Episode 6 - If He Dies, I Burn the World

There is a specific kind of silence that follows gunfire.

Not peace.

Not relief.

Just shock.

Isabella couldn’t hear the sirens anymore.

She couldn’t hear the shouting guards.

She couldn’t hear her own sobbing.

All she could hear was Dominic’s breathing.

Shallow. Unsteady. Wrong.

Her hands pressed against his wound, trying desperately to stop the blood. It soaked through her fingers anyway, warm, sticky, terrifyingly real.

“Stay with me,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “You don’t get to leave. You don’t get to decide that.”

His head lolled slightly, but his eyes found hers.

Even now, they were intense.

Focused.

Possessive.

“You’re crying,” he murmured faintly.

“Of course I’m crying!” she choked. “You’re bleeding.”

A faint ghost of a smirk touched his lips.

“Good,” he whispered. “That means you care.”

Her heart cracked open.

“Don’t joke,” she sobbed. “Please don’t joke.”

Footsteps thundered into the room.

Medics. Guards.

Orders were shouted.

Hands pulled her away from him.

“No!” she screamed, fighting against them. “Don’t touch him!”

“Mrs. Blackwood, we need space”

“That’s my husband!” she cried hysterically. “You save him!”

They lifted Dominic onto a stretcher.

His hand reached weakly for her.

She grabbed it instantly.

“I’m here,” she said. “I’m right here.”

His fingers tightened... barely.

“Run,” he whispered

“I’m not running.”

Darkness flickered behind his eyes.

Then they rolled him away

And she stood there, covered in his blood, shaking violently.

The medical wing moved like a war zone.

Doctors swarmed him.

Machines beeped urgently.

Blood transfusions.

Sutures.

Emergency surgery.

Isabella was forced outside the operating room.

The doors shut in her face.

For the first time since signing that contract, she was alone.

She slid down the wall slowly, her back hitting the cold marble floor.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

He was invincible.

He was the storm.

Storms don't bleed.

Storms don't fall.

But he had.

Because of her.

A shadow fell across her.

She looked up.

An older man stood there, silver hair, sharp eyes, composed but watchful.

“Mrs. Blackwood,” he said calmly. “I am Gabriel Laurent. I manage your husband’s global operations.”

She stared blankly.

“He will survive,” Gabriel continued. “Dominic is difficult to kill.”

Her throat tightened. “That’s not funny.”

“I am not joking.”

He studied her carefully.

“You should rest.”

“I’m not leaving.”

His gaze sharpened slightly.

“You may not have a choice.”

Something about his tone made her chest tighten.

“What does that mean?”

Gabriel crouched slightly, lowering his voice.

“There was a breach from inside,” he said. “Someone close to him opened those tunnels.”

Her pulse spiked.

“A traitor?”

“Yes.”

“And you think I should rest?”

He held her gaze.

“I think,” he said carefully, “that if Dominic dies, there will be a power vacuum.”

Her stomach twisted.

“And?”

“And men like Victor Hale thrive in vacuums.”

Fear crawled up her spine.

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying,” Gabriel replied softly, “that if Dominic does not wake up... you become the target.”

Her blood ran cold.

Hours passed.

Or maybe days.

Time blurred into fear and fluorescent lights.

Finally, the doors opened.

A surgeon stepped out.

“Mrs. Blackwood?”

She jumped to her feet.

“He’s alive,” the doctor said.

Her knees nearly gave out.

“But,” he continued, “the bullet caused significant blood loss. He’s stable for now, but the next twenty-four hours are critical.”

“Can I see him?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

Dominic looked different without his armor.

No tailored suit.

No commanding stance.

No sharp commands.

Just a man lying in a hospital bed, pale and still, machines breathing around him.

Isabella approached slowly.

Her heart felt fragile.

She took his hand.

It was warm.

Too still.

“You don’t get to leave me,” she whispered, tears sliding down her face. “You dragged me into this nightmare. You don’t get to abandon me in it.”

Silence.

“You said you loved me,” she choked. “You don’t say something like that and then die.”

Her voice broke completely.

“I don’t even know when it happened,” she admitted. “I don’t know when you stopped being the monster I feared and started being the only thing that makes me feel safe.”

The machine beeped steadily.

“I’m not strong enough for this world,” she whispered. “I was never meant for war.”

A tear fell onto his hand.

“And if you die… I swear I will burn everything you built just so they don’t win.”

A weak sound escaped his lips.

Her breath caught.

His fingers twitched.

Then hiis eyes slowly opened.

Dark.

Focused.

Alive.

“You’d burn my empire?” he rasped.

She gasped.

“You’re awake!”

His gaze locked onto hers instantly.

Possessive.

Relieved.

Terrifyingly aware.

“Of course I’m awake,” he murmured hoarsely. “Did you think I’d let another man rule you?”

A hysterical laugh escaped her through tears.

“You idiot,” she cried, gripping his hand tighter.

Pain flickered across his face as he shifted slightly.

“Victor,” he whispered.

Her body tensed.

“What about him?”

His eyes hardened, the softness vanishing.

“He wasn’t behind this.”

Her stomach dropped.

“What?”

Dominic’s jaw clenched.

“This was closer.”

A knock sounded at the door.

Gabriel stepped inside.

Their eyes met.

And in that brief second, something passed between them.

Something heavy.

Something dangerous.

Dominic’s voice turned cold.

“Tell her.”

Gabriel hesitated.

“Sir, perhaps later”

“Now.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Gabriel inhaled slowly.

“The access code used to open the underground tunnels,” he said carefully, “was yours, Mrs. Blackwood.”

The world stopped.

Isabella’s heart slammed violently.

“What?”

Dominic’s gaze never left her face.

The air grew suffocating.

“That’s impossible,” she whispered.

Gabriel’s expression remained unreadable.

“The breach originated from your biometric authorization.”

Her breath grew shallow.

“I’ve never even seen those tunnels before that night!”

Dominic’s grip on her hand tightened, not in comfort.

In tension.

In calculation.

In doubt.

“No,” she whispered. “Dominic... you don’t believe that.”

His silence was louder than gunfire.

And for the first time since waking up, she saw it.

The flicker.

The smallest crack in his trust.

Outside the room, alarms suddenly began blaring again.

Red lights flashed through the hallway.

A voice echoed over the speakers:

“Security alert. Internal override activated.”

Gabriel turned sharply.

“That code,” he said slowly, staring at Isabella, “has just been used again.”

Her blood ran ice cold.

Dominic’s eyes darkened.

And this time... they weren’t looking at her with love, they were looking at her with suspicion.