Can’t Win Me Back

The hospital corridor was eerily silent in the dead of the night.

The lone nurse on duty drowsed at the nurses' station, oblivious to the flashing red light from the malfunctioning surveillance camera down the hall.

A figure clad in a white doctor's robe and mask darted past the station, his movements purposeful.

He carefully scanned his surroundings before pushing open the door to Natalie's ward and slipping inside.

The patient lay curled up in bed, seemingly fast asleep.

The intruder crept closer, a glint of steel catching the dim light as he drew a dagger from his sleeve.

He raised the weapon high and stabbed the person on the bed.

All of a sudden, his vision went dark.

Unexpectedly, the person on the bed leaped up and threw the blanket over his head! Panic surged through the assassin.

He flailed wildly with the dagger, ripping the blanket free.

But before he could react further, the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against his forehead froze him in place.

"Don't move.

Not unless you want your head to be blown off." Under the dim light, Axel's eyes glinted with a dangerous glint.

A cynical smile played on his lips, sending shivers down the assassin's spine.

The ward door burst open, revealing Sean and Xavier leading a team of men who quickly surrounded the intruder.

"Are you alright, Mr.

Axel?" Sean inquired, his voice laced with concern.

Axel clicked his tongue.

"I didn't even attack him.

All it took was a blanket to take this fool down." With a practiced ease, Axel disarmed the assassin.

He sneered.

"Sir, you can barely fight, yet you're trying to be an assassin? Try harder next time.” The assassin's face was drained of color.

His knees buckled, and he crumpled to the floor in a heap.

growled, nudging the man's head with

his name, and you'll face attempted murder

prison, you can

can't guarantee that you'll be able to walk out of this ward with all your

over the phone! I've never met him in person!" the man stammered, sweat drenching

"But...

and our message history! He wired a million to my account two days ago and promised another after the job! We even spoke just 30 minutes ago!" Burning with fury, Xavier went up

assassin for his

to Axel after

him to the

this phone." Sean nodded firmly

"Thank you, Mr.

was escorted away, the silence returning to the ward as if the

unease lingered in Axel's gut as an oppressive premonition weighed heavily on

then, his phone vibrated, making his heart skip a

pupils constricting as he

was a text

words were a gut punch, sharp

much that his vision blurred, and he nearly lost

She wrote, "Goodbye, Axel.

I'm leaving Solana City.

to

out where I am, I won't see you." A wrenching pain

as he typed and retyped a frantic

Tell

there was no

He wasn't satisfied.

unshed tears, Axel

was as if he had gone

"Who do you think I am? Can you avoid seeing me just because you don't want to? Do you think you

you love

almost immediately, its words acold and

"I don't think

ray of light that happened to appear in my world

me what the light looked

a feeling that I've never had

will never disappear, but

don't feel anything for

all that I'm able

me, don't approach me