The air was thick, sticky with sweat, smoke, and memory.
Lilly stood at the edge of the crumbling rooftop; Havana's skyline painted in neon sins and moonlight regret. Her hair was matted with blood—some hers, some not. Her shoulder screamed from where Sam had restitched it just hours ago, but the real wound sat deeper, nestled in bone, soul deep.
Sam lingered behind her, silent. Watching, always watching, the only calm in a storm Lilly had long stopped trying to survive.
"You said Havana was just another mission," Sam said softly. "You lied."
Lilly didn't move. Didn't blink. Just stared out into the city that still sang Ava's name like a curse.
"It was supposed to be clean," she whispered. "Quick extraction. No witnesses."
Her voice cracked like a cigarette burned too close to the filter.
"But then she changed the order. Mid-op. Told me to kill him."
Sam stepped closer. "Who?"
Lilly turned, eyes shadowed. Haunted.
"A boy. Maybe twenty. Skinny. Terrified. He wasn't even armed. He ran from us—ran from Ava. She looked me dead in the eye and said: Take the shot or I will. So, I did."
Her jaw tightened. "I didn't even ask his name."
The silence was suffocating. Sam's breath hitched. "And after?"
"Ava kissed me," Lilly said, hollow. "Like it was nothing. Like murder was foreplay."
Sam froze.
"Her lips tasted like gunpowder and lies," Lilly continued. "And I let her. I let her because I didn't want to be alone with what I'd just done."
Tears welled—but didn't fall. Not yet.
"I became the monster she wanted me to be."
Sam took a step forward. "You're not that person anymore."
"I might be worse now," Lilly said, laughing bitterly. "Back then I had an excuse. Now I have nothing but blood on my hands and fire in my chest."
Sam cupped her face, gently. "You have me."
Finally, Lilly's armor cracked. Just a fracture—but enough.
And then—
BOOM.
The floor shook. Alarms screamed. Dust rained from the ceiling like dead stars falling.
Lilly spun. "That was—"
"Too close," Sam said, grabbing her arm. "Come on!"
They ran—racing through the hallways of the final safe house just as the ceiling gave way behind them. Smoke swallowed the world.
They had the breaker panel. That much was safe.
But Ava?
Gone.
Again.
And in the smog, in the flames—she stepped through.
The Woman in White.
Her heels didn't make a sound.
Her smile was venom wrapped in velvet.
"I see you've remembered Havana," she said coolly.
Lilly froze, heart spiking. Sam raised her gun—but the woman didn't flinch.
"You left quite the mess down there, cariño," she purred. "And now? It's come home to finish the story."
Sam stepped in front of Lilly. "Who the hell are you?"
The woman smiled wider. "Someone who knows what Lilly really is."
She pointed at Lilly with a blood-red nail.
"And darling... you owe me."