By midnight, my eyes felt unbearably heavy, but I still couldn't sleep. The cold pierced straight to my bones, and my head was still throbbing. I curled up in a corner, my hands and feet still bound tightly. My thoughts were a mess, caught between fear and confusion. Was the Andrian I knew really the person that man had described earlier?
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside. Shouts, the clang of colliding metal, then booming gunshots made me jolt in shock.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
The door to my room was thrown open. My kidnapper appeared, breathing hard, his face savage. He grabbed my sleeve and roughly hauled me to my feet until I stumbled.
“Move!” he hissed.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked as carefully as I could.
I was dragged out through a dark hallway. The front yard was complete chaos. People ran in every direction, attacking one another. Shouts, blows, and gunfire shattered the night air. In the middle of the chaos, I saw him—Andrian. My breath caught in my throat.
He stood there with his clothes in disarray, his face dirty with sweat and splattered blood. His eyes burned cold and sharp, without even a hint of the tenderness I was used to seeing. He moved quickly and brutally, without mercy. When one of his opponents approached, he blocked the attack and slammed the man to the ground. Then something flashed in his hand before plunging straight into his opponent’s heart.
I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to watch, but I could hear him clearly. One, two, three... The people blocking his path fell one after another. He didn’t stop or hesitate, as if the people standing before him weren’t human but merely stones that had to be crushed. Blood soaked his hands, his sleeves, and his face. He looked like a man who no longer felt fear or mercy.
“Andrian...” His name escaped me in a whisper, barely audible.
But he heard me. His head turned in my direction. That gaze pierced straight through me—razor-sharp and feral, yet there was something else in it. I had no idea what.
My kidnapper pulled me tightly against him, one arm wrapped around my neck while his other hand pressed the cold muzzle of a gun against my temple.
“Take one more step and I’ll kill her!” he shouted hoarsely.
Andrian stopped abruptly. The hand still gripping the knife slowly dropped. The rage blazing in his eyes faded in an instant, replaced by unmistakable panic. He stood completely still. The knife slipped from his grasp and hit the ground with a sharp clang.
“Don’t you dare hurt her!” His voice was hoarse and painfully weak. “If anything happens to her, I swear I’ll kill you!”
I stared at him, frightened yet deeply moved. That cold man looked unbelievably cool right now. But I was still worried. When had Andrian become this terrifying? It was as though the gentle Andrian from five years ago had disappeared from him completely.
Suddenly, sirens sounded in the distance, drawing closer and closer. Red and blue lights flashed across the area.
“The police!” one of the kidnapper’s men shouted, his face pale.
Apparently, nearby residents had heard the gunshots and reported them. The entire area was surrounded. A voice over a loudspeaker clearly ordered everyone to surrender.
My kidnapper cursed under his breath, breathing hard. He looked at Andrian, then at the approaching police, his hand trembling as he held the gun to my head. The situation was desperate. There was no way out.
“Nobody move!” shouted one of the officers who had managed to surround us.
Andrian remained still, his eyes never leaving me, as if he were ready to do anything as long as I survived.
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding violently. Yet strangely, I saw a mocking smile on Andrian’s face.
Then, all of a sudden, Andrian’s pistol swung toward me so quickly that I couldn’t even dodge.
Bang...
Blood began pouring out. He had actually gone insane and fired in my direction. My body went limp, and I collapsed immediately. Slowly, everything blurred, and I began to lose consciousness.