It was surrender.
And the only reason I gave in…
Washim.
---- ??? ----
I didn’t know how long I’d been here.
Hours? Days? Time bled together like the bruises on my arms — deep purple and yellow, a roadmap of where he’d pulled blood and pushed me too far.
He said it was training again.
Said I had “softened.” Said I was wasting the gift. But really… it was punishment. Punishment for letting myself love. For letting myself be human.
My skin felt like it didn’t belong to me. My ribs ached from where he’d thrown me to the floor when I hesitated during one of the drills. My veins stung from the needles, over and over, like he was trying to extract whatever part of me had dared to care.
The room he locked me in was clinical. A fake comfort. Plush furniture with no warmth. A bed I hadn’t slept in. Surveillance in every corner. There was nowhere to hide. No one to save me.
And today… I snapped.
My knees hit the floor and I sobbed. Quiet, at first. Because he might be listening. But then louder — until my whole body trembled. I wanted to scream. I wanted to disappear. I wantedNoah.
God, Noah.
Would he even come for me? Did he hate me now? Did he think I was just like my father?
I curled in on myself, head pressed to my arms, the tears hot and endless.
And then—
Gunfire. Close. Loud.Real.I lifted my head, heart hammering. More shots. Yelling. Boots slamming the floor.
Then—
BOOM.
The doorexplodedopen, and in the smoke and splintered wood stood a figure I knew in my bones.
“Noah.”
My voice broke as I said it. Barely a whisper.
His eyes locked on mine. His chest was heaving. His knuckles bloodied. His gun still in hand.
But the second he saw me — bruised, broken, curled up on the floor — his whole face changed.
The fire in him shifted from fury to devastation.
“Sunshine,” he breathed, and the gun dropped from his hand.
Hearing him call me that mended something inside me. I couldn’t move. I was afraid if I stood, I’d fall apart.
So I just sat there, eyes wide, body shaking.
He dropped to his knees in front of me in an instant, reaching for my face with trembling hands.
His thumb brushed beneath my eye, catching a tear.
