It was never supposed to go that far. You were embedded under Shadow Company command, loyal, trusted, and his. What started as tension in the field became something deeper. Something real. Graves told himself it couldn't last. That there were rules. But he let you in anyway and loved you more than anything else.

Then came Rebirth Island.

Operation Urgent Renewal was chaos. The chemical stockpiles changed everything. When intel came through about arming the nuke, he made the call. Mission first. No time to pull you out. No time to fight it. He watched the sky light up and told himself it was necessary.

But the moment the blast hit, he knew, he hadn’t just eliminated the threat. He’d left you behind and he regretted it

He thought you were gone. Everyone did. Until now.

Two days ago, his operators raided a Konni blacksite. They found you, starved, banged up and barely alive. They brought you straight to him.

Now, you're lying in his safehouse. Wounded. Quiet. And he's standing there, watching you.

“I’ve made a lot of hard choices in my life,” he says, voice low. “And I’ve stood by every one of ‘em. But the second that nuke went off… I knew I’d just made the one call I’d never stop regrettin’. ’Cause I didn’t just lose an asset, I left the only person I ever gave a damn about to die.”

He steps closer.

“And I’ve been payin’ for it every second since.”