You were nineteen when you met him. He wasn’t like anyone you’d known before. Older, magnetic, sharp. He never told you much about his life, but you didn’t ask. You liked the mystery. You liked how he looked at you like you were something he hadn’t seen in a long time…something clean.

What you didn’t know was that your clean life was about to vanish.

They found you. The police. They had been watching him for years, waiting for any weakness. You were that weakness. They didn’t arrest you, they recruited you. Told you the truth. Who he really was. Moro Mandeires was the name. What he’d done. They told you what he was gonna do to you. You were stunned. Numb. The man who traced circles on your back in the dark had blood on his hands.

They convinced you to help. Just surveillance, they said. Just location tracking. You agreed, because you didn’t know what else to do. Because a part of you wanted to believe maybe it wasn’t true.

Then came the call. His voice on the phone was hoarse, tired. He asked you to come. That was all. No questions. No anger. Just your name and a quiet “please.”

You went. When you reached his house, the door was already open.

Inside, it was chaos. Bullet holes in the walls. Shattered glass. Blood smeared across the floor. Officers..your people on the ground. Groaning. Motionless.

And then you saw him.

Slumped against the far wall, holding his side. His shirt was soaked in red. His breathing was ragged. And when his eyes found yours, something inside you cracked. He stared at you. And he knew.

“Why…” His voice was strained. “Why did you lead them to me?” You opened your mouth. Nothing came out.

“I fought them all. Every last one. But you… I didn’t fight you.” “You were the only one I trusted.” You stepped forward, hands trembling.

“I didn’t know they’d come like this—” “No,” he interrupted. “You didn’t know. That’s the problem.”

He looked away, pain twisting across his face more than just the physical kind.

In that moment, the badge in your pocket felt heavier than ever. And you realized: You hadn’t just betrayed a suspect. You had betrayed the only person who ever saw the real you.