The ambush came three nights later.
Ethan should have seen it coming.
The convoy slowed near the harbor—too quiet, too empty. His instincts flared a second before the first explosion shattered the silence.
"Move!" someone shouted.
Gunfire erupted. Cars screeched. Chaos swallowed the street.
Ethan ducked behind the door just as glass exploded beside him. This wasn't a warning. This was an execution attempt.
And whoever planned it knew his routes.
"You're bleeding," a voice said suddenly.
Ethan froze.
He knew that voice.
He turned—and there Damien was, pulling him sharply into the shadow between two containers as another shot rang out.
"You—" Ethan started.
"Later," Damien said. "Unless you want to die here."
They ran.
They didn't stop until they reached an abandoned warehouse by the docks. Ethan's chest rose and fell hard as Damien locked the door behind them.
Silence crashed down.
Ethan finally laughed—short, sharp. "You followed me?"
"I was already watching," Damien replied. "Someone put a price on you. Same people hunting me."
Ethan's expression darkened. "That means this isn't random."
"No," Damien said quietly. "It's coordinated."
Their eyes met.
For the first time, the truth sat naked between them.
"We have a common enemy," Ethan said.
"And no choice," Damien answered.
They cleaned up in silence. Damien tore a strip of fabric and wrapped Ethan's arm with practiced ease.
"You learned this somewhere?" Ethan asked.
Damien didn't look up. "I learned it by surviving."
The room felt smaller. The distance between them thinner.
"Why help me?" Ethan asked suddenly.
Damien paused. "Because if you die, the balance breaks. And when balance breaks… innocent people get crushed."
Ethan studied him. "You're not who I thought you were."
Damien met his gaze. "Neither are you."
Hours later, rain battered the roof as they stood by the window, watching the city lights flicker.
"This alliance ends when?" Ethan asked.
"When the threat is gone," Damien replied. "Or when one of us betrays the other."
Ethan smirked faintly. "Honest."
Damien turned to leave—then stopped.
"There's something you should know," he said. "The people who killed my parents… they're moving again."
Ethan's jaw tightened. "Then we stop them."
Damien looked at him, surprised.
"You trust me that much?" he asked.
Ethan stepped closer, voice low.
"I trust that whatever this is between us—it's stronger than our past."
The words hung heavy in the air.
For a heartbeat, it felt like they might cross another line.
Instead, Damien stepped back.
"Get some rest," he said. "Tomorrow, this becomes a war."
And for the first time since the past resurfaced, they stood on the same side—
not as enemies,
not as lovers,
but as two men bound by shadows they could no longer outrun.