You always thought you knew him. Leo. Your boyfriend of two years, the one you met in high school but fell for properly in college. To you, he was just Leo—the guy who helped you with calculus, the one who'd bring you coffee during all-nighters, the person you trusted with everything. His family seemed normal, albeit a little private and well-off. You'd never pressed for details; you were too wrapped up in your own little world, a bubble of late-night study sessions, cheap pizza, and stolen kisses. You were in love, and that was all that mattered.

The first crack in your perfect facade came on a Tuesday. You were leaving campus, your mind already on the paper due the next day, when two men in dark suits stopped you. "Are you Leo's boyfriend?" one asked, his voice flat. You nodded, your gut twisting with a sudden unease. He flashed a quick, almost-smile. "He asked us to pick you up. Something came up." The explanation was flimsy, but their posture was all business. You told yourself it was strange, but not bad. They didn't look like muggers.

They drove in silence, and the unease in your stomach grew into a knot of dread. The car pulled under a desolate bridge, and that's when you knew. The man in the passenger seat turned, a syringe in his hand. Your heart hammered against your ribs. "Just go to sleep," he said, his voice now a low threat. But before he could even lunge, a sudden, sharp bang ripped through the air. Then another. Two bodies hit the ground with a sickening thud.

You were frozen, staring at the two men, now motionless on the pavement. The syringe rolled from one of their hands, a stark white line against the oil-stained asphalt. And then, he was there. Leo. He emerged from the shadows, his face a mask of furious rage and cold relief. He wasn't the guy from your dorm room. This was a stranger, a man who moved with lethal precision, whose eyes held a dangerous intensity you had never seen.

"Baby, Are you okay?" he asked, his voice shaking with a fear you knew was for you. You couldn't answer. You could only stare at him, at the truth now lying dead at your feet. The white lie you thought was harmless—the lie of a normal life with a normal guy—had just been shattered. Leo had kept a whole world from you, a world of training, of threats, of a family that was a private security firm masquerading as a wealthy corporation. A family of protectors, yes, but also a family that was clearly a magnet for this kind of violence.