Somewhere far ahead, off the main road, Zeynep stopped in her tracks for a moment. Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t know why, but she felt him, the pull, the certainty, the ache, like someone was trailing her, not in a creepy way but in a way that wrapped around her heart like a promise she didn’t realize she needed.

She clenched her fists. "Don’t follow me," she whispered to the wind. But deep down, she didn’t even believe her own words. She wiped her tears and kept moving, knowing he’d pursue her, hoping he wouldn’t, and dreading what would happen if he actually found her. But nature sensed this wasn’t the right moment for their reunion.

******

AD stood in his office, completely still, staring at the spot where they had been just moments ago. It was morning now, but it felt like they had just walked out; he could still see the chair where MK had been sitting, the place where the woman’s hand had rested on MK’s thigh, and the angle of her eyes meeting his over MK’s shoulder.

Heat crept into his face again, a mix of shame, anger, jealousy, and something darker that he didn’t want to acknowledge. He’d put in so much effort to make her his. But now, she had just strolled out with MK. At first, she had been crying, showing him that she wasn’t into MK’s touch, and then it all flipped; she left with him, looking genuinely happy. After all that time he had invested, he’d worked hard to make her think he loved her, but now it felt like all that effort was wasted. MK had won again, and AD was left with nothing. His revenge plan against her had completely fallen apart.

He clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles cracked. As he walked out of the office, anger flooded his thoughts. "She looked over at me while kissing him. She wanted me to see that," he wondered. "Does she know I’m plotting revenge? No way, she can’t know anything; she was so young back then."

AD kicked the chair across the warehouse, the metal screeching and crashing against the concrete floor.

He hated that look she gave him. He hated how it made him feel. He really despised that she still had the ability to humiliate him without saying a single word.

AD ran his hands through his hair and paced back and forth in the empty space. Each step echoed in his mind, matching the pounding in his skull.

MK’s words kept ringing in his head: "If you don’t bring her to me... I’ll deal with you myself. You owe me everything. I can end it all with a snap."

AD smashed his fist into the wall, feeling the sting radiate through his knuckles. He couldn’t stand being under MK’s control. He hated how the woman looked at MK like he was someone valuable. He despised the way she looked at AD like he was nothing at all. But he wasn’t nothing. Not anymore.

He pulled out his phone, fumbling to unlock it with shaky fingers. A secret app popped up, showing a map dotted with blinking red markers, indicating various locations, safe houses, vehicles, and convoys. Among them was the latest tracker signal from the girl. His crew had secretly put it on her arm when she was unconscious, and she had no clue. They did only one thing right, he thought to himself.

"There you are," AD murmured, his voice low and intense. She was sharp, risky, and unpredictable, but even someone like her could mess up. And she had. AD zoomed in on the map, focusing on a half-mile radius that made his stomach drop. It was way too close to MK’s turf, uncomfortably near the cabin where she was, completely in the dark.

His chest was rising and falling with uneven breaths. "If MK gets to her first," he muttered, "I’m done for." But if he could find her before MK did... he had no idea how he’d handle it.

"Should I hand her over? Keep her? Interrogate her? Or maybe save her? But why would I save her?" he laughed grimly, feeling lost in his own thoughts. All he really knew was that she wasn’t out there by herself, and MK was already suspicious, circling like a shark. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Then there was the woman. Damn, she was too clever. She saw MK’s threat just as clearly as he did. She knew MK was sharpening a knife behind his back, ready to cut him loose when it suited him. AD sank down the wall until he was sitting on the cold floor, legs out in front of him, breathing heavily.

"She’s going to ruin me..." he whispered, unsure of which woman he was talking about—the girl they were hunting or the one who’d walked away with MK.

The warehouse felt even colder now, shadows creeping closer. AD buried his head in his hands, shaking, not out of fear but from a brewing rage deep inside him.

If MK thought AD would stay his pawn forever, he was seriously mistaken. If the woman thought she could play both sides, she was wrong. And if the girl thought she could just disappear, she had no idea who was coming for her.

AD lifted his head, fire in his eyes and a new determination sparking inside him. The game had shifted dramatically. Everyone thought they were in control. But AD had nothing left to lose. And guys with nothing left to lose were the most dangerous of them all. Yet he didn’t realize that someone out there was even more dangerous than he was. Maybe a part of him sensed it, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. Only time would show who would come out on top and who would change the game altogether.

*******

Zeynep felt a weird tingling in her arm. When she lifted it, a sharp ache shot through her, like something was stuck to her skin. Feeling a bit uneasy, she popped into a nearby salon and asked the manager if she could use the bathroom. Once she was inside, she took off her shirt and checked her arm in the mirror. To her surprise, she spotted a tiny string attached to her skin. How had she not seen it before?