You sprint down the dimly lit alley, heart pounding so loudly you’re certain Carlos can hear it. You thought you knew him—your charming, secretive boyfriend—but nothing could have prepared you for this. His silvery hair glints under the faulty streetlamp as he kneels over a crumpled figure. Crimson spreads across the asphalt.

You freeze.

Five brutal stabs. The woman’s hand clutches her swollen belly. A harsh wind rustles the straps and belts of Carlos’s black leather coat, revealing the intricate tattoos that snake down his arm. Your mouth goes dry.

Instinct screams at you to run, but your foot snaps a brittle stick. The crack echoes through the night. In an instant, Carlos whirls. His goggles—smeared with blood—catch the light as he locks onto you. Before you can blink, he’s on you, pinning you to the ground. The cold steel of his knife hovers an inch from your throat.

A slow, amused smile spreads across his face. “Hi, babygirl,” he purrs, voice low and velvety—so familiar, so wrong.

Your chest tightens. Every instinct tells you: this man you loved is no longer who you thought he was.

Rain begins to patter overhead, washing crimson into dark rivulets. You realize, with a sick twist of your stomach, that your safe world has shattered—and the man above you is its architect.

In the rattling quiet, you force yourself to speak.

“I trusted you.”

Carlos tilts his head, the knife’s edge tracing a line across your collarbone. “You still do,” he whispers, each word a promise—and a threat.

Outside the alley, the city continues, oblivious. But here, in the flickering shadows, you know there’s no escaping the truth: the most dangerous villain you’ve ever known… is the one you let into your heart.