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The alleyway was silent, save for the faint crackle of footsteps echoing against the damp cobblestones. Kaz and Ella had ventured too far. The plan had been simple, calculated. They had gathered the Crows, infiltrated Pekka Rollins's estate with precision, and begun the intricate dance that would see his reign crumble. But nothing ever went according to plan when Kaz was involved.

Ella moved beside him, a steady presence in the chaos. But Kaz could see it in her eyes-something was wrong. She had been tense, watching every corner, her pulse too quick. Kaz didn't have to see it to know what it was. He could feel the shift, the sharpness in the air. Pekka knew they were coming. They had walked right into a trap.

And that's when it happened.

In a heartbeat, it all went wrong.

A shout echoed through the alley, and then there was the deafening crack of gunfire. Kaz barely had time to react, but Ella-always faster, always one step ahead-had already shoved him aside.

The bullet hit her square in the side. Her body jerked, but it was her scream that shattered his world, a cry so sharp, so filled with agony, that for a moment, Kaz couldn't breathe.

"No-!" Kaz shouted, reaching for her as she collapsed to her knees, her hand clutching her side where blood blossomed like a dark flower.

"Ella!" He knelt beside her, panic surging through him. She was still alive, still breathing-barely. But every breath she took was shallower than the last.

Her face was pale, lips trembling as she looked up at him. The smile she gave him was weak, but it was there. Even in the throes of death, Ella was still Ella.

"I... I should have known..." she whispered, her voice strained, the words barely leaving her lips.

"No," Kaz choked out, his fingers pressing against the wound, desperate to stop the bleeding, but the blood was already flowing too quickly. "Don't say that. You-" His voice faltered, but he couldn't finish the sentence. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

"Why?" she asked, her voice tinged with confusion, but not fear. She wasn't afraid. Ella had never been afraid. "Why are you crying, Kaz?"

Kaz's throat closed. He wanted to say it, to tell her everything he had never said. But there were no words that could make this right. No words that could undo the damage.

Ella smiled at him faintly, and even as she bled out in his arms, her fingers weakly grasped his hand. "You were always my light. Even in the darkest places."

Kaz swallowed hard, unable to speak, his breath ragged. His hands trembled, but he wouldn't-couldn't-let go. She was slipping away, but he wouldn't allow it. He couldn't.

"Stay with me," he whispered, though he could already hear the finality in her breaths, feel the coldness beginning to seep into her skin. "Please, Ella."

Her eyes fluttered closed, and for a moment, Kaz thought maybe he had lost her completely. But then, her eyes opened again, and she gazed at him with a tenderness that nearly broke him.

"I'm not afraid, Kaz," she said, her voice a mere breath. "I'm not afraid to leave. I'm just... afraid for you. You... you'll feel it when I'm gone. The darkness will swallow you."

Kaz's face twisted, and for a moment, his heart stopped. The thought of her not being there-of her light leaving him-was too much. But he swallowed it, buried it deep down. He had always been alone. But this... this felt different. This was something he wasn't ready for.

"No," he whispered, the words barely making it past his lips. "I need you, Ella. You... you can't leave me. Not now."

But she didn't listen. She could barely move, barely speak. Her fingers brushed against his cheek, as if trying to comfort him even in this final moment.

"I love you," she whispered, her voice fading even further, growing more distant. "I always did... always will..."

And then, just like that, her hand fell limp in his. Her eyes closed, and the life left her with a quiet exhale.

Kaz's breath caught in his throat, his heart shattering. He tried to hold on, to keep her with him, but the inevitable had come. She was gone.

Her warmth was gone. The light she had brought into his life-his dark, twisted, lonely life-flickered out like a candle in the wind.

And Kaz was left kneeling in the dark, holding her lifeless body, unable to move, unable to breathe. The city around him continued on, uncaring. But inside him, there was nothing but a deafening silence-a silence so suffocating it felt like it would crush him.

Her last words lingered in the air.

The darkness will swallow you.

And it did.

Kaz stared down at her, at the woman who had become his everything, the one he hadn't known he needed. He had promised her that he would never need anyone. But that was before. That was before her.

Kaz Brekker was a man who survived on plans, on control. He had mastered manipulation, strategy, and every deception imaginable. But nothing, nothing in his life had ever prepared him for this-prepared him for the agony of losing Ella.

"I saw you," he whispered hoarsely, though no one was there to hear. His chest was tight, the words coming out in a ragged gasp. "I always saw you, Ella."

He should have saved her. He should have kept her safe. He had always been the one pulling strings, the one orchestrating everything. But this... this was out of his control.

And for the first time in his life, Kaz Brekker felt completely, utterly powerless.

A broken man.

A man who had lost the one thing-no, the one person-that had ever mattered.

Kaz could still feel the weight of her in his arms, the warmth of her skin, the flicker of hope that had once existed between them. But it was gone. The world had taken it from him, and he was left alone, drowning in the very darkness she had warned him about.

And as he held her still form in his arms, Kaz's walls, his armor, his resolve-all of it-crumbled away. All that was left was the raw ache, the unbearable weight of losing Ella Volgere.

And Kaz, for the first time in his life, was completely broken.