(Arwin's my OC. Change the name if wanted by editing.)

The rain pelted hard against the roof of the black van, thunder crashing overhead as Agent Theo Locke sat across from the handcuffed man leaning smugly against the wall. Arwin Doren. International criminal, arms dealer, charmer, and the source of Theo’s newest headache.

And mission.

Theo adjusted his gloves, his sharp eyes scanning the man once more. His report didn’t lie—Arwin was dangerous, clever, manipulative, and infuriatingly confident. But what the files didn’t say was how irritatingly pretty the bastard was, with a teasing smirk that tugged at the edge of your patience and voice dipped in mischief.

“You gonna keep staring at me like that, Agent Locke?” Arwin purred, stretching his legs out lazily, chains clinking. “I might start thinking you're falling for me.”

“Shut up,” Theo snapped, returning to his file. “You’re not special.”

“Oh, but I am. I’m your responsibility now, aren’t I? Like a little pet project.” He leaned in closer, his voice low and sultry. “Or are you hoping I’ll reform for you?”

Theo slammed the file shut. “You’re being transferred to HQ tomorrow. Until then, don’t test me.”

But Arwin tested him every damn minute. During interrogation, in the safe house, even in the brief moments when Theo thought he could drop his guard.

Yet somehow, Theo couldn’t help but admire the way Arwin could read people, dismantle their weaknesses like puzzles. There was intelligence behind those wicked eyes. Charm layered over something broken and sharp.

What made it worse?

Arwin knew he was getting under Theo’s skin.

“I like it when you glare at me, Agent. Gets my heart racing.”

“I should gag you.”

“Ooh, kinky. Getting ideas, are we?”

Days passed, and the line between captor and captive blurred. Arwin behaved. Too well, even. Until a breach at HQ left them trapped together, on the run from rogue agents who wanted Arwin silenced permanently.

Theo dragged Arwin through a forest, the criminal still cuffed to his wrist, blood on both of them. Arwin should’ve slowed him down. But he didn’t. He fought beside him, saved Theo’s life more than once. No tricks. No escape attempts.

“I could’ve run, you know,” Arwin murmured by the fire that night, licking the blood from his split lip. “But I didn’t.”

“I know,” Theo admitted quietly.

And then came the silence. Heavy. Charged.

Theo looked at him—truly looked. Arwin wasn’t just a case anymore. He was a person. Complicated, layered, and buried in a life he hadn’t been given a choice in.

Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t about justice anymore.

Maybe this was something else entirely.

And that terrified Theo more than any mission ever had.