Morning came quietly.
Too quietly.
Sage woke up in S4RKU's mansion with a strange heaviness in her chest.
After last night's confession...
After learning about his mother...
Something between them had changed.
It wasn't just obsession anymore.
It was vulnerability.
And vulnerability is dangerous in a war.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Again.
Her stomach twisted.
She opened the message.
A photo.
Her breath stopped.
It was her childhood best friend - Reyna.
Tied to a chair.
Blindfolded.
Bruised.
Another message followed:
"You wanted truth. Now you get consequences."
Her hands started shaking.
"No... no..."
The phone slipped slightly in her grip.
S4RKU walked into the room at that exact moment.
One look at her face - and he knew.
"What happened?"
She silently handed him the phone.
He saw the picture.
His expression didn't change immediately.
That was worse.
He typed something rapidly on his own device.
Location trace attempt.
Encrypted.
Professional.
The rival wasn't playing games anymore.
"They took her because of me," Sage whispered.
"No," he said calmly.
"They took her to hurt you."
"And that hurts me."
Silence.
He looked at her slowly.
"This is why I told you."
Her voice cracked.
"She's innocent."
His jaw tightened.
"In my world... no one connected to me stays innocent."
The words crushed her.
Her friend didn't choose this.
She did.
"I want her back," Sage said.
"I'll get her back."
"Alive."
He met her eyes.
Long pause.
"Alive," he repeated.
But something in his tone felt dangerous.
Not for her friend.
For whoever touched her.
An hour later.
Private war room.
Maps. Screens. Intelligence feeds.
S4RKU stood at the head of the table.
Men waited silently for orders.
"Lock down all northern routes," he commanded.
"Shut their supply lines."
"Burn their safe houses."
One of his men hesitated.
"Sir... that's full escalation."
His eyes turned ice cold.
"They kidnapped someone under my protection."
That wasn't anger.
That was judgment.
"They want war?"
He picked up his gun slowly.
"Give them extinction."
Meanwhile.
A dark warehouse.
Reyna stirred weakly in the chair.
Footsteps echoed.
The rival leader stepped forward.
Face still hidden in shadow.
"You see," he murmured, "when you can't break the king..."
He leaned closer.
"You break the queen."
Back in the mansion.
Sage stood alone in the balcony.
Wind whipping through her hair.
She felt it now.
The cost of loving him.
People bleed.
People get dragged into darkness.
And yet...
She didn't step away.
Instead, she made a choice.
She walked back inside.
Straight into the war room.
All the men turned, surprised.
S4RKU looked at her sharply.
"This is not your place."
She walked toward him steadily.
"It is now."
Silence filled the room.
She placed her friend's photo on the table.
"They want to use me?"
Her eyes hardened slightly.
"Then let's make sure I'm not the weakness."
The room went still.
S4RKU studied her carefully.
This wasn't fear anymore.
This wasn't innocence.
This was transformation.
He stepped closer.
Lowered his voice.
"You understand what that means?"
She nodded.
"It means I stop being protected."
A slow, dark smile touched his lips.
"No," he said softly.
"It means you start ruling beside me."
And somewhere far away...
A warehouse door creaked open.
Because war had officially begun.