The gray light of dawn filtered through the cabin windows, casting long, somber shadows across the floor. Alice was still asleep, her head resting on Ruoxi's chest, her expression finally peaceful. The terror of the previous night seemed to have been washed away by sleep, leaving her looking younger, more fragile.
Ruoxi, however, had been awake for hours. She watched the dust dancing in the dim light, her arm wrapped tightly around Alice. She felt the weight of the promise she had made the night before—a promise she intended to keep, even if it cost her everything.
I finally found something worth living for, Ruoxi thought, and now I might be the reason she dies.
Gently, she reached for her burner phone on the side table. A new message was waiting.
Unknown: 24 hours left, Rou. The cleaners are being mobilized. If the target isn't eliminated by sunset, we're sending them to the cabin to finish the job for both of you. No loose ends.
Ruoxi's jaw tightened. She looked down at Alice, whose skin glowed softly in the morning light. She thought about the night they just shared—the intimacy, the vulnerability, the way Alice had looked at her with total, unshakeable trust. The organization didn't care about love; they only cared about the uncle's inheritance. And Alice was the only thing standing in the way of his total control over the Company.
I have to move her today, Ruoxi realized. If I stay here, we're both dead.
She carefully slipped out from under Alice, tucking the blanket around her shoulders to keep her warm. She walked to the kitchen and pulled out a hidden floorboard beneath the sink, revealing a stash of cash, a fake passport, and a loaded handgun.
The cold steel felt heavy in her hand—a familiar weight, but with a new purpose. She wasn't Rou anymore, the cold-blooded operative. She was just a woman trying to save the person she loved from a world of monsters—monsters she used to call her own.
"Ruoxi?"
The soft, sleepy voice made Ruoxi freeze. She quickly kicked the floorboard back into place, but she didn't have time to hide the weapon. She turned around slowly.
Alice was sitting up, the blanket pooled around her waist. Her eyes fell directly on the gun in Ruoxi's hand. The peacefulness from a few moments ago vanished, replaced by a sharp, cold realization.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" Alice whispered, her voice trembling. "The promise... was it only for last night?"
Ruoxi walked toward her, setting the gun on the table but keeping her eyes on Alice. "The promise is the only reason I'm still breathing, Alice. But we can't stay. They're coming for us. Not just for you... but for me, too."
Alice looked at the gun, then back at Ruoxi. "Who is 'they', Ruoxi? Tell me the truth. I need to know the truth,"
Ruoxi took a deep breath, kneeling before Alice. "Your uncle. He hired me to make sure you never find your real parents. He wants the company, and he can't have it while you're alive. I was supposed to be the one to end it... but I can't. I won't."
The air in the cabin turned ice-cold. Alice sat frozen on the sofa, the warmth of the previous night feeling like a cruel hallucination. She looked at the gun, then at the floorboard, then finally at Ruoxi's face—the face she had just begun to trust.
"Wait," Alice whispered, her voice sharp with a new kind of pain. "If my uncle... my biological uncle... hired you to kill me, then all of this? The bar? You helping me with the guys who were bothering me? Our 'unexpected' meeting?" Her voice rose, becoming frantic. "Was any of it real? Or was I just a target you were scouting from the very start?"
Ruoxi didn't flinch, though the question felt like a blade to her heart. She stayed on her knees, looking up at Alice.
"The meeting at the bar wasn't a coincidence, Alice. I was sent there to track you," Ruoxi admitted, her voice low. "I've been watching you since you left Suzette's house."
Alice let out a choked sob, covering her mouth. "So it was all a lie. The kindness, the cabin... even last night?"
"No," Ruoxi said firmly, reaching out to grab Alice's hands, though Alice tried to pull away. "Listen to me. I knew who you were before you knew yourself. But you don't remember the warehouse, do you?"
Alice's breath hitched. She had a recurring nightmare—a cold, dark warehouse, the smell of dust and gun oil, and two men screaming about money. She remembered running, and a young girl—a runaway—grabbing her hand.
"I helped you escape your kidnappers back then," Ruoxi explained, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I tripped one of them, I pulled you toward the exit... but that's when I heard the bang."
Ruoxi pulled her shirt down slightly on her left shoulder, revealing a faint, jagged scar.
"He shot me," Ruoxi whispered. "I fell. I couldn't stop them from dragging you away. While I was bleeding out on that concrete floor, I watched them throw you into a van, not to take you back to your parents, but to dump you at the old shelter on the edge of the city. The orphanage. That's how you ended up with Suzette."
Alice touched the skin above Ruoxi's shoulder, her mind reeling. The world she thought she knew was crumbling, replaced by a legacy of blood and greed.
"I've spent my life being the weapon your uncle uses. But when he gave me your file... when I saw your face again... I couldn't do it."
Ruoxi stood up and grabbed the leather folder, flipping it open. She pulled out a blurry, old photo of a beautiful couple holding a baby.
"This is your real mother and father, Alice. They aren't just 'business partners' from Canada. They are the owners of Villanueva Global. Your uncle told everyone you died in that kidnapping years ago so he could be the sole heir. But he knew. He knew there was a mark."
Ruoxi pointed toward Alice's shoulder, near her collarbone. "The birthmark you have—the one shaped like a small crescent moon. Your father has the same one. It's the proof that the true heir is still alive. That's why he's so afraid of you."
"Everything I told you about who you are is the truth," Ruoxi said, stepping closer until their chests were almost touching. "And what happened last night... that wasn't part of the plan. Rio doesn't feel. Rio doesn't make promises. But Ruoxi? Ruoxi is head-over-heels in love with you. My feelings are the only thing in my life that haven't been assigned to me by a handler."
Ruoxi took Alice's hand and placed it over her own heart. "It's beating this fast because I'm terrified, Alice. Not of the cleaners, and not of your uncle. I'm terrified that I've saved your life only to lose your heart."
Alice looked into Ruoxi's eyes. She saw the operative, the protector, and the girl from her nightmares who had once reached out a hand to save her.