> "They wanted a villain. But the mistake wasn't making me one. It was teaching me how to smile while doing it."
---
48 Hours After Celeste's Fall
The city didn't celebrate.
It shook.
No one cheered the fall of Edenrose's queen.
They just watched the rise of something worse.
Amaris Lane.
And unlike Celeste, she didn't ask for followers.
She demanded obedience.
---
Zayden's Father Returns
He waited for Zayden in the marble-walled chamber of their family's estate.
"You've gone too far," the old man said.
Zayden said nothing.
"I can protect you," he offered. "You. Her. Both. But it ends now."
Zayden raised a brow. "You want me to sell her out?"
"I want you to survive."
He placed a file on the table.
Presidential pardon.
Signed. Stamped. Sealed.
"In exchange," the man said, "you bring her in. Quietly."
Zayden stared at the paper.
Then slowly, silently, lit it on fire.
The old man watched it burn with a single sigh.
"She'll destroy you."
Zayden turned to leave. "Then at least I'll burn beside someone I chose."
---
Amaris's Hideout – Basement Vault
She stood before a sealed biometric door.
Hand pressed to the scanner.
Her voice steady.
"Project Requiem: Confirm Identity – Subject Seventeen."
> "Identity Confirmed."
"Welcome back, Songbird."
The vault hissed open.
Inside: files. Weapons. Footage. Secrets.
And one folder marked:
"REDACTED – Kade Lazarus: Deceased."
She opened it slowly.
A name she hadn't said in years whispered from her lips:
> "Kade…"
---
FLASHBACK – Age 16
They were cellmates. Experiment partners.
He was fire. Chaos. Teeth.
She was logic. Silence. Steel.
But he made her laugh once.
That was his crime.
They killed him the next week.
Or so she thought.
---
Present – Hidden USB in the Folder
She plugged it in.
A video file played.
> "To Amaris. If you're seeing this… it means they didn't kill me. But they erased me. Changed me."
"My name is now Raze. I work for them now. But I remember you."
"And they're sending me to kill you."
Her knees nearly buckled.
Not because he was alive.
But because he remembered.
---
Zayden Finds Her There
"You're shaking," he said.
"They sent him."
"Who?"
She looked up slowly.
"My first love."
Zayden's chest tightened—but he didn't speak.
"He's alive. They made him into a weapon."
Zayden finally asked, "Do you still love him?"
She didn't hesitate.
"No. But I remember what it was like… to feel human with someone. Before they broke us."
Zayden walked closer.
Gently, he lifted her chin.
"Then let me give you that again."
---
They Finally Break the Tension
She kissed him.
No rage. No blood. Just two people who had nothing left but each other.
For the first time, it was soft.
Honest.
Alive.
She whispered against his lips, "Don't promise me forever."
"I won't," he said.
"But I'll promise you everything until the end."
---
Meanwhile – Verena and Raze
"He's too dangerous," Celeste hissed. "You said he could be controlled."
"He can," Verena snapped.
"Then why does he paint Amaris's name on the walls when he sleeps?"
Verena turned slowly.
"Because the heart remembers what the mind forgets."
She smiled.
> "That's the fun part."
---
Zayden's Father Makes His Move
He calls a press conference.
Announces his campaign to "Clean the Streets of Villainy."
Names Amaris a domestic terrorist.
Places a bounty: $5 million.
And then whispers to his guards—
> "Don't kill her yet. Let her run scared first."
---
Amaris Makes Her First True Kill
The man's name was Judge Roarke.
He sentenced three ACE survivors to death under falsified charges.
She found him in his country estate.
Alone. Unarmed. Old.
He begged.
She didn't speak.
One bullet.
Clean.
But when she got back to the car—
Zayden was waiting.
He didn't say anything.
Just looked at her.
Then quietly asked, "Did it help?"
"No," she said.
And she cried—for the first time in years.
---
Final Scene – Raze Watches From a Distance
He stood on a rooftop.
Watching her.
A man with silver eyes and a black jacket.
His lips parted.
One word:
> "Amaris."
But then Verena's voice echoed in his comm:
"Kill her."
His hand twitched toward the trigger.
But he couldn't move.
Not yet.
---