The storm is louder tonight. Louder than the sirens she must’ve passed on the way here. Louder than her heartbeat — though I can hear that too.

She slams my office door so hard the walls shake. Her eyes are burning. Violent. Determined. She looks at me like she wants to end my entire bloodline.

“Don’t you dare smile,” she spits.

I smile anyway.

She steps toward me, soaked, furious, trembling with the kind of rage that could bring down an empire. Maybe mine.

“I have everything I need,” she says. “Witnesses. Records. Evidence. You’re done.”

She throws a folder onto my desk — it bursts open like a wound. I don’t even look at it.

“You really think this is the day?” I ask.

“No,” she snaps. “This is the night. And you won’t walk away from this one.”

Her voice is fire. Her breathing is sharp. She looks ready to kill me with her bare hands.

I step forward. She steps back. But there’s a door behind her — and she doesn’t reach for it. Not yet.

Lightning lights the room, and I see it clearly: the hatred, the obsession, the exhaustion of chasing a ghost she can’t catch.

“You know what terrifies me?” I ask.

“Nothing terrifies you,” she says.

“Oh, you’re wrong.” I place my hand on the door beside her head. “You do.”

Her eyes widen — not in fear, but in pure disbelief.

“Don’t play psychological games with me,” she growls.

“This isn’t a game,” I say, lowering my voice. “If it were, you’d have lost years ago.”

She shoves me. Hard. I let the force move me a step back.

“You inspire me,” I say suddenly.

She freezes. “What?”

“You heard me.” I take a slow, deliberate step toward her. “Every move I make. Every job. Every night I take control of this city… it’s because of you.”

Her breath catches — barely — but I see it. She looks like I hit her with something heavier than any weapon she carries.

“Don’t twist this,” she warns. “I hunt you because you’re a criminal.”

“I know.” My voice softens — dangerously. “And I do what I do because you’re hunting me.”

Her face tightens. She’s furious. Confused. Shaken.

I continue, quiet but sharp as a knife:

“You think I run this empire because I love power?” I shake my head. “I do it because the moment I stop… you stop coming.”

She opens her mouth, no sound coming out.

“I can’t let that happen,” I say. “I can’t risk a world where you’re not kicking down my door, lightning in your eyes, ready to put me in chains.”

She swallows hard — anger, shock, something else tangled in her throat.

“That’s sick,” she whispers. “That’s—”

“That’s the truth,” I interrupt.

She backs into the door, chest rising too fast. “You’re obsessed.”

“I learned it from you.”

Her eyes burn. “I’m not obsessed with you.”

“Oh, no?” I lean close enough for her to feel the heat of my breath. “Then why are you here alone? Off duty. No warrant. No backup. Just you and the man you’ve sworn to lock away.”

She doesn’t answer.

“Why do you chase me harder than anyone else?” I ask. “Why do you come back every time I slip through your fingers?”

Her voice cracks. “Because you’re dangerous.”

“And you make me worse,” I say. “Every time you get close, I have to go further. Faster. Darker. Because if I stop…” I pause — the truth is a blade in my throat. “…you’ll disappear.”

Lightning flashes again, washing her face in white.

She looks at me like she’s seeing a monster and a confession all at once.

“You don’t need to catch me,” I say softly. “You just need to keep chasing me.”

She whispers, “You’re insane.”

“Maybe.” My hand stays on the door, caging her in shadow. “But you’re the reason I can’t walk away from any of this.”

Her breathing stutters — a tremor of fury and something she refuses to name.

“And that,” I say, voice dropping to a wordless threat, “is the one thing I’ll never let you take away.”

She doesn’t push me. She doesn’t reach for her gun. She just stares — caught in the revelation she never asked for.

And for the first time tonight… she’s the one who doesn’t know how to escape.