She thinks I'm the one losing control.
But it's not like that.
Control is an illusion—something I allow others to believe they have, right up until the moment I rip it from their hands. Seraphina, though… she doesn't play by anyone's rules. Especially not mine.
And that makes her the most dangerous woman I've ever touched.
I watch her from the surveillance screen in my office—real-time feed from the corridor outside the armory, where she paces like a caged animal. Barefoot, disheveled, but still lethal. Still mine.
I shouldn't have touched her. I knew better. But the second her mouth opened beneath mine, I stopped caring about better. About control. About survival.
Now I want more. And that is the most reckless thing I've ever allowed myself.
A knock interrupts the feed. One of my lieutenants steps in—Mikhail, face grim.
"She's here," he says. "And she brought an offer."
"She?"
Mikhail nods once. "The one from Seraphina's organization."
My spine stiffens.
I rise slowly from the chair. "Bring her to the holding room. I want her watched, every breath."
And just like that, the ground under me starts to shift.
They're making their move.
Of course they are.
They sold Seraphina to me like a fucking pawn, wrapped her in lies and dropped her at my feet as a gift. And now they've come to collect.
But I don't give back what's mine.
The holding room is cold, steel-lined and sterile. When I step in, the woman waiting inside doesn't rise. She crosses her legs slowly, as if she owns the space, and smiles with painted lips.
"Elena," I murmur. "You've aged well for a traitor."
She tilts her head. "And you've gotten soft, Antonov. Keeping her alive this long? I expected more from you."
"You expected me to break her."
She smirks. "Didn't you?"
I don't answer. My silence is louder than her smirk.
She opens a velvet-lined case and slides it across the table. Inside is a simple data chip.
"A trade," she says. "Information. On your enemies. The ones closing in."
I don't move.
"What do you want in return?"
"Seraphina. Dead or alive."
My hands curl into fists.
Elena's eyes gleam. "Don't act surprised. She knew this was a one-way mission. That's what she was trained for. She wasn't supposed to last this long."
I stare at her, silent, still. But inside me, something primal snaps.
They never expected her to make it out. They trained her to be disposable.
And now that I've seen her—really seen her—I know something else too.
She's more dangerous than any of them ever realized.
And I'm not done with her.
I lean in, voice low. "You want her back?"
Elena's smile widens.
"Then you'll have to pry her from my cold fucking hands."
Later, I find her in the lower corridor, exactly where I left her. She turns sharply when she sees me, tension snapping into her spine like a drawn wire.
"You've been watching me," she says, jaw tight.
"Always."
Her eyes narrow. "What now?"
I step closer, the air between us thick and sharp. "Now, I tell you what your organization really thinks of you."
And just like that—the shift happens.
For the first time, she looks unsteady. Not weak. Just… betrayed.
Good.
I want her raw. I want her stripped of everything they programmed into her. I want the real woman beneath the weapon.
Because I didn't fall for a killer.
I fell for the fury.
And now?
Now she's going to burn the whole world down—starting with the ones who sent her.
And I'll be right beside her.