Asher found her at dawn.
The beach was nearly empty, the sky still bruised with early light. Waves rolled in slow, steady, like they were trying to remind the world how rhythm worked.
Lena sat barefoot in the sand, knees pulled to her chest, phone untouched beside her.
"You disappeared," Asher said.
"I needed to," she replied.
The wind tugged at her hair. She didn't look at him.
"They're tearing themselves apart," he told her. "The Board can't track you. Silence isn't in their models."
She smiled faintly. "Good."
Asher took a step closer. "This ends badly."
"Everything ends badly," Lena said. "That's not a reason to stop."
He watched her for a moment.
Then, quietly, "They want me to finish the job."
Her shoulders stiffened.
"Really finish it," he continued. "Erase you from relevance. Collapse your name."
She finally turned to him.
"And will you?"
Asher didn't answer right away.
The sun broke the horizon, lighting the edges of the waves in gold.
"If I do," he said, "I stay what I am."
"And if you don't?"
"I lose everything."
She searched his face.
"What do you want?" she asked.
His voice was rough. "You."
The word hung between them.
"I will go to Hell for this," he added.
"You're already from there."
"Not like this."
Lena stood slowly. The ocean wind wrapped around them.
"You don't owe me," she said.
"I know."
"You could still walk away."
"I won't."
She took his hand.
The contact was simple. Steady. Real.
Asher inhaled sharply, like it hurt.
"Then welcome to my side," Lena said.
Somewhere far beneath the world, something screamed.
The Board had just lost an agent.
And Lena Park had gained something far more dangerous—
An ally who was willing to fall with her.