The chaos around the estate became a blur of smoke, fire, and steel, but Bella's focus narrowed. Crystal and Christian were close too close to ignore. The proximity sparked something electric beneath the roar of gunfire, a heat that wasn't from the flames.
Crystal vaulted over a barricade, and his hand brushed hers. Fleeting, almost accidental but Bella felt it like a jolt of lightning. Her pulse throbbed faster, but she didn't flinch. She squeezed the trigger on a mercenary hiding behind twisted metal, her eyes fierce, lips curving with the thrill of control.
Christian's presence was different. Steady, grounding, and just as dangerous. He shouted orders, voice deep and commanding, and when he moved past her, she caught the faint scent of his cologne, sharp, intoxicating, lingering under the acrid smoke. His fingers brushed her shoulder, just long enough to make her skin tingle. Her breath hitched not from fear, but from awareness.
A scream rang out as Crystal kicked a man into a burning car. Bella's eyes met his for a split second. He grinned, dark and dangerous. "Not bad for a lady," he teased, though his eyes were all seriousness and unspoken warning.
"I'm not just a lady," Bella growled, her voice low and sharp. "I'm the storm."
Christian stepped closer, guiding her behind cover, their bodies brushing. The contact was deliberate this time, a closeness that made her pulse stutter. "You don't have to face this alone," he murmured, voice rough, close enough that she felt his heat searing through her.
Bella didn't answer, only smiled, small and sharp, leaning into the danger, into them, into the chaos. The adrenaline made everything sharper the fire, the sounds, the magnetic pull of the two men flanking her.
Crystal growled, hand lingering near hers in a possessive, protective way. "Stay with me," he muttered, almost more to himself than to her.
Bella's lips curved in a wicked, almost predatory smile. "I'm always with the fire," she said, then fired, taking down another mercenary.
The three of them Bella, Crystal, and Christian moved as one, a deadly triad. Bullets flew, men fell, and the estate became a battlefield shaped around them. Yet amid the violence, the unspoken tension thrummed a dangerous, intoxicating promise neither battle nor fire could erase.
Bella allowed herself a flicker of awareness, meeting both their eyes. Crystal's were molten with desire and unrestrained rage. Christian's were a storm of control, intensity, and restraint. The pull of both made her pulse race. She didn't have to choose not yet but the tension made her ache.
Smoke clawed at the morning sky. The estate lay in ruin, yet Bella darted from cover to cover, firing, moving, calculating. Every shot was a declaration: she wasn't afraid. She was the storm itself.
Crystal growled beside her as a man lunged from the side. Bella grabbed his wrist mid-swing, twisting, sending him sprawling into the rubble. Their hands lingered, dark eyes locking a spark of heat that neither fire nor battle could quell.
"Careful," Crystal muttered, voice low, raw with need and warning.
"I don't need careful," she shot back, lips curling. "I need chaos."
Christian intercepted a mercenary barreling toward the north gate, dragging him down with brutal efficiency. He turned toward Bella, eyes sharp, commanding. "You're reckless. One—"
"—and I survive," Bella finished, cutting him off with a fiery grin. Her heartbeat surged not from fear, but from the intoxicating mixture of danger, adrenaline, and proximity.
The convoy faltered under the assault, but Bella didn't relent. She sprinted across the lawn, gun in hand, leapt onto the hood of a burning SUV, shouting and moving like a force of nature. Crystal and Christian flanked her, instincts synced, every movement precise.
She vaulted from the SUV toward the advancing mercenary leader, spinning midair, rifle raised. The man barely reacted before she shot him squarely in the chest. He went down with a scream that echoed across the estate.
Landing lightly, Bella faced Crystal and Christian, feral grin on her lips. "Did you see that?" she gasped. "I'm not just standing beside you. I'm leading."
Crystal's hand brushed hers again, lingering, chest pressing slightly against hers as he steadied her. The touch was electric, a heat they both felt but didn't name. "Damn right you are," he said, voice low and primal.
Christian stepped closer behind her, taut muscles brushing her back as he scanned the chaos. "You're impossible," he growled, half exasperation, half awe.
"I know," she said. "And I don't intend to change."
Flames licked the estate gates, gunfire rattled the morning. Bella stood at the apex of it all, fierce, untouchable, unstoppable. Her eyes flicked to the two men flanking her—the storm between them almost tangible.
Christian leaned close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath. "One mistake," he murmured, voice low, dangerous. "It could cost you… or me."
Crystal's fingers tightened on hers, a spark igniting between them. "Damn it," he muttered, frustration and desire warring in his voice.
Bella exhaled slowly, letting the tension coil like a living thing. She didn't choose yet, but she wasn't hiding. In the heart of battle, she could have either or both without compromise.
"Focus," she finally said, letting her tone cut through the heat. "The battle may be over… but the war isn't. And neither am I."
Crystal's jaw clenched. Christian's eyes flared. Bella smiled, queen of the ruin, untamed, desired, and untouchable.
In the quiet before the next storm, she knew one truth: she didn't just survive fire. She commanded it.
And the war and desire was only beginning.