Ayla
She noticed it first in his eyes.
Daniel wasn't hiding his madness anymore. For the first few days, he wore a mask — smooth smiles, soft words, pretending her presence mattered beyond strategy. But now, he was unraveling.
He paced the room like a man hunted by his own mind, muttering under his breath, eyes flickering to invisible ghosts. And when he did speak to her, it was in riddles wrapped in threats.
"I built you," he said one morning, spooning porridge into a cracked bowl. "You were nothing until me. I gave you power."
"You gave me fear," Ayla whispered.
His head snapped toward her so fast it made her flinch. Then he smiled. "Fear is power, Ayla. You should know that by now."
That day, he locked her door with two bolts instead of one.
⸻
Leon
The village near the manor was quiet, too quiet.
Leon sat in a dim tavern, hood up, nursing black coffee while Nico discreetly studied the map they'd drawn from satellite imagery.
"There are three exits. Two heavily guarded. Third goes underground. Maintenance tunnels, maybe for heating."
Leon's voice was barely a whisper. "That's our way in. We hit at night."
Nico nodded. "What about backup?"
Leon's eyes were steel. "No time. We do this alone."
But something gnawed at him — a tension in his chest he hadn't felt since his father's betrayal. Like something worse was coming.
Like this wasn't just about rescuing Ayla — but confronting a man who'd been preparing for this battle long before it ever began.
⸻
Daniel
He stood in the manor's control room, watching footage from the hidden cameras.
He'd seen Ayla hide the phone. Let her think she was clever.
Let Leon come.
Daniel smiled, voice echoing off the stone walls.
"She thinks she's saving herself."
He turned to the man standing silently beside him — a tall, cold-eyed figure Leon hadn't met yet.
"Let her signal again," Daniel said. "We want him angry."
He pressed play on another feed: her room. Her shadow curled on the bed, unaware she was being watched from every corner.
"He won't find her until I want him to."