming, his fingers grazing her back like a tether she could not and did not want to resist.
Bella let herself linger in the moment, letting the tension coil tighter, letting the pull of both men hum through her veins. She didn't choose not yet but she didn't hide either. Not from them. Not from herself.
Then the first wave of Russo's reinforcements crashed against the estate gates. Black SUVs and armored men advanced, and Bella's mind snapped back to war. Her body moved before thought, rifle raised, scanning, calculating, commanding.
Crystal vaulted over a barricade, body brushing hers in a flash of heat and movement. His growl cut low in her ear, possessive, intoxicating. "I've got you," he said, every word a claim.
Christian's hand pressed at her back as he guided her toward a safer flank. His voice was low, intimate, the strength in his grip both protective and claiming. "Don't lose yourself," he murmured, dark, dangerous. "I won't forgive anyone who touches you."
Bella's pulse raced, not from fear, but from the thrilling collision of danger and desire. She fired, moved, dodged, leapt every action a declaration: she was no longer a pawn. She was the storm.
A mercenary lunged from the shadows. Bella twisted midair, rifle swinging, and he went down with precision. Her gaze flicked to Crystal, whose dark eyes were molten with need and rage, and then to Christian, whose controlled intensity burned through her.
For a heartbeat, time stopped. The chaos around them melted into heat, electricity, and unspoken promises. She didn't have to choose not yet but she could feel their claims, raw and unrelenting, threading through the smoke and fire.
"You're mine," Crystal growled, voice low, intent and possessive, pressing close enough for the heat of his body to scorch her skin.
"I'm not yours," she whispered, fierce, letting the edge in her voice spark a shiver down his spine. "I'm the fire. You can follow, but you won't tame me."
Christian's lips brushed the shell of her ear, voice deep, trembling with restrained hunger. "I'll protect what's mine," he said, a growl wrapped in a promise. "I'll claim what I choose."
Bella's grin sharpened, wicked and wild. The estate burned around them, men fell, bullets screamed but in that suspended, electrifying moment, she stood between two storms, untamed, untouchable, and burning.
The battle was far from over, but one truth blazed brighter than any fire: Bella wasn't just surviving. She was commanding the chaos, commanding desire, commanding both men who would bend the world or themselves to her will.
She didn't choose yet. But she had all the power. And for now, that was enough.