“Don’t go yet,” he said, pulling me slightly back. “Come upstairs with me. Just for a bit.”
There was no room in his tone for refusal, only expectation.
And I followed because that was what I always did.
The rooftop was already waiting when we arrived.
The cold wind hit first, sharp enough to burn my lungs. Below, the city stretched out in dull lights and distance, but above us, something new had been set up.
Drones.
Dozens of them hovering in formation against the night sky, blinking red and white in perfect lines, waiting for a signal.
Darius stood behind me, his arm resting around my shoulders.
“Verona organized this. Some bullshit apology thing. She called in favors, and used company resources. I can’t just fire her for that.” Then he added, softer. “She knows she crossed a line earlier. This is her way of fixing it.”
My stomach twisted.
Fixing it.
“You said once you wanted something different,” he said. “Something you could remember. I remember shit like that, Marianne.”
Then the drones above us shifted slightly, lights flickering out of sync for a heartbeat.
Verona’s voice came from the control station nearby. “Mr. Davenport, I’m starting the sequence now.”
Darius nodded. “Do it.”
The sky lit up.
At first it was controlled, precise patterns forming shapes above the city. Letters, hearts, shifting designs that were meant to look beautiful.
Then one of the drones sparked. A sharp crack cut through the air.
Another followed and within seconds, the formation broke.
Lights scattered out of rhythm, drones losing control, dipping too low, veering sideways. Metal started falling from the sky in sudden violent drops.
Something brushed past my arm.
Hot.
Too hot!
I flinched back instinctively.
“Fuck,” Darius muttered, stepping forward. “What the hell is happening?”
Another drone slammed into the rooftop structure, exploding in a burst of heat and light. The shockwave threw me off balance.
I hit the ground hard.
Pain shot through my arm immediately, sharp enough to steal my breath. I tried to move, but something else burned past my shoulder, tearing heat across my skin. Not a small burn but a real fire contact!
My clothes caught for a second before I managed to roll, smothering it with my hands, my skin screaming under the pressure.
“Darius!” I shouted, voice breaking. “I'm burning! Help me!"
Smoke filled the air now, thick and suffocating.
Footsteps came closer.
I thought he was coming for me. I reached out blindly, fingers shaking, grabbing the only thing I could feel.
“Is that you?” I whispered, clinging to it. “Darius, please… I can’t move. Don’t leave me here.”
For a second, he stopped, then he pulled his leg free.
“Marianne, Verona got hit. She’s down,” he said. “I’m taking her out first. Find your way down. I’ll come back for you, okay? Crawl if you have to.”
“No! Darius, I can’t fully see anything. I’m burned, I don’t know where to go…”
But he was already moving away.
The heat around me grew stronger.
Fire somewhere nearby had spread across part of the rooftop structure, crawling closer in waves of orange and white. My skin felt like it was being pulled apart by the air itself.
I forced myself to move anyway, dragging my body toward what I thought was the exit. One step then another. My foot slipped on debris I couldn’t see and the world tilted without warning.
I fell.
…
The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was pain.
A deep, relentless burn stretched from my shoulder down my arm and across the side of my neck. Even breathing tugged at damaged skin. The faint smell of scorched hair lingered around me, and every small movement dragged me back to that rooftop.
A thick bandage covered part of my shoulder and collarbone.
Instinctively, I raised a hand toward it.
Someone caught my wrist before I could touch it.
"Marianne, you're awake. How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?" Darius immediately leaned forward. "Do you need me to call the doctor? Your fever was high all night and you wouldn't wake up. You scared the hell out of me."
The concern in his voice came too quickly.
A few weeks ago, hearing him sound like that might have broken me. Now? It only exhausted me.
I pulled my hand from his grasp.
"GET OUT."
He exhaled slowly and rubbed his jaw.
"You're angry because I didn't save you first, aren't you?" His voice lowered as he watched me carefully. "That's what this is about, right?"
I stared at the white hospital ceiling. I didn't answer.
"Marianne, listen to me." He leaned forward again, urgency creeping into his voice. "Verona had already passed out. The drones were falling everywhere and pieces of them were crashing down around us. She wasn't moving, and if I left her there, she could've died."
His fingers tightened around the edge of the bed.
"I got her downstairs and handed her over to the emergency team. After that I came back immediately." He paused, and for the first time his voice cracked. "But when I found you... fuck, Marianne. You were already unconscious."
I closed my eyes.
Such a perfect explanation.
The only problem was that I knew it wasn't true.
He hadn't come back.
Not when I begged him, not when I couldn't move, not when my skin was burning and I thought I was going to die.
I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and nodded once.
"Okay. I understand."
For some reason, that seemed to bother him more than any argument ever could.
His hand closed around mine again. "Marianne." His voice dropped lower. "Don't do this. Don't sit there acting like everything's fine when it obviously isn't."
I almost laughed. Do what? Believe my own eyes?
"Don't be angry, baby." He squeezed my fingers harder. "I already handled the people responsible for what happened. The idiots who supplied those drones are finished. They'll never work in this city again, and I made sure of it personally."
Of course he did. A man like Darius Davenport could ruin lives with a single phone call. Yet somehow Verona always remained untouched.
"I swear nobody's ever going to hurt you again," he continued quietly. "Not them. Not anyone. I'll make sure of that."
A bitter smile touched my lips. What a ridiculous promise.
Slowly, I pulled my hand away.
"Darius, I'm tired."
His expression darkened immediately.
I had rejected him again and Darius Davenport was not a man accustomed to rejection.
"For fuck's sake, Marianne!" Impatience slipped into his voice as he stood. "I already explained everything. What else do you want me to say?! Fuck, fucking fuck! I dealt with the people responsible. I fixed the problem. If you're still unhappy, then tell the fuck exactly what you want from me."
Something inside me finally snapped.
Ignoring the pain tearing through my shoulder, I forced myself upright.
"Darius." My voice trembled, not from fear but from rage. "You really want to know what I want?"
The room became completely still.
I looked directly at him.
"Verona caused it! She's the reason all of this happened." My chest rose and fell heavily. "So send her to prison too. Destroy her life the same way you destroy everyone else's whenever they cross you."
A bitter laugh escaped me.
"Can you do that? Can you punish her the way you'd punish anyone else?"
