Ruby
It had been a week of getting back to the machine. Office lights, Ben's dry reports, late coffee with the calendar yawning at me. I was elbow-deep in numbers, telling him to push the teams harder—demanding motion, progress—when my phone started buzzing like a horn in a quiet room.
Alia's name lit the screen. She never called unless something was wrong.
"Hello?" I said, keeping my voice level. Ben kept talking about margins behind me; I heard the words without caring.
"Ruby—Aveline—where is she?" Alia's voice came out clipped, thin with panic. The question was a blade. My stomach registered it before my face did.
"Where are you?" I asked, slow, controlled. Don't let them smell fear. "Wasn't she with you?"
"No—" Alia's breath hitched. "She just—she vanished. I can't reach her. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. Ruby, please, you have to find her."
The world narrowed. Ben's words blurred into the hum of the AC. My chessboard of priorities flashed and clattered—meetings, numbers, PR—but the only thing that mattered right then was the blue of her eyes and the way she'd smiled that morning, oblivious to the way my world could tip.
"Where are you now?" I asked. Precision. Action.
"Café on Noor Street. I'm waiting here. Adam's on his way but—" Alia's voice broke.
I cut the call. Hanging up felt like slamming a gauntlet down. Ben looked up, worried, but I was already moving. Calm was a costume. Rage was under it, bright and dry. I shoved the chair back so fast it screeched, palms flat on the desk, my knuckles white.
"She's missing," I told Ben. No question. No hesitation. "Get me Adam. Call Luna. Lock down security feeds for the last six hours. Pull the car keys."
My voice was a blade. The office obeyed like it always did.
I could feel the heat rising—cold at first, then boiling. Thoughts unspooled fast and precise: track the last known locations, check CCTV, ping every guard, get the car. Every second she was not in my arms was a second I'd burn the map to ash.
I told myself to breathe. Then I didn't bother. I grabbed my jacket, bandage and all, and left the office with the quiet lethal certainty of someone who was about to rearrange the world.
---
I was already barking orders when Adam called to say he'd dropped Alia at her place and was turning back. "Luna—how did she just vanish?" I snapped, snapping my gaze to the monitors.
Luna didn't look up from the keyboard; her fingers flew. In less than a minute she had the footage queued. Aveline walked out of the café, head down, the evening crowd flowing around her. Then a black van eased into frame. Two men—faces covered—moved like professionals. One clipped Aveline from behind, the other shoved a cloth over her mouth. She went limp in their arms. They bundled her into the van and it rolled away before anyone could blink.
My stomach dropped and something white-hot rose behind my ribs. They'd touched her. Those hands—on my wife. I felt the world narrow to the screen, to that van, to the way she went still.
"Ruby," Luna said quietly, not looking away, "they could've scrubbed this. They didn't. They left us a trail on purpose."
A trail. A taunt. I didn't want taunts. I wanted her back.
"I don't give a fuck about taunts," I said, voice flat, cold. "Find her. Every feed, every witness, every taxi driver. Pull every camera for the last six hours. If it takes fifty men or a hundred, mobilize them. Bring her back." My command landed like an order in a war room.
Ben was already dialing. Adam was en route. Tires started, radios clicked. I shoved my palm into the desk hard enough to bruise—the slap echoed down the corridor—because yelling felt useless and breaking things felt better than waiting.
I will find them. I will burn whatever it takes down to the ground.
---
The manhunt was in motion—feeds being pulled, teams dispatched—when my phone lit up with an unknown number. I answered before I could talk myself out of it.
"Hello?" I said.
A slow, familiar laugh filled the line. "Well, well, well, Ruby Sun," Kim Da Hyun purred. "Your sweet little world is playing in my shadow now. Looking for someone?"
My blood froze and then went hot. Everything in me narrowed to that voice—slick, smug, poisonous.
"Kim Da Hyun," I said, cold as steel. "You son of—where is she? Tell me now."
He chuckled. "Why rush? She's perfectly safe. Consider it… family business. After all, I should take care of my dear sister-in-law, shouldn't I?"
The way he said it made my skin crawl. That mocking tone—like he owned my panic and found it delicious—made something inside me snap.
"You listen to me," I said, each word a blow. "You touch her and I will make you regret knowing the sun existed. I will find you. I will break you slowly and publicly. Mark my words."
He hummed, delighted. "Now that's the spirit. Stay sharp, Ruby. The next move is mine."
When the line went dead I slammed the phone into the desk hard enough to jar my knuckles. Ben and Luna looked up at the sound. No questions. No hesitation.
"Kim Da Hyun," I said into the quiet, and the name tasted like ash. "You picked the wrong war."
I stood, jacket half on, rage like fuel in my veins. "Trace that call. Every hop, every server. Lock down Kim's known channels. And Adam—find me his safe houses. We take everything from him. We take it until there's nothing left to burn."
They moved. Radios clicked. Engines started. I didn't feel fear; I felt the promise of fire.
I will find her. I will burn him down.
Two hours and the city felt emptier with every minute she was missing.
My teams were tearing the streets apart—men in cars, on foot, checking alley cams, questioning drivers, sweeping every camera feed we had. I pinged every warehouse on Da Hyun's list, routed plates, tracked fuel purchases. Ben coordinated ground teams; Adam was cutting across from the west; Luna didn't stop at anything technical. I watched the map on the wall light up with dots and then fade out again, each blank space an accusation.
Then Luna's voice came over the headset, tight and precise. "Ruby, I've got a hit. CCTV triangulation—there's movement on the expressway cameras. The van you saw? It exited the last junction an hour ago. It's headed out of the city."
My chest closed. "Where?"
"North-east. Not on any main grid — they're headed into the forest corridor, toward the old logging paths. I'm sending coordinates now." Her fingers didn't slow. "It's roughly four kilometers past the last service road, then another two to a cluster of abandoned warehouses. GPS fix is weak but stable. They're not local — no plates match the usual gangs."
Four kilometers from the city meant jungle. Wilds. Fewer witnesses, fewer cameras. That was exactly the point.
"Get me everything on those coordinates," I said. "Satellite feed, drone overwatch, thermal. Call in the mountain unit. Ben — arm up the convoy. Adam — clear the route. Luna — push the comms loop and keep me the first and last voice on this channel."
Commands snapped into motion and the room became a war room. Radios chirped, tires screamed, engines revved..
Luna's voice came again, quieter this time. "I'll forward the location. It's about forty minutes by road if you take the service route, less if you cut across the old trail but it's rough."
I didn't want minutes. I didn't want routes. I wanted her.
"I don't care how far," I said, voice low and steady. "Drive. Bring everything. We go now."
The door slammed behind me as I left; the world narrowed to a single line of heat: find her, bring her back, and burn whatever stood between us to ash.
---
We moved like a razor through the dark. My convoy split and flowed around the back; men vanished into the black like ghosts. The warehouse reeked of oil and old wood and something metallic underneath—fear, warm and close.
I didn't wait for theatrics. I kicked the door. It tore inward with the sound of spent air and the slap of my boots on concrete. Light from the torches cut the gloom into strips; shadows swam and then froze.
There she was.
Aveline was slumped in the center of the room, rope biting into her wrists, her dress torn at the hem, skin bruised into angry purples. Her eyes found mine and for a second everything else in the world narrowed to that look—pale, exhausted, furious at me for not being there sooner. She tried to stand but the ropes held; she choked on a sob. My throat closed.
Then the shooting began.
They were professionals—automatic bark and tracer light like beetles spitting. I dove behind an overturned crate as rounds splintered concrete. The air filled with the smell of cordite and sweat. My men returned fire, low and precise. I rolled, sighted, and fired. Headshots: one, two—each one a small, clean solution. The world reduced to targets, breath, and the relentless need to close the distance.
"Cover me!" I barked, and they gave me space, bodies and steel forming a moving wall. I sprinted from cover to cover, each step measured, every muscle hard, wanting nothing but to pull her loose from the center of that hell.
Aveline's face was ash, tears streaking the dust on her cheeks. "Ruby—" she managed, voice ragged. Her mouth trembled. "Ruby, hurry—"
I screamed back at her, the words scraping. "Hold on. I'm here. Don't you dare—"
Another two men fell between me and her. The last one tried to flank; my bullet found the base of his skull before his knee hit the ground. The warehouse rang with impact and the wet silence that follows precision.
I was almost there. I reached for the ropes. Fingers worked like a machine, cutting through knot and fiber, tearing stubborn strands until they let go and Aveline slid forward into my arms.
She was trembling so hard she could barely stand. I hauled her up and started moving—back to the shadows, back to the crate, away from line of fire. My men fell into formation around us, covering our retreat.
Then something cold cracked across the back of my head.
It wasn't a bullet; it was blunt and cruel and expert. Pain exploded white-hot along my skull, and the world pitched. I tasted metal. The torchlight smeared. For a blink I saw Da Hyun's face materialize from the gloom—too calm, smiling like he had all the time in the world.
"You're predictable, Ruby," he said, his voice silky and close against the noise. He laughed. That laugh dug into me deeper than the blow.
I tried to turn. Tried to raise my hand. My vision blotted, like ink spilling across a page. Shouts turned to slow, distant echoes. Aveline's voice—thin and terrified—called my name from somewhere far away.
---
I forced myself upright even though the world was still a little loud at the edges. Nothing mattered but her—Aveline's breathing, the smell of dust and blood and the soft rasp of her tears. I barked Adam's name and he was there before I finished the word, Luna close behind him, both limping, both bleeding in small, stubborn ways that didn't slow them down.
"Get her out," I snapped.
Adam scooped Aveline into his arms like she weighed nothing and she fought him, sobbing, fingers clawing at his shirt. "No—Ruby, don't—" she begged, voice breaking. Her eyes found mine and something in them tore me open. I could see every small fracture, every bruise, every ragged breath she'd taken while they held her.
"I'll be right back," I whispered, not soft. A promise. A threat. She shook her head, tears flooding, but Adam didn't hesitate; he carried her toward the exit with Luna covering their rear. She kept looking back, mouth forming my name the way a prayer forms for the saved.
When the doorway closed behind them, I turned.
Da Hyun was standing in the center of the wrecked floor like he'd posed for it: hands in his pockets, grin too casual for the moment. His men lay everywhere—out cold, or worse. He clapped once, slowly, theatrically.
"You really don't give up, do you," he said. Smug. Clinical. Dangerous.
"Kim Da Hyun." My voice was cold, the words shaped into knives. I could feel the room tighten, the men who weren't down finding their feet, but I didn't care. "You picked the wrong person to touch."
He spread his hands like he was showing off a prize. "I wanted you to feel panic, Ruby. I wanted the great Ruby Sun to watch someone she loves suffer for once. Consider this my… hospitality."
Rage is a clean, useful thing when it's focused. I let it sharpen me. "You take her and I will take everything from you. I will burn your safe houses, I will cut your channels, I will pull your allies one by one into the light until there's nothing left." My voice got louder, steadier. "You think this is family business? I will make your name a warning."
He laughed again — a sound without humor. "Do it. Try. I have more hands than you have threats."
"Then try me." I stepped forward like a blade unrolling. My men tightened the net; Luna moved to his flank, Adam came up behind me. We were a line with one subject: return her. I didn't look away from Da Hyun. I wanted him to see what came next when you crossed the Sun.
His grin faltered for a breath. He took a step back, measuring. Then he bowed, sarcastic and slow, and turned to a side door I hadn't noticed before. "This has been entertaining," he said. "But tonight, Ruby, you're out of moves."
I didn't flinch. I watched him go, watched him move like a man who thought he'd won. My hands curled into fists until my nails bit my palms. The warehouse hummed with the after-snap of gunfire and the soft groans of men who would wake to a world rearranged.
Adam returned from the exit. "She's safe," he said simply.
That single line should have been everything. Instead, it was fuel. I pressed my hand flat to the splintered wood of the crate and let the pain center me. "Don't let him leave town," I ordered. "Every exit, every gate. Sweep the river routes. Ben—get me satellite on that side road. Luna, burn his comms—trace every call to him in the last month. We don't stop."
He'd made a mistake: he'd shown his face. He'd left traces. He'd touched my wife. That meant nothing would be left for him to hide behind.
I walked to where Aveline had been tied and let my fingers hover over the chair as if I could erase what happened with pressure. I thought of the way her shoulders had curled when she heard me, the shallow, exhausted bravery she'd worn like armor. I thought of how small she'd looked in that rope, and it pulled something raw and animal out of me.
"You wanted to light my world on fire," I said quietly to the empty room, to the man who'd already gone. "Fine. I'll burn your world first."
The team moved. Plans made and re-made, lists of names and safehouses and debts. I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. For the next move, every resource I owned was a finger on a trigger.
If Da Hyun had wanted me to feel weak, he'd succeeded—only I turned weakness into fuel. Fury sharpened into strategy. Love twisted into a weapon with one single edge: get her back, and make sure the world that took her learned to fear the Sun.
---
A white-hot line split through my skull and the world went wrong.
I remember the concrete under my palms, the metallic tang of blood, the hot sting at my temple where something—someone—had cracked my skull like a walnut. Sound narrowed to a high, ringing whine. The torchlight blurred into halos. Shapes moved too fast, then too slow. Boots. Voices—Adam shouting my name, Luna swearing under her breath—then the smell of gunpowder and antiseptic. Someone was pressing cloth against the wound. Fingers, efficient and steady, trying to count my breaths for me.
But through the fuzz, one thing was clear as a bell: Aveline. She was safe. Adam had her, chest heaving, eyes wild and full of that kind of hurt that rips a person open. She saw me—just for a second—and that look—relief, terror, that fierce, stupid love—knocked something else loose inside me. The sight of her being carried away, wrapped in Adam's arms, anchored me to the moment like iron to magnet.
"Ruby!" Adam's voice cut through, close and urgent. "Hold on. Don't go."
I tried to answer. Words crawled. My tongue felt thick as cotton. I could feel the blood warm where it ran; it made me nauseous. My fingers wanted to curl into a fist—wanting, always wanting—but the world sloped away like a set piece lowering.
The last thing I registered before the black glass slid over my vision: Aveline screaming my name, a sound that would follow me even under the dark. Then the edges of everything softened, and I let the night take me.