I could see the fear in Bella’s eyes, and I hoped he didn’t see the sa fear in , but he continued speaking. "She dies... then David, Elliot and your beloved Tony. Then you, the last alone. Understanding exactly what it feels like to lose everything."
"You’re monologuing," I say. "That’s villain mistake number one."
He actually smiled. "Am I? Or am I waiting for Tony and his tactical team to position themselves. Waiting for you to think there’s hope, before I destroy it."
"You know what Diane’s mistake was?" I edged closer still. "She talked too much, which gave ti to think and to find weakness."
"I don’t have a weakness."
"Everyone has a weakness. Yours? You need validation and recognition. You want to acknowledge that you’re better than Diane. Better than Charles’s other students."
"I am better-"
"Then prove it." I was gambling now, relying solely on this. "Without explosives and without hostages. Just you and . If you’re really Charles’s masterpiece, you don’t need backup."
He was considering it. His pride now warring with caution.
"You think you can beat ? Charles’s perfect creation?"
"I beat Diane, I beat Victoria, and I beat Marcus Davidson. I’ll beat you too."
"They were flawed, emotional. I’m not."
"Then prove it. Let Bella and David go and face alone or admit you’re scared of a woman with no weapons and no training."
I was baiting him, using his ego and his need for validation.
It worked, partially.
"Fine, they go, but the explosives stay ard. If the FBI breaches, everyone dies anyway."
"Deal."
Alexander gestures to Bella and David. "Leave slowly with your hands up."
They stand with Bella, shaking and crying.
She whispered as she passed . "Don’t die. Tony will never forgive ."
"Tell him I love him. Just in case."
Then they’re gone with the door closing behind them.
And now, I was alone with Alexander Reece.
Charles Sterling’s first student was his masterpiece, with twenty years of training condensed into one lethal operative.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Now we fight, and I win."
He laughed. "You’re brave, I’ll give you that. Stupid but brave."
He removed his jacket and set down the detonator, out of my reach.
"Co on then. Show what Tony Marvin taught you."
We circle each other.
I strike first. Fast, aiming for his throat.
He deflects easily, counters and shoves his fist to my ribs.
I gasped from the pain exploding.
"Too slow," he says.
We were fighting through the penthouse, brutal and in close quarters.
He’s better than anyone I’ve ever fought, better than Diane, even better than Victoria’s people.
Every move was perfect and every counter precise.
I was landing so hits but taking more.
I was bleeding, exhausted already.
"You’re good," he admits. "For an amateur, but Charles trained for decades. You can’t win."
He was toying with , and I realised it.
He was letting tire myself out, playing with his prey.
It had been ten minutes since I entered and five minutes until breach.
I needed to last five more minutes.
But Alexander’s barely winded, and I was gasping for breath.
He kicked my legs out, and I went down hard.
His boots were to my ribs. Once. Twice.
"This is what Diane felt," he says. "Losing, failing and dying for nothing."
I rolled away and scrambled up.
There was blood in my mouth, and my ribs were screaming.
"The difference," I gasped, "is I’m not dying for nothing. I’m dying for the people I love."
"Love." He spat the word. "Love is weakness, Charles taught that."
"Charles was wrong. Love makes you stronger."
I attacked again, desperate now.
We were grappling, his hands were around my throat, my vision was darkening, and I couldn’t breathe.
Then I heard an explosion from outside, and the door burst open.
Tony, Luca and the FBI are tactical flooding in.
Alexander’s grip loosens, montarily distracted.
I kneed him, hard between the legs. He groaned and doubled over.
"Katherine! Move!" It was Tony’s voice.
I dropped and rolled away.
It was a gunshot. Loud and final.
Alexander spins, and there is blood blooming on his shoulder, but it was non-fatal.
His weapon fell, and the FBI sward in to secure him.
I fell on the ground, gasping, bleeding and alive.
Tony was beside , pulling into his arms.
"I’m okay," I manage. "I’m alive, and I’m okay."
"Don’t ever do that again."
"Can’t promise that."
"Try."
We were at the hospital two hours later, and they were treating my injuries from cuts, bruises and a cracked rib. Nothing serious.
Tony hasn’t left my side.
Bella and David were safe. Elliot arrived with Susan. Everyone was alive.
The FBI has Alexander in custody.
It’s over.
Finally over.
Or is it?
Timothy entered the room, his face grim.
"We need to talk about Alexander."
"What about him?" Tony asked.
"He’s not talking. He’s in complete silence. He had his lawyer up imdiately, but we found sothing in his personal effects."
"What?"
Timothy showed us a docunt listing nas.
Twelve nas.
Twelve of Charles Sterling’s students. All who were still active and still loyal to Charles’s legacy."
My blood ran cold.
"Alexander wasn’t working alone," Timothy continued. "He was the first, the test run. To see how you’d respond, to learn your patterns and your weaknesses."
"The others are coming," I whisper.
"Not just coming. They’re already here in the city. We’ve identified surveillance on you from at least three different sources over the past week."
Tony’s face went dark. "Why haven’t they struck?"
"Because they’re coordinating and planning. Alexander was the distraction; the real attack is coming."
We exchanged looks.
We thought defeating Alexander ant safety.
But he was just the beginning.
"How long do we have?" I ask.
"We don’t know. It could be days... could be hours."
Susan spoke up. "What do we do?"
Timothy looks at us. "You go into protective custody. All of you. Now, at the FBI safe houses, which will provide maximum security until we identify and neutralise the twelve."
But I’m shaking my head.
"No. We’re done running and hiding."
"Katherine-" Tony starts.
"No." My voice was firm. "We end this. We find these twelve students, and we stop them. Permanently."
"How?" Timothy asks. "We don’t even know who they all are yet."
"Then we figure it out. We use FBI resources, we hunt them, but we don’t hide."
Tony’s looking at , seeing the determination, the rage, and the exhaustion.
"Together?" he asks quietly.
"Together."
We’re not going into hiding.
For the first ti in two years, we’re hunting instead of being hunted.
But twelve of Charles’s best students.
All coordinating, planning and coming for us.
Can we win?
Or is this finally the fight we can’t survive?
I look at Tony, Bella, Elliot, and everyone I love.
And I thought to myself.
We’ve survived impossible odds before.
We’ll survive this, too.
We have to.
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