“Stay still. Don’t say anything,” she whispered urgently. “You’re in danger.”

Normally, Ethan would have stepped past her, assuming she was seeking money. But something in her tone—steady, almost professional—forced him to pause. Before he could even react, the girl suddenly grabbed his collar, pulled him down, and pressed her lips against his.

The world didn’t stop, but Ethan certainly did.

Footsteps echoed nearby. Two men walked past behind the concrete pillar, scanning the garage with an intensity that made Ethan’s skin prickle. The girl hugged him tighter, partly shielding him from view, partly using the kiss as a disguise. Her fingers trembled only slightly.

Once the footsteps faded, she released him, breath uneven. “If they saw your face alone, they would’ve taken you.”

Ethan stared at her, shocked. “Who are you?”

“No time,” she said, pulling her hood lower. “Someone hired them. They think you have something you shouldn’t.”

“That’s impossible,” he muttered. But the fear crawling up his spine didn’t agree.

The girl tugged his sleeve. “You need to leave this garage through the north stairwell. Not the elevators—those are watched.”

“Why are you helping me?”

She hesitated. Her jaw tightened, eyes flashing with something bitter. “Because I’ve been watching those men for days. And today… you’re their target.”

Ethan couldn’t tell whether to trust her. Yet what he witnessed wasn’t a hallucination; danger was very real, and she had just protected him in the most unexpected way imaginable.

Before he could ask more, she whispered, “If you want to live, follow me. But understand this: once we walk out of here, your life won’t be the same.”

At that moment, alarms inside Ethan—intuition, fear, logic—all collided.

And that was when the garage lights suddenly flickered, footsteps thundered again, and the true chase began.

---

PART 2 — Truth Behind Shadows

The girl bolted toward the stairwell, and Ethan followed despite every warning bell in his head. The metallic door slammed behind them, cutting off the faint echoes of the men searching. The stairwell smelled of dust and rusting metal, lit only by dim bulbs that buzzed overhead.

“Name,” Ethan demanded quietly.

“Lena,” she answered without slowing. “And before you ask, no—I’m not trying to scam you. I’m trying to keep you alive.”

They moved quickly, descending two flights until Lena raised a hand for silence. She leaned against the railing, listening. Ethan could hear it too—distant voices, maybe three floors above.

“Why are they after me?” he whispered.

“That briefcase you picked up from your assistant today—what’s in it?”

“Financial reports. Contracts. Nothing illegal.”

Lena shot him a sideways glance. “You’re sure?”

“I signed them myself.”

She exhaled sharply. “Then someone wants you gone to access your position, not your belongings.”

Ethan didn’t want to believe it. As CEO of Ward & Co., he had competitors—ruthless ones—but not the type to hire armed men. Still, what he’d seen tonight couldn’t be dismissed.

When they reached the bottom floor, Lena cracked the door open. A delivery truck blocked part of the alley. No sign of danger.

“This way,” she murmured.

They slipped outside, cold night air slapping Ethan’s face. He finally got a good look at Lena. Younger than he’d guessed—maybe mid-twenties—but with the wary expression of someone who’d lived through too much.

“How did you know they were after me?” he asked.

“I live nearby,” she answered calmly. “I spend a lot of nights on the streets. You see things when people forget you exist.”

“But you knew their routine,” Ethan observed.

Her silence confirmed it.

They walked briskly toward a row of shuttered stores. Lena paused behind a bakery, checking the corners with seasoned caution. Ethan realized she wasn’t just a homeless girl—she moved like someone trained to anticipate danger.

“Lena…” He hesitated. “You’re not telling me everything.”

She looked away. “I used to work security. Private sector. Until a case went bad, and I couldn’t get hired again.”

“What kind of case?”

“The kind where your employer betrays you, and you end up with nothing but what you can carry.” Bitterness cracked through her voice.

Suddenly a phone rang—Ethan’s. Unknown number.

“Don’t,” Lena warned sharply. “If they planted software or are tracing you, answering is the worst thing you could do.”

He let it ring out, tension gripping his throat.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“To someone who owes me a favor.”

They walked for several more blocks until reaching an auto shop with peeling paint. Lena knocked a pattern on the side door. After a pause, an older man opened it, expression turning from suspicion to shock.

“Lena? You look—”

“No time,” she cut him off. “We need a place to hide for an hour. And maybe transportation.”

The man, whom she introduced as Marco, let them inside. The shop smelled of oil and steel. Ethan felt completely out of place among the clutter of tools and engines.

Marco eyed Ethan. “He’s the one?”

“Yes.”

Marco muttered something in Spanish and walked away, leaving them in a small office with a creaky couch.

Ethan finally asked the question weighing on him. “Why did you kiss me?”

Lena rubbed her forehead. “Because if those men saw your face clearly, you’d already be dead. A couple embracing looks harmless from a distance.”

“Still,” he murmured, “you risked yourself.”

She shrugged. “Better me than someone who doesn’t know how to survive on the street.”

Ethan studied her expression—guarded but honest. She had saved him without hesitation, and he couldn’t understand why. People didn’t do that—not in his world.

Marco returned. “Car will be ready in a few minutes. Old license plates, nothing traceable.”

“Good,” Lena said. Then she turned to Ethan. “Once we leave, you need to decide who inside your company you trust. Someone close to you arranged this.”

The words hit him harder than the danger itself.

His company. His people.

Someone wanted him gone.

He swallowed hard. “Lena… will you help me figure out who?”

Her eyes softened for the first time. “If I walk away now, they’ll find you. So yes. I’ll stay until this is over.”

Before Ethan could respond, Marco shouted from the garage floor:

“They found us!”

The office window shattered.

The chase wasn’t over.

---

PART 3 — Lines of Loyalty

Glass sprayed across the room as a bullet tore through the window frame. Lena reacted instantly, pulling Ethan to the floor. Marco ducked behind a metal cabinet, cursing under his breath.

“They tracked your phone,” Lena hissed. “Even turned off, it still pinged nearby towers.”

Ethan felt foolish—but survival didn’t allow time for regret. Lena yanked the phone from his pocket and smashed it with a wrench.

Another shot rang out. She peeked toward the door. “Back exit. Move!”

They sprinted through the cluttered garage, weaving around tool racks as gunmen forced their way into the shop. Marco tossed Lena a set of keys. “Take the blue sedan! Go!”

“We’ll come back for you!” she shouted.

“Don’t be stupid. RUN!”

They burst out the rear door and into a narrow alley. Lena unlocked a faded sedan and shoved Ethan inside. Tires screeched as she sped them into the main road.

For several minutes, neither spoke. Ethan watched Lena, her jaw clenched, knuckles white around the wheel. She drove like someone who’d learned the hard way—fast, calculated, fearless.

Finally, he broke the silence. “You said someone inside my company arranged this. Who would gain the most from my death?”

“You tell me,” she said. “Who’s been pushing for your position? Who’s angry about your decisions?”

Ethan sifted through names. “My COO, Derek Hayes… he’s been impatient lately. But hiring killers? No. He’s ambitious, not insane.”

“What about the board?”

“My decisions have made some of them uncomfortable,” he admitted.

Lena nodded slowly. “Power shifts make people desperate.”

They drove to an abandoned storage unit on the city’s outskirts. Lena checked every corner before letting Ethan step inside. Only when she felt certain they were safe did she allow her shoulders to drop.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I should be asking you that,” he replied.

She huffed a quiet laugh. “I’ve been through worse.”

Ethan leaned against a metal shelf. “Lena… why help me? Really.”

Her gaze lowered. “Because once, someone helped me when I didn’t deserve it. I lost my job, my apartment… everything. A stranger pulled me out of a bad situation. I promised myself I’d pay that forward someday.”

“And I’m the lucky recipient?”

“Something like that.”

Ethan studied her face—tired, determined, unexpectedly gentle beneath the hardened surface. “When this is over, I want to help you too.”

“Don’t make promises in a crisis,” she said softly.

But she didn’t reject the idea.

A buzzing sound cut through the silence. Lena immediately drew a sharp breath. “Not a phone. A tracker.”

Ethan’s pulse spiked. “Where?”

She scanned the unit, lifted a crate, and found a tiny blinking device underneath.

“They must’ve planted it on the car at Marco’s shop,” she concluded. “We’re leaving. Now.”

They abandoned the sedan and escaped through an industrial rail yard, blending into shadows until they reached a crowded night market. The noise, lights, and bodies created the perfect cover.

Only then did Ethan feel them slipping from immediate danger.

Lena bought a burner phone from a vendor and handed it to him. “Call one person you trust completely. Only one.”

Ethan’s mind went to Claire Bennett, his chief legal advisor. Loyal, sharp, and ethically immovable. He dialed.

“Claire. I need you,” he whispered.

Within an hour, Claire met them at a private café. When Ethan explained everything, her face turned pale.

“I accessed the security logs,” she said quietly. “Three unauthorized entries into the company servers this week. And the signature matches… Derek Hayes’ system.”

Ethan’s chest tightened.

Lena folded her arms. “So your COO did set you up.”

Claire nodded grimly. “He’s been negotiating with a rival firm behind your back. Removing you clears his path.”

Ethan exhaled, shaken but resolute. “We take this to the authorities. Lena, Claire—I’ll make sure you’re both protected.”

Lena met his eyes. “You’re not alone anymore.”

Three days later, Derek Hayes was arrested. Marco recovered safely. Lena received proper housing through a program Ethan sponsored. And Ethan—changed in ways he hadn’t expected—offered her a permanent role as a security consultant.

She accepted, on one condition:
“No more life-or-death kisses unless absolutely necessary.”

Ethan laughed. “Deal.”

But neither forgot the night everything began.