Chapter 39
Zora
The office reeks of gunpowder, sweat, and betrayal. I remain seated in my chair, refusing to move even as Tobias stands directly in front of me with the cold barrel of his pistol pressed firmly against my forehead. Around us, the office looks like the aftermath of a massacre.
Tobias doesn't take his eyes off me.
"Any last words, princess?" He asks quietly, almost amused. "Before I paint the walls with that pretty little head of yours?"
I force myself to meet his gaze. "You're pathetic."
A low chuckle escapes him. He presses the barrel harder against my skin. "Just like you're about to be."
My heart pounds so violently I can hear it in my ears, yet I refuse to look away.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I catch the faintest movement near the office door.
For the briefest moment, Tobias's focus shifts away from me. The pressure of the barrel against my forehead never eases, but his eyes slide toward the entrance before the corners of his mouth slowly lift.
"So." He murmurs, almost pleased. "The Ghost finally arrived."
My breath catches. Standing in the shattered doorway is Nico.
Blood streaks his knuckles, his chest rises and falls with controlled breaths, and his pistol is already raised.
His eyes never leave the gun pressed against my forehead.
Every muscle in his body is perfectly still, yet the restrained violence radiating from him fills the room.
"Elf." He says, his voice calm enough to steady my pulse despite everything. "Duck."
I don't hesitate. The instant Nico speaks, I throw myself sideways, the chair scraping violently across the floor as I dive behind the heavy oak desk.
The first gunshot cracks through the office. Then another.
Glass explodes inward as bullets punch through the floor-to-ceiling windows, showering the room with glittering shards. I keep my head low, my heart pounding in my ears as fragments scatter across the carpet around me. The desk absorbs the worst of it, giving me just enough cover to breathe.
By the time I risk a glance over the edge, Nico has already reached Tobias. They collide with bone-rattling force.
Tobias fights like a man who believes brute strength can solve everything.
Nico doesn't waste a single movement. He slips inside Tobias's reach, driving him backward into a bookshelf hard enough to splinter the wood.
Tobias answers with a heavy shove that sends Nico crashing into the coffee table, but he's back on his feet almost instantly, meeting the next attack before Tobias can capitalize on it.
The office becomes a blur of movement. Furniture overturns. Glass crunches beneath their boots. Neither man gives the other room to breathe.
I spot the pistol Tobias dropped near the chair. Without thinking, I rush from behind the desk.
Tobias doesn't see me coming. Every ounce of frustration, fear, and fury pours into the kick I drive into the side of his knee. The joint buckles. He stumbles with a sharp grunt, his balance breaking just long enough for Nico to seize the opening.
Nico drives him backward again before his eyes flick briefly toward me. A grin appears despite the blood running from his split lip.
"There you are." He says between measured breaths. "I was beginning to think you were going to let me have all the fun, Elf."
I roll my shoulders, ignoring the sharp protest from my ankle as I force myself fully upright. Every part of my body hurts. My ribs ache with every breath, cuts from the shattered glass burn across my arms, and my pulse still races from everything that has happened over the last hour.
None of it matters anymore. I'm done running. "I'm not finished with him."
Nico turns his head just enough to look at me. For a brief moment, neither of us says anything. His eyes search mine, not for courage, I already have that, but for certainty. Whatever he finds there makes the corner of his mouth lift.
"I know."
Across the room, Tobias wipes the blood from beneath his nose and lets out a humorless laugh.
"So this is how it ends?" His gaze moves between us. "The two of you against me."
Nico shakes his head. "No."
He takes several measured steps away from us, rolling his sore shoulder as though shaking off the fight.
"You wanted to prove you were stronger than everyone else." He says evenly. "Here's your chance."
Tobias frowns. "What are you talking about?"
Nico's eyes drift toward me before returning to Tobias. "You're fighting her."
Silence settles over the office. For the first time since I'd met him, Tobias looks genuinely confused.
"You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious."
Without another word, Nico walks toward the leather sofa near the windows and sits down. He glances toward Sebastian, who is still leaning against the desk, struggling to stay conscious.
"You should sit."
Sebastian stares at him in disbelief. "What?"
"Sit. You've both spent months underestimating her." A faint smile crosses his face. "It's about time someone corrected that mistake."
Sebastian hesitates, his gaze shifting uncertainly between the three of us. Then, with an uneasy grimace, he lowers himself onto the opposite end of the sofa, his injured arm visibly protesting the movement. He says nothing more.
I draw a slow breath and step forward.
Every movement sends pain through my body, but beneath it is something far stronger.
Rage. Not reckless rage, but the kind that settles deep inside your bones and refuses to let go.
Tobias has taken enough from me. My peace and my trust. He walked into my company believing he could erase everything with fear and violence. Not today.
Tobias begins circling me, studying every movement with the patience of a predator. "You really think you can beat me?"
"I don't think." I hold his gaze, a faint smile tugging at my lips. "I know."
The smile disappears from his face. He moves first. His punch whistles toward my head, but I slip beneath it and drive my heel into the side of his already injured knee.
He grunts, stumbling just enough for me to close the distance.
My elbow crashes into his jaw, snapping his head sideways before he catches my wrist and yanks me toward him.
I let him.
Using his own strength against him, I twist inside his grip, wrench my arm free, and drive another strike into his ribs before retreating out of reach. Pain shoots through my ankle as I land, but I ignore it.
Tobias spits blood onto the floor and straightens. "You're quicker than I expected."
"You're exactly as desperate as I imagined."
His expression darkens. With a roar of frustration, he charges again.
I vault onto the overturned chair beside me, using it to launch myself higher before driving both feet into his chest. The impact sends him crashing backward into the edge of my desk, scattering files and shattered glass across the office.
I land hard, steadying myself as my ankle threatens to give way.
Behind me, Nico's voice breaks the silence. "I have to admit. Watching you beat the hell out of him is incredibly attractive."
I snort, never looking away from Tobias. "You picked a terrible time to flirt."
"I disagree." A beat passes. "I think my timing's perfect."
Despite the adrenaline still racing through me, the corner of my mouth lifts.
Tobias pushes himself upright, his breathing ragged, fury burning in his eyes. "You two think this is a fucking joke?" He snarls. "I'll kill you both and take what's rightfully mine!"
I slip inside his next swing and drive my knee into his midsection, forcing the air from his lungs. Before he can recover, I shove him back another step.
"Rightfully yours?" I ask, unable to keep the disgust from my voice. "You murdered your own father. You betrayed everyone who ever trusted you. Don't stand there pretending any of this was earned."
His face hardens.
"My father never saw you as his successor." I continue. "Neither did Mikkel. They both knew exactly what you were."
Rage flashes across his face. He closes the distance in an instant, catching me before I can move away. The force of the impact sends me stumbling across the office, pain shooting through my ribs as I collide with the edge of a cabinet. I barely regain my balance before he's on me again.
Every instinct takes over. I give ground only when I have to, refusing to meet his strength head-on.
He's larger than I am, stronger too, but every attack becomes more reckless than the last. His frustration grows with every missed strike, every failed attempt to overpower me.
I answer with quick counters whenever he leaves an opening, forcing him to work harder for every advantage.
"You've got technique." Tobias says through clenched teeth, breathing noticeably harder now. "But eventually you'll run out of room."
I circle away, refusing to let him corner me.
"No." I reply evenly. "You'll run out of control."
Behind us, Nico remains exactly where he is, watching with complete confidence. He doesn't interfere. He doesn't need to.
"Careful, Tobias." He says conversationally. "She's starting to enjoy herself."
Tobias shoots him a murderous glare before turning back to me. "You think this is amusing?"
Nico shrugs. "Compared to your speech about destiny and inheritance? Absolutely."
The words only make Tobias angrier. With a frustrated roar, he charges again.
I sidestep at the last possible moment, using his own momentum against him. He stumbles, and this time I don't hesitate. I drive him to the floor before he can recover, refusing to let him regain the advantage. He struggles beneath me, but every movement grows weaker than the last.
"You've spent your entire life believing power comes from fear," I say, holding his gaze. "That's why you'll never deserve any of it."
His breathing grows uneven as he stares back at me, bloodied, exhausted, and still clinging to the same arrogance that brought him here in the first place.
"You don't understand…"
"I understand perfectly."
Silence settles over the ruined office. The only sounds are our uneven breaths and the distant echo of alarms somewhere far below us.
Around us, the office bears the scars of the fight. Overturned furniture, shattered glass scattered across the floor, documents drifting through pools of water from the broken sprinklers, and blood staining the carpet that only hours ago had belonged to an ordinary working day.
Nico finally rises from the sofa, a quiet smile crossing his face as his eyes meet mine. "I knew you could do it, Elf."
I see uncertainty flicker across Tobias’s face. Not regret. Not remorse. Just the realization that the ending he had imagined for this day is slipping through his fingers.
"This doesn't change anything." He says, though the conviction in his voice has disappeared. "The empire should've been mine."
I look down at him for a long moment.
"No." I say quietly. "You wanted ownership. You never understood responsibility."
The office falls silent again. Then I raise the gun.
His expression changes instantly as the reality of the moment finally catches up with him. I don't hesitate.
The gunshot echoes through the shattered office, and with it dies the last threat hanging over everything dad left behind.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I allow myself to breathe.
The pistol feels impossibly heavy in my hand as I lower it to my side. Around us, the office is eerily quiet. The fight is over. Tobias is dead. The armed men outside will surrender eventually. The empire is still standing. And somehow… I survived.
A shaky breath leaves my lungs as I finally turn toward Nico. I want to see his face. I want to see that infuriatingly smug expression he wears whenever he's right about something. I want to hear him tell me. ‘I told you so.’
I never get the chance. The second gunshot tears through the office.
For a split second, I don't understand what happened. Then something slams into my stomach hard enough to steal the air from my lungs. My fingers loosen around the pistol as I stumble backward, my eyes dropping instinctively to the blood already spreading across my shirt.
When I look up again, Sebastian is standing near the sofa with a handgun trembling in his hand.
Nico sees him.
"Zora." My name leaves his mouth with a kind of fear I've never heard from him before.
One moment he's standing across the room. The next he's moving.
My knees buckle beneath me as the room begins to tilt and blur around the edges. And the last thing I see before darkness takes me is Nico reaching Sebastian.