JAY'S POV
The night felt… wrong.
Too still.
Too cold.
Like the air itself was holding its breath.
I should've sensed it earlier. Should've known the moment my phone jammed. The moment the shadows felt too familiar.
But I kept moving.
Kept forcing down the dread clawing at my chest.
Because tonight wasn't about fear. It was about ending this.
Ending him.
I stepped off the bike and killed the engine.
My motorcycle engine cut off with a low growl, leaving only silence behind. I slid off the seat, boots hitting the ground lightly, every instinct screaming this was a mistake.
Not because I couldn't face him.
But because this time…
luring me here was too easy.
I pushed open the warehouse door.
And there he was.
Lean. Relaxed. Smirking like the devil who finally got bored waiting.
Sebastian.
Subject 08.
My ghost.
My shadow.
My nightmare.
"MJ," he greeted, spreading his arms like he expected a hug.
"Right on time. You never disappoint."
I locked my jaw. "Let's skip the crap, Seb. What do you want?"
"Oh come on."
He tilted his head, mock hurt.
"Is that how you greet the boy you abandoned?"
I let out a cold laugh. "Abandoned? You tried to kill me."
He grinned — sharp, wicked, amused.
"You left because you were scared you couldn't finish the job."
My fingers itched toward my gun.
He watched.
Loved it.
"Always so dramatic," he purred. "Relax. Tonight isn't about killing you."
"Could've fooled me."
"I have something to show you," he said, tone shifting into something playful and cruel.
He snapped his fingers.
Lights flickered on.
My breath stopped.
Because the darkness behind him shifted — bodies dragged forward, shoved into the light.
Section E.
All of them.
Cin's lip was bleeding.
David's temple bruised.
Felix looked dizzy.
Rory and Edrix were pale and shaking.
Everyone else breathless
And in the middle—
Keifer.
A bruise along his jaw.
Blood at the corner of his mouth.
Hands tied behind his back.
His eyes locked onto mine instantly.
Relief.
Fear.
Anger.
Everything he had been holding back all week crashed into one look.
Sebastian stepped beside me, smug.
"Cute, right? They actually tried to follow you."
My breathing turned slow. Dangerous.
"You didn't have to touch them," I said, voice flat.
"But you made it so easy," he shrugged happily.
"You should've seen their faces when they realized their little Jay Jay has secrets."
He stepped closer.
Too close.
His hand lifted, reaching for my hair, my face — the same way he used to before the nightmares became real.
I jerked back, but he leaned in anyway, lips brushing my ear.
His whisper slid under my skin like poison:
"You can't save them, MJ.
You never save anyone."
Something snapped inside me.
Not fear.
Not guilt.
Not pain.
Something older.
Darker.
Sharper.
I stepped back and finally met his eyes — cold, murderous, unblinking.
"Sebastian," I said quietly.
He smirked. "Yes?"
"You should not have touched them."
The temperature in the room dropped.
And Sebastian finally — finally — stopped smiling.
His smirk fell.
Just like that.
One second Sebastian was amused — entertained by my anger —
and the next, his eyes went cold.
Dead.
Calculating.
The same eyes he had the night he tried to kill me.
He gave a small nod.
Two of his men moved instantly.
Hands grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back.
Another forced me down to my knees.
I snarled, twisting, almost breaking free—
"Don't."
Seb's voice lashed through the air like a blade.
I froze — because I recognized that tone.
The tone he used right before snapping someone's neck.
Slowly, he walked past me, boots echoing on concrete, until he stood in front of Section E — every single one of them lined up on their knees.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
Bound.
And Keifer—
Keifer looked like hell.
Split lip. Blood on his shirt. Knees pinned down by two men because he kept trying to get up.
Seb crouched in front of him.
Head tilted.
A mockingly gentle smile returned.
"Tell me," he said softly, "did you know?"
Keifer glared but stayed silent.
Seb brushed nonexistent dust off Keifer's cheek like they were discussing weather.
"Did you know," he repeated, voice dripping venom, "that before you… she belonged to me?"
My stomach dropped.
Keifer didn't flinch.
Didn't look at me.
Didn't look away from Sebastian.
He just clenched his jaw.
But he didn't answer.
Seb chuckled — low and cruel.
"No?" He leaned in closer. "Jay never told you how she used to follow me everywhere? How she used to obey every order?"
My blood boiled.
"That was training," I snapped, struggling uselessly against the men gripping me. "And you know it."
Seb ignored me.
Because hurting me indirectly was always his favorite game.
Keifer spoke finally — voice raw.
"I don't care who you were to her."
Seb's smile froze.
Then slowly spread wider, sharper.
"Oh?" He gestured casually toward me. "You don't care that she was mine?"
Keifer's voice didn't shake.
"She isn't yours now."
Seb straightened.
The smile vanished.
For real this time.
He grabbed Keifer by the hair and yanked his head up, forcing him to look straight into those cold, dead eyes.
"Jay is mine," Seb hissed, voice cracking like ice. "She always has been."
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs.
"Let. Him. Go." I growled.
Seb didn't even acknowledge me.
Instead, he crouched lower, voice dropping to a whisper only the three of us could hear.
"You think you can protect her?"
A pause.
"You think she chose you?"
Keifer's fists trembled.
"You think," Seb continued, leaning even closer, "that she's telling you the truth about who she is? What she's done? What she is capable of?"
Keifer didn't break.
Didn't blink.
He simply said—
"Jay chose us. She chose me. Not you."
Silence.
For a heartbeat, the whole warehouse froze.
Then—
Then Seb laughed.
Not loud.
Not manic.
Worse.
Soft.
Disbelieving.
Delighted.
"Ohhh… Jay Jay… you didn't tell him anything, did you?"
He turned toward me, expression twisting into something I knew too well:
Cruel.
Possessive.
Unhinged.
"Should I enlighten him?"
My breath caught.
Keifer's eyes finally flicked to me.
Soft.
Terrified.
Confused.
And Seb—
Seb reached out, brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and whispered:
"Let's tell lover boy what you really are."
I snapped.
I lunged.
And everything exploded.I ripped one arm free, twisted, slammed my head back into the man behind me.
He grunted, grip loosening—
I broke free—
For one second.
Then every man in the room moved at once.
Hands grabbed my arms, legs, neck—
forcing me down again.
Seb straightened, annoyed now.
"Tsk. Disappointing."
Before he could speak again—
BOOM.
The warehouse doors blew inward.
Smoke. Light. Shouts.
Then—
"MOVE! MOVE!"
Angelo.Zack.Alex.
And an entire strike unit.
They stormed in from every angle.
Gunfire.
Shouts.
Bodies slamming.
Seb's men scattered.
Seb turned sharply, eyes narrowing.
"Tch. You called backup?"
A grin twisted across my face despite the restraints.
"No," I spat. "They figured it out."
The men holding me turned—
Too late.
I kicked upward, broke one nose, twisted out, slammed an elbow into another throat.
I was free.
And the entire warehouse descended into chaos.
In the middle of the chaos—
I saw him.
Sebastian.
Knife in hand.
Walking toward—
"KEIFER!"
My heart stopped.
Keifer rose to his feet, unsteady but fighting, trying to fend off two men at once—
Sebastian moved like a shadow behind him.
I sprinted.
"KEIFER MOVE—!!"
He didn't see the blade.
He didn't see Sebastian.
He saw me.
And that half-second—
That single heartbeat—
Was all it took.
I threw myself forward—
SHHK—
Cold metal slid into my stomach.
I gasped.
Keifer screamed—
raw, broken, the kind of sound that tears something out of a person's soul—
"JAY!!"
Seb's hand twisted the blade.
My vision blurred.
But I stayed standing.
Stayed between them.
Stayed shielding him.
Angelo grabbed Keifer from behind, dragging him back as he lunged toward me.
"NO—LET GO OF ME—JAY!!"
"KEIFER!" I choked, blood filling my mouth.
His eyes were wild.
Destroyed.
Begging.
But Angelo didn't let go.
They were pulling Section E out—
All of them.
Bleeding.
Broken.
Alive.
Seb yanked the knife out.
JAY'S POV — THE END OF SEBASTIAN
The knife ripped out of me.
White-hot pain exploded through my entire torso—
But something else burst through harder.
Rage.
Years of running. Years of nightmares. Years of being hunted.
All of it snapped at once.
Sebastian smirked, ready to strike again—
But I was faster.
My hand shot to my waistband, gripping the gun I'd tucked there earlier.
I lifted it.
Pointed it straight at his chest.
And pulled the trigger.
BANG.
Seb jerked back—shock flickering across his face.
I stepped forward.
BANG.
The second shot hit his shoulder and spun him.
He staggered.
I didn't.
BANG. BANG.
Two more bullets slammed into him. Each one fueled by every scar he gave me. Every nightmare he left behind. Every person he threatened.
He fell to his knees.
Breathing hard. Bleeding everywhere. Still smiling faintly—like he didn't believe I would actually do it.
I walked closer.
One step.
Then another.
Blood dripped from my stomach onto the concrete with every movement.
Keifer was screaming for me somewhere behind the chaos. Angelo shouting orders. Section E being dragged out.
But I only saw him.
Sebastian.
Subject 08.
The monster of my childhood.
He reached out a shaking hand, still twisted, still arrogant even while dying.
"M…J…" he gasped. "You… c-could never… finish me…"
I pressed the barrel of my gun to his forehead.
Leaned down until we were eye level.
And whispered—
"ROT IN HELL."
Then I pulled the trigger.
BANG.
His head snapped back. His body hit the ground. The smirk finally gone.
Sebastian — the ghost I'd run from for years — was dead.
Finally.
Completely.
I exhaled shakily.
My knees buckled.
The gun slipped from my fingers as the adrenaline bled out of my veins.
The warehouse lights blurred.
My stomach wound burned like fire.
And in the distance—
I heard Keifer's voice break.
"JAY—NO, NO, NO—SOMEONE HELP HER—JAY PLEASE!"
But everything was fading.
I dropped to the floor—
Right beside the corpse of the man who once owned my nightmares.
And the world went dark.
KEIFER'S POV — The Longest Run of My Life
I don't remember leaving the warehouse.
I don't remember how I got her in my arms.
All I remember is the sound—
that horrible, wet sound of the knife sinking into her—
and her body folding forward before I could even reach her.
And now—
Now I'm running.
Jay's blood is everywhere.
On my hands.
My shirt.
My neck.
It's warm. Too warm.
Her head is against my chest, her breathing shallow, uneven.
"Stay with me, Jay… stay with me, please—"
My voice cracks. I don't even care.
Angelo is beside me, yelling into his phone.
Alex is clearing the path to the car.
Zack is already starting the engine, shouting at traffic to move.
But all I see is her.
Jay.
My Jay.
Her fingers twitch weakly against my wrist.
"Keifer…" Her voice is barely a whisper. "S-sorry…"
"NO." The word tears out of me. "Don't you dare apologize. Don't you— Jay, look at me."
Her eyelids flutter, struggling to stay open.
The car door slams and suddenly we're speeding through the streets.
I pull her closer, holding her steady as the car jerks left, right, over bumps.
Her blood stains my lap in thick, dark streaks.
"ZACK, FASTER!"
"I'm trying!" he yells, voice breaking.
Aries calls the hospital ahead.
Alex presses cloth against the wound, hands shaking.
Angelo keeps whispering, "Hold on, sister. Hold on."
But all I hear is the fading thump
of her heartbeat against my arm.
"Jay," I whisper, choking. "Don't close your eyes. Not now. Not for me."
She tries to smile—
a weak, heartbreaking curve of her lips.
"You're… safe," she breathes.
And it destroys me.
The car screeches to a halt.
Doors fly open.
Angelo and Aries drag me out as doctors rush toward her.
They lift her from my arms—
her hand slips from mine—
and for the first time since that warehouse…
I feel truly, absolutely
helpless.
"JAY!"
My voice echoes through the hospital entranceas they wheel her away
and I fall to my knees,covered in her blood,
begging whatever force exists in this damn worldnot to take her from me....
"Please Jay don't leave me.... "