Until Death Gives In: He Was My Doom, and Still My Home

Selena handed a flash drive to the leader of the rival gang.

Three hours later, the rival gang stormed the eastern estate, their firepower striking every defensive point with deadly precision.

It was obvious they knew exactly where the defenses were weakest.

Lucien was directing the counterattack from the main house when an urgent report crackled through his earpiece, "Selena and Mira have been spotted in the west garden, they're both surrounded!"

His heart sank.

"Hold the main house!" He grabbed a submachine gun and charged into the night.

In the garden, firelight lit up Mira's pale face as she was forced back against the fountain.

Selena cowered behind her and shrieked, "You sold out the security layout, you traitor!"

Lucien's breath caught, Mira had betrayed him again.

"I didn't!" Mira screamed, "I don't know anything about any security layout!"

Lucien struck from the flank, bullets pouring out as enemies dropped one after another.

At the edge of the garden, Selena was on the inside and Mira was on the outside, and Mira was closer to him.

But Selena suddenly threw herself at him and cried, "Lucien, save me, she's trying to get us killed!"

Lucien instinctively reached out, grabbed Selena by the wrist, and yanked her behind cover.

It was the duty of a leader. Selena was a core member of the family, and if she died, the alliance would collapse.

But the moment he pulled Selena over, a stray bullet struck Mira in the shoulder, and she staggered backward into the rose bushes.

Lucien's pupils contracted sharply, "Mira!"

Mira looked at him, her eyes full of pain, shock, and disbelief, "I never betrayed you, not once!"

It felt like something slammed hard into Lucien's chest.

He tried to rush to her, but Selena clung tightly to his arm and shouted, "Forget her, she's the mole, we have to go!"

"Let go!" Lucien roared as he tried to shake her off and turn back toward Mira.

But then it happened.

A deafening blast erupted all around them, flames shot into the sky, and the shockwave nearly tore the entire garden apart.

Lucien was thrown to the ground by the blast, his ears ringing violently.

He struggled to his feet and looked toward where Mira had been standing, but all that remained was a sea of fire and shattered ruins.

"Mira!" he howled as he charged forward, only to be blocked by fallen beams and burning debris.

The flames devoured everything, and her figure vanished into the thick smoke.

Family reinforcements arrived soon after and drove the enemy back.

Everyone saw the Lucien who had once terrified the entire underworld kneeling in front of the ruins, tearing through the wreckage with his bare hands.

His eyes were bloodshot as he called Mira's name over and over, his voice breaking from hoarse shouts into choked sobs until only shattered whimpers remained.

The last look Mira had given him had been filled with so much pain.

Mira had said, "I never betrayed you."

What did betrayal even matter now? Lucien had never wanted Mira dead, the only thing he had ever wanted was to go back to the way they used to be.

Even if Mira really had been a traitor, he would have knelt beside her before the statue of Jesus and atoned with her until God forgave everything she had done.

Then they could have started over.

Selena staggered over with blood and ash smeared across her face and said tearfully, "Lucien, don't grieve, if a traitor dies, then she dies."

But Lucien could no longer hear anything, and the sheer force of his pain filled his throat with the metallic taste of blood.

A mouthful of blood burst from his lips, and Lucien collapsed into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, on the north side of the estate.

Julian carried the unconscious Mira away from the inferno, his arm cut open and bleeding from shattered stone, yet he still held her tightly against him.

He said softly, "Hang on, I'm getting you out of here."

Jostled in his arms, Mira weakly opened her eyes, and before her consciousness slipped away again, she looked back one last time toward the estate, where flames towered into the sky like a grand funeral.

Lucien must think she was dead now.

Maybe that was for the best.

That way, the two of them would never have to drag each other through this again.