CHAPTER 20

Chapter 20 – Shattered Vows, Silent Vengeance

Darkness swallowed the room.

Evelyn stayed perfectly still, gun raised, listening.

Footsteps. Breathing. Movement.

Dante was here.

She took a slow step forward, her heart hammering. "Come out and face me, you coward."

Laughter drifted through the darkness. "Oh, Evelyn. You still don't understand, do you?"

A gunshot.

A sharp sting burned across her arm.

He had fired first.

Enough.

She moved fast, her instincts taking over. She dropped, rolled, and fired toward the sound of his voice.

A grunt of pain. A thud.

Then silence.

The emergency lights flickered back on.

Dante lay sprawled on the floor, blood pooling beneath him.

This time, there would be no escape.

He coughed, smirking even through the pain. "You finally won, Evelyn."

She stepped closer, gun aimed at his head. "No. I survived. That's the difference."

His eyes darkened. "You think this ends with me? There's always another monster waiting."

Evelyn's grip tightened. "Then let them come."

She pulled the trigger.

One last shot.

The end of everything.

The silence after vengeance.

And this time, it lasted.

Epilogue

Days later, Evelyn stood at the edge of the city, watching the skyline burn with the colors of dawn.

Ronan leaned beside her. "What now?"

Evelyn exhaled. "We disappear."

No more wars. No more ghosts.

Just silence.

And for the first time in years—

She welcomed it.