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Vice turned slowly, breath heaving. Blood dripped from his fingers. His eyes—wild, and piercing blue, and unrepentant—found Ivy’s.

Their gazes locked, and for a moment, everything else faded away. With a primal roar that echoed through the stone corridors, Vice stalked towards them.

“You guys are fucked,” Ivy said as she laughed as a smug smile crossed her face.

The other rebels, momentarily stunned by his ferocity, retreated before him, their bravado faltering, their eyes wide with fear. His gaze swept over the remaining rebels, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "Where is you're leader?"

“Right here!” A familiar voice said. "Let her go," James bellowed. Ivy stared at him, she battled with a growing unease, as she saw him striding towards them, his eyes ablaze with a fierce blaze she had never seen before, a blaze that mirrored the burning intensity in Vice’s own. The torches flickered madly, casting long, dancing shadows as he got closer. The air crackled with an unspoken challenge.

Chapter 25:

The rebels looked confused for a split second, their faces a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. James, his jaw tight with fury, raised his gun and pointed it at the men. "I said let her go," he repeated, his voice a low, dangerous growl that resonated with barely suppressed violence.

The men quickly released their hold on Ivy, who stumbled forward. She ran towards Vice, his silhouette a reassuring beacon in the chaos. He wrapped his arms around her, a protective embrace that momentarily shut out the danger. He released his hold on her just enough to cup her face, his thumbs gently tracing the line of her cheekbones, he murmured, “Are you okay?” His voice was thick with concern.

“I’m okay,” she reassured him, her voice trembling slightly, she placed her hands on his chest. She felt the rapid beating of his heart beneath her palms, a sign of his own fear and relief. The brief contact seemed to ground her, pulling her back from the edge of panic.

James’s eyes narrowed, his gaze hard and sharp as he watched the two of them. Jealousy twisted his features, hardening the lines around his mouth. His grip on his gun tightened, the knuckles of his hand turning white against the black metal, and his jaw clenched so hard a muscle jumped in his cheek. "You were quick to open you're legs, weren't you, Ivy?" he spat, a cruel smirk twisting his lips. "You were nothing but trash, desperately throwing yourself at the enemy like that. It’s shameful how low you’ve sank, it’s clear you never had any worth to begin with. You’ve proven time and again that you aren’t worth a fuck, you're so pathetic.”

Vice’s hand instinctively tightened around Ivy’s waist, pulling her closer. "Watch you're mouth James, or I’ll carve you're tongue out and make you swallow it.” he warned, his voice low and firm, a rumble that promised retribution.

James, fueled by rage and jealousy, stepped forward, closing the distance between them. His eyes burned with a dangerous light. "Or what?" he spat, his face contorted in a mask of fury. "You’ll hurt me? He pointed the gun directly at Vice, the barrel unwavering, a black hole promising oblivion. The gesture was deliberate, a challenge.

Ivy’s heart raced franticly. She stepped in front of Vice; her eyes narrowed. "No, James, don’t," she said, her voice laced with desperation. Vice’s arms tightened around her, trying to pull her back, to shield her, but she pulled away from him.

“What’s going on here?” she asked, her voice firm, trying to project an authority she didn’t feel. "What are you doing here? She looked at James her gaze sharp and questioning, demanding answers.

Vice’s grip on her tightened further, a silent warning. "Your daughter's father is the head of the rebellion, Ivy," he murmured in her ear, his voice a dark truth. "He never had cancer. He used you to get to me." The words were delivered with a dispassionate certainty that made them more devastating.

"He orchestrated this whole thing. Including the doctor and nurses at the hospital that told you he had cancer. The nurse Chantel that suggested you come to me. They are all part of the rebellion," Vice said, his voice as cold as the steel barrel of the gun that James had pointed at Vice. His words hit her like a series of sharp slaps, each one leaving a stinging imprint of betrayal. The sweet nurse who had held her hand and promisedhope and who had offered comfort in the quiet hours of the night - all of it a twisted web of deceit.

Her eyes widened in shock, disbelief washing over her face. "What?" she whispered, her breath catching in her throat, her voice barely audible. "No,” she whispered. The betrayal cut deep, shattering her perception of reality.

James’s sneer grew wider, a cruel twist of his lips that revealed the darkness within him. "You're so naive, Ivy," he spat, his voice dripping with condescension. "I had to do what I had to do to bring the monster to his knees. And now, here you are, in his arms, betraying everything we stand for." The words were like a slap in the face.

Her eyes flashed with anger and hurt, the pain of his deception burning bright. "What we stand for?" she repeated, her voice rising with each word, her control beginning to fray. "You manipulated me! You lied to me! You used my love, my compassion, against me!" The accusation hung in the air, heavy with the weight of her shattered trust.

“And you knew about this?” her gaze went to Vice. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.

Vice’s hands balled into fists, his jaw clenched in frustration. "Yes, I knew," he said, his voice tightened, betraying a hint of the internal conflict raging within him. "But not everything is as it seems, Ivy. You need to understand that. There's a much bigger game at play here, and you're caught in the middle."

Ivy felt like the world was spinning around her, the ground was giving out beneath her feet. The man she had once loved, the man she had thought she could trust with her life,had used her in the most deployable way possible. Now she was here, with the very person he was trying to take down, feeling more for him than she had ever allowed herself to feel for James. The irony was a cruel twist of fate, a bitter pill she struggled to swallow. "I trusted you," she whispered, her voice shaking, the words raw and vulnerable.

Vice reached for her. She pulled away from him. "Don't touch me!" she screamed. He stepped back, his expression a complex mix of surprise and pain, the first crack in his carefully constructed facade. “You knew all along?" she said, tears welling in her eyes, blurring her vision. The realization of his own betrayal was a fresh wave of agony, compounding the hurt of James's deception.

Vice nodded slowly, his gaze unwavering, locking with hers. "But it’s more complicated than you realize," he said, reaching for her again, his hand outstretched in a silent plea for understanding.

James took a step closer, his gun still aimed at Vice, his finger twitching on the trigger. "You, see? He's been playing you from the start," he said, his voice full of spite, relishing her pain. "He doesn't care about you or Alice. He's just using you to get what he wants.” James spat at Ivy.

Ivy's head snapped up to look at James dead in the face. “James you're painting Vice as the ultimate villain, that manipulated my emotions to further his own agenda, but you're no better.” Ivy said as she gestured to him, a look of pure disbelief on her face.

Ivy's mind raced, a chaotic storm of conflicting thoughts and emotions as she looked back and stared into Vice's cold, hard eyes, searching for a flicker of truth. The realization of hisbetrayal hit her like a sledgehammer, shattering the fragile hope she had been clinging to. She had been so desperate to save James, so blinded by her love for him, that she had ignored the signs, the whispers of doubt that had plagued her since she first made her deal with him. And now, here she was, caught between two men who had lied to her, manipulated her, and used her as pawns in their twisted game.

Her hand shot out, propelled by a surge of anger and betrayal, slapping Vice across the face. The sound echoed through the room, a sharp, satisfying crack that seemed to split the tension in two. "How could you?" she screamed, her voice raw with pain and anger, tears streaming down

her face. "How could you lie to me like that? How could you be so cruel?"

Vice's cheek burned where her hand had made contact, a red mark blossoming on his skin, but his eyes remained unreadable, the mask of the villain firmly in place, concealing the emotions churning beneath the surface. "To keep you safe," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "To keep you away from the truth. The truth is far more dangerous than any lie."