EDGE OF TGE ABYSS

Elara’s POV

My breath seized in my throat as I fixed my gaze on Dmitri, the guy who had been everything, now before me brandishing a revolver. Every sound in the room was muffled save for the pounding of my heart in my ears; it felt as though the world had stopped. My chest clenched and I felt as though I may be crushed by the weight of all that had happened. The air was heavy with anxiety.

Dmitri's voice sliced through the quiet like a dagger, his tone icy, but there was something more there—something more threatening. "You made a mistake."

I couldn't speak or move. My head was whirling, my ideas disjointed and fractured. How had things turned around? Standing there with that lethal weapon squarely leveled at me, the man I once loved had become my prisoner.

Leo was still standing next to me; his presence was like a rock, yet I could sense strain in his body. His jaw closed and his fists were curled at his sides, poised for attack. He was not slowing down. He refused to let Dmitri handle things.

Leo continued, his voice low and calm, "Put the gun down, Dmitri," but there was a sharp edge to it, a warning Dmitri would not be able to ignore. This isn't you. You are superior to this."

Dmitri's lips turned to a smile, but it was not friendly. He asked, dark and calculated eyes, "Better than this?" "You believe I'm doing this for fun?" NO, Leo. Elara has to learn her place, so I am doing this.

In his words, I could feel the fire building within me, but I could not let it overwhelm me. not right now. Not in front of anything online.

"Dmitri, stop," I urged, voice quivering but forceful. "This is not how it is. You are not supposed to do this."

His gaze slid to mine and narrowed. "Elara, please do not lecture me. You find it incomprehensible what you have done. You believe you can just turn away from all of this, from me, from everything we have created together." He stepped forward, never looking away from me. "You can't. You never could."

I choked hard, staring at the revolver in his fingers. My head was rushing, my ideas disorganized. There was no getaway from this. not yet. Not with the pistol leveled on me, with the man I once loved standing there lost in his own twisted fury.

"I didn't want this, Dmitri," I said, my voice breaking. But you helped me to decide. You disappointed me. You came back to us betrayed. And I can't turn back.

Something flicked in Dmitri's eyes for a moment—perhaps regret? But it vanished before I could really understand it. Now too far gone, he was too preoccupied with his craving for control, power.

"(Enough!)" The brittle silence was broken by Viktor's voice, and I turned to find him hard-faced striding forward. Though Dmitri had his own strategy, he was not happy about this—never was. Viktor fixed me with a chilly eye, evaluating. " This ends tonight, Elara."

Leo urged, "Don't listen to him," his voice sharp. Now he was so near, his heat felt to me like a barrier wrapped around. "We are not doing this going forward. You are not required to be fighting this battle. Not now. Allow me to assist you here.

Leo's voice and the genuine passion behind it destroyed something inside of me. I had nearly forgotten Leo was right here, fighting for me, fighting with me; I had been so consumed with the suffering, the betrayal, the dread. And that implied more than I could have ever imagined.

My heart thumping in my chest, I turned to him and momentarily we were just us. The rest of the world vanished, and Leo became all I could pay attention to. Desperate in voice, "I don't want this, Leo," I said. "I am not ready to lose you."

"You won't," Leo said, his eyes blazing with fervent fury. I will defend you. I will do everything to keep you safe."

But the stinging sound of a gunshot sliced through the air before I could utter anything else.

The globe appeared to slow down, the sound of the gunshot resounding in my ears as everything around me went still.

My heart in my throat, I turned to Leo. Still, he stayed upright. He was motionless.

Leo was not the one shot.

Dmitri answered.

Dmitri fell back, his expression one of amazement, incredulity as the blood bloomed across his breast like a scarlet flower. He dropped to the floor in a heap, the revolver clattering from his hand.

As I tried to make sense of what had happened, my breath stopped and my body froze. Once my entire universe, the man I had trusted was there on the floor bleeding out in front of me.

And I had no idea how I should feel.

Leo continued, "Elara," with a soft voice but underlined urgency. We must leave. now."

My head whirling, I turned to him. Though the words would not come, I wanted to talk, do anything. Every sensation seemed to be moving slowly.

But Viktor still had work to do.

He moved nearer, a nasty smirk twisting on his lips to meet me. You consider this to be over? You consider yourself to have won? He turned contemptuously down at Dmitri's dead body. "This is only the beginning. You are not secure, Elara. Not now."

Viktor's words' icy weight dropped over me like a shadow. The risk persisted rather than disappeared. It was still early. And I found myself caught in the center of it, divided between the past I could not flee and the future I was too terrified to approach.

Leo drew me back from the brink by softly caressing my arm as he neared. With a quiet but forceful voice, he said, "We cannot stay here." "Not now. We had to leave."

I nodded, my pulse still thumping in my chest, my head whirl of feelings I could not quite control. Time was not allowing for contemplation. Not time to sort out what had transpired. We started to move. Our survival depended on this.

The sound of footsteps resounded in the hall before I could go another stride.

We weren't by ourselves.

Turning, terror shot through me as I saw a dark figure standing in the gateway. Man. His eyes gleamed with hate, yet his face vanished into the night. And he clutched still another revolver in his hand, squarely aiming it at Leo.

"Don't move," the man murmured, his voice low, under control, and terrible. " This ends now."

Inside me, everything cried to flee. To go away. But nowhere to hide was left.