Zara's POV.
The steel door slammed open with a hiss, and there she was.
Aria. Black suit, red lips, eyes sharper than a hawk—and aimed directly at me. If looks could pull a trigger, I'd already be six feet under the Dubai sand.
"Zara," she purred, dragging out my name like it was poison on her tongue. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"
I crossed my arms, feigning calm, even though my pulse was going full EDM rave in my chest. "Well, someone has to keep cleaning up your mess. You left breadcrumbs, Aria. Even pigeons could follow them."
She smiled. Cold. Calculated. "And you followed them straight into my hand. Typical."
Her men flanked the room, guns cocked. Leo stiffened beside me, his hand subtly brushing mine. Not romantic—just a signal. Wait. Watch. I wanted to roll my eyes. Classic Leo.
"Let her go," Leo said, voice steady. "This isn't between you and her."
"Oh, but it is." Aria's gaze burned holes into me. "Zara stole something that belonged to me. My mission. My partner. My… everything."
The way she said "partner" made my stomach twist. Not just professional. Personal.
I stepped forward, chin high. "Correction: Leo isn't anyone's to steal. Especially not yours."
That cracked her composure. Just slightly. A vein twitched in her neck.
"You think you're clever," she spat, circling me like a lioness.
"But Leo was mine long before you ever batted those pretty lashes. I trained with him. I bled with him. I loved him."
My brain tripped.
Wait. What? Leo's silence was louder than a gunshot.
"Aria…" I muttered, suddenly connecting dots I didn't want to connect. "This whole mission. All of it… you've been using us to get him back."
Her laugh was jagged glass. "Darling, I don't want him back. I want him to remember who he was with me—and burn everything else down."
One of her guards shoved me forward. My temper boiled over.
"Listen, Lady Voldemort," I snapped, "you can psycho-monologue all day, but newsflash: Leo isn't your pet. He's my—"
Leo coughed. "Zara."
Too late. I'd said it. And Aria's eyes went nuclear.
"My what?" she hissed, gun drawn so fast the air cracked.
The barrel was between my eyes before I blinked.
Leo lunged. "Aria, stop!"
For a split second, I saw something raw flicker in her—pain, longing, madness all rolled into one. Then her face hardened.
"You'll have to choose, Leo," she whispered. "Her or me."
<<<<<
Aria's POV.
He doesn't remember. He doesn't remember. The rooftop in Istanbul. The bullet I took for him. The promises whispered in the dark before we became shadows.
And now this girl—this nobody—dares to stand where I stood. To touch what was mine. If Leo won't come willingly… I'll break her until he does.
<<<<<
Back to ZARA.
"Aria," I said carefully, "I don't know what you think you and Leo had, but love isn't a hostage negotiation."
She pressed the gun harder against my forehead. "Says the girl who walked straight into mine."
And then—BANG! The gun fired. But not from her hand. From the balcony above.
Chaos detonated. Guards dove for cover. Leo grabbed me, dragging me down as bullets shredded the air. Aria spun, snarling, eyes wild. The inferno had arrived. And none of us were leaving untouched.