The night sky above Empire City was ablaze with flashing sirens and the blinding glow of emergency searchlights.
Helicopters roared overhead.
Every major news outlet streamed the same breaking headline:
"Global Crisis: Leon Xu Holds Ella Lin Hostage—Live!"
High atop the Empire Crown Tower, the tallest building in the city—once Leon's empire, now his final battleground—Ella Lin stood at the very edge of the rooftop.
The cold wind whipped through her hair, her crimson dress billowing like a flag of defiance against the night.
And behind her…
Leon Xu.
A gun in his shaking hand.
His eyes were no longer just mad—they were broken, shattered beyond repair, yet filled with the same burning obsession that had haunted her for years.
"One step closer, Ella," his voice cracked through the storm, barely audible over the roar of the helicopters circling above. "Just one more step… and this all ends."
Tears stung her eyes, but she kept her back straight, her hands trembling by her sides.
"Leon… don't do this. Let me go. Let this end here!"
He laughed—a hollow, broken sound.
"End? This doesn't end unless we end it together, Ella. If I can't have you in life… then we'll leave this world—together!"
Down below, the entire world watched in horror.
On every phone. Every television.
Two figures silhouetted against the night sky—standing at the very edge of destruction.
Her twins watched from a secure room nearby, their innocent faces pressed against the glass, tears streaming down their cheeks.
"Mommy!" their cries echoed up through the night, carried by the wind, piercing through Ella's heart like a blade.
Her eyes filled with desperate resolve.
"Leon, listen to me—look at me!"
Slowly, she turned to face him, taking a single dangerous step closer to the edge.
"You want to end this? Fine."
She reached out, her hand trembling, but her voice steady.
"But if we're going to fall… then hold me one last time. Look me in the eyes when you take me with you."
Leon's expression cracked.
His lips parted, a raw, agonized breath escaping him as his gun wavered.
"I… I can't, Ella. I can't do it…"
Tears streamed down his face for the first time in his life.
"I can't kill you. Even now, I still… love you."
His knees gave out as he collapsed onto the cold steel rooftop, the gun falling from his hand, skittering across the edge before vanishing into the abyss below.
Ella fell to her knees beside him, sobbing uncontrollably.
"It's over, Leon… it's finally over…"
But deep in the darkness behind them, hidden from all eyes, a silent countdown reached zero.
A bomb. Planted days before. His final plan, his last promise to take her with him… even if his heart betrayed him in the end.
And just before the blast, Leon whispered against her ear—
"If not in this life, Ella… then in the next."