Dawn filters through shattered windows. The storm is gone, leaving silence too sharp to trust. The villa smells of smoke and gunpowder.
Arina (quietly): "Is it over?"
Henry: "For now."
(He sits against the wall, one arm wrapped in gauze. Blood seeps through. Arina kneels beside him, pressing the bandage tighter.)
Arina: "You need stitches."
Henry: "You think I haven't had worse?"
Arina: "You're bleeding on expensive floors, Henry. Let me work."
(He lets her, eyes fixed on her face as she focuses.)
Henry: "You shake less than my men when bullets fly."
Arina: "Maybe because I fight a different kind of death every day."
Henry: "Still, I underestimated you."
Arina: "You underestimate everyone who refuses to fear you."
Henry (half-smile): "And yet you patch me up anyway."
Arina: "I patch humans. You just happen to qualify… barely."
(She ties off the last stitch, sits back. He exhales, amused.)
Henry: "You sound like you hate me less today."
Arina: "Hate is easy. Understanding is harder."
Henry: "Then what do you understand?"
Arina: "That you protect what you break… and break what you protect."
(He falls silent. Jordan enters, eyes tired, clothes soot-stained.)
Jordan: "We cleared the grounds. Fifteen down, no survivors. Elis won't risk another open attack."
Henry: "He already crossed the line."
Jordan: "So did we."
(Henry stands, wincing. Arina reaches to steady him; he ignores the pain.)
Arina: "You need rest, not revenge."
Henry: "Revenge is rest in my world."
Arina: "Then your world is sick."
Henry: "So cure it."
(Their eyes lock. Jordan clears his throat, breaking the tension.)
Jordan: "I'll handle cleanup. Media's already sniffing around."
Henry: "Make sure they find nothing but silence."
(Jordan nods and exits. Henry walks toward the balcony. Sunlight glows over the city—gold over grey.)
Henry (softly): "Do you know what silence means in my world?"
Arina: "Fear."
Henry: "Control."
Arina: "Same thing."
Henry: "Not always. Sometimes it's mercy."
(She steps beside him, watching the distant skyline.)
Arina: "How many times have you stood here after killing men?"
Henry: "Enough to lose count."
Arina: "And it never haunts you?"
Henry: "Every night. But ghosts make loyal company."
Arina: "Then maybe that's why you can't sleep."
(A pause. The wind flutters her hair; he watches quietly.)
Henry: "You shouldn't be here."
Arina: "You keep saying that, yet I am."
Henry: "Because I won't let you go."
Arina: "That's not protection, Henry. That's a cage."
Henry: "It's a fortress."
Arina: "Even fortresses crumble when hearts get involved."
(He smirks faintly, but his voice lowers.)
Henry: "If I tell you I care, will that make you stay?"
Arina: "If you cared, you'd let me choose."
(He doesn't answer. His silence says everything.)
(Lara rushes in, eyes wide.)
Lara: "Arina! You're alive! Oh my God—what happened?"
Arina: "It's fine. We're fine."
Lara: "Fine? There were explosions! I saw the news—'Gang War in Clifton.' Is that what this is?"
Henry: "You should rest, Miss Lara. My men will escort you—"
Lara (snapping): "Don't tell me what to do! You almost got my sister killed!"
Arina: "Lara—enough. Please."
Lara: "No, Arina! He's poison! You can't keep getting pulled into this."
(Henry's jaw tightens. He looks away instead of arguing.)
Henry: "She's right."
Arina: "Then fix it. End it."
Henry: "There's only one way to end it—Elis's death."
Arina: "And when he's gone? Another will rise. Where does it stop?"
Henry: "It stops when I decide it does."
Arina: "That's not control, Henry. That's delusion."
(He steps closer, voice low.)
Henry: "Then cure me, Doctor."
Arina: "I can't fix what you refuse to admit is broken."
(He laughs softly, but it's tired, hollow.)
Henry: "Maybe that's why you fascinate me. Everyone else bends. You break back."
Arina: "And you keep pushing, waiting to see if I'll finally shatter."
Henry: "Not shatter. Stay."
(The word hangs between them like smoke.)
(Lara watches, uneasy, sensing the fire neither of them will name.)
Lara: "Arina, let's go home."
Henry: "She can't."
Arina: "I can. And I will."
Henry: "Not yet. Elis isn't done."
Arina: "Neither am I."
(She walks toward the door, but two guards block her path. Henry's voice hardens.)
Henry: "Jordan—make sure she doesn't leave the compound."
Arina (furious): "You can't lock me up!"
Henry: "I just did."
Arina: "You think this will make me stay by choice?"
Henry: "No. But it'll keep you alive long enough to change your mind."
(She steps forward, eyes burning.)
Arina: "One day, Henry, your empire will crumble—not because of your enemies, but because you won't let anyone love you without fear."
(He stares, speechless. She walks away, leaving silence behind. Henry exhales, gripping the balcony rail.)
Jordan (entering quietly): "Boss, you can't hold her forever."
Henry: "I know."
Jordan: "Then why do it?"
Henry: "Because I'm terrified of what happens when I don't."
(He turns his gaze to the horizon, whispering to himself.)
Henry: "She thinks I'm the storm. But she's the fire that started it."