Three days after the assassination attempt...
Sage was no longer just a protected girl.
She was being trained.
Inside the private basement of the mansion, she stood in front of a shooting range.
Gun in her trembling hands.
S4RKU stood behind her.
Close.
Too close.
"Grip tighter," he murmured near her ear.
Her breath hitched.
"Don't let it control you."
She adjusted her hold.
He reached around her - his hands covering hers.
Guiding.
Possessive.
"Feel the weight," he whispered.
"Power isn't loud. It's steady."
She fired.
The shot echoed.
She hit the outer ring.
He didn't praise her.
But his hand lingered at her waist a second longer than necessary.
And she felt it.
The shift.
She wasn't just surviving anymore.
She was adapting.
That night.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She hesitated... then answered.
A deep unfamiliar voice spoke.
"You learn fast, Sage."
Her body went still.
"Who is this?"
A soft chuckle.
"The only man who isn't afraid of him."
Silence.
Her stomach tightened.
"You should hang up," she said carefully.
"But you won't," the voice replied smoothly.
"Because you want to know who he really is."
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"I know enough."
"No," the man said calmly.
"You know the version he wants you to see."
Her heart began pounding.
The voice continued:
"Did he tell you how his mother really died?"
Her breath stopped.
"What are you talking about?"
"Did he tell you... he was there when it happened?"
Silence.
Cold.
Sharp.
"He could have saved her."
Her mind rejected it instantly.
"That's a lie."
"Is it?" the man whispered.
"Ask him why he hesitated that night."
Click.
The call ended.
Sage stood frozen.
That sentence replaying in her head.
He could have saved her.
Footsteps approached behind her.
She turned.
S4RKU.
Watching her carefully.
"You look disturbed," he said quietly.
Her voice felt fragile.
"How did your mother die?"
The air changed.
Instantly.
His expression didn't explode.
It locked down.
Dangerous.
"Who called you?" he asked.
"That's not what I asked."
Silence stretched between them.
Tight.
Dark.
She stepped closer.
"They said you were there."
His jaw flexed.
"I was."
Her heart thudded painfully.
"And you hesitated."
The temperature in the room dropped.
His eyes turned colder than she had ever seen.
"You're listening to my enemies now?"
"I'm asking you."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"Did you hesitate?"
A long pause.
Then-
"Yes."
The confession was quiet.
But it hit like a gunshot.
Her breath trembled.
"Why?"
For the first time...
Real emotion broke through his control.
"She told me to run."
His voice was low.
"She told me not to turn back."
Silence.
"She died because she chose me over herself."
His fists clenched.
"And I have never hesitated again."
The truth settled heavy between them.
She saw it now.
The trauma.
The guilt.
The rage that built the empire.
The rival's words were meant to break them.
Instead...
They revealed his wound.
She stepped closer.
Carefully.
"You think loving someone makes you weak."
His eyes lifted slowly to hers.
"It does."
"No," she whispered.
"It makes you human."
His hand grabbed her wrist suddenly.
Not violently.
But urgently.
"You don't understand."
His voice dropped.
"If I love you the way she loved me..."
His grip tightened slightly.
"You will die."
There it was.
His greatest fear.
Not losing control.
Losing her.
Sage didn't pull away.
Instead...
She moved closer.
"So don't hesitate again."
The words were soft.
But powerful.
And something shifted inside him.
Not softness.
Not yet.
But something deeper than obsession.
Something scarier.
Because now...
He had something he was terrified to lose.