It was a quiet, tense night. Dimitri took his men on another mission, this time to take out that family who messed with his empire. It was a quick, brutal, bloody attack. But even Dimitri, who'd been through tons of battles, wasn't invincible.

A bullet ate his side, ripping through him. The pain was brutal and never stopped, but he toughed it out, not letting his men see him crack. So, hours later, the car was flying toward the mansion and Dimitri vision was blurring, he was getting weaker.

Ivan looked over from the driver's seat, worried. “Boss, you need a doctor. You’re losing too much blood.”

“No doctors,” Dimitri growled, his voice tight. “Take me home.”

“But—”

“Just do it.”

Ivan sighed, but didn't argue.  He knew better than to push Dimitri when he'd made up his mind.

The mansion was awfully quiet when they got there. Dimitri stumbled out of the car, clutching his side. The bullet wound was worse than he had admitted, blood seeping through his shirt and staining his hands.

Sera had been sitting in the living room, lost in thought, when she heard the motion at the front door. She stood up, her heart skipping a beat when she saw Ivan struggling to support Dimitri.

“What happened?” she asked, rushing over to them.

“Ambush,” Ivan muttered. “He needs help, but he won’t see a doctor.”

Dimitri looked at Sera, all his usual confidence gone because he was hurting. “I’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You’re stubborn,” Sera snapped, moving to help him.

He didn’t resist as she slid under his arm, helping Ivan guide him to the nearest couch. Dimitri collapsed onto it with a groan, his face pale and sweaty.

Sera turned to Ivan. “Get me a first aid kit. Now.”

Ivan nodded and quickly left, leaving the two of them alone.

“Take off your shirt,” Sera ordered, her voice firm.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow, even though it hurt. “If you wanted me undressed, all you had to do was ask.”

She gave him a sharp look. “This is not the time for jokes.”

With a wince, Dimitri unbuttoned his blood-soaked shirt, revealing the angry wound on his side. Sera’s breath caught. She wasn’t nauseous, but seeing him like this vulnerable, human made her more tense than she cared to admit.

Ivan came back with the first-aid kit, put it down and then stepped back to give them some space.

“This is going to hurt,” Sera warned, grabbing a bottle of antiseptic.

Dimitri smirked weakly. “I’ve had worse.”

She ignored his bravado, focusing on cleaning the wound. He flinched as the antiseptic stung but he didn’t make a sound. Sera worked fast, hands strong despite everything.

“You should’ve gone to a hospital,” she muttered, wrapping a bandage around his torso.

“Hospitals ask too many questions,” Dimitri replied. “Questions I don’t have time to answer.”

Sera tied off the bandage, leaning back with a sigh. “You’re impossible.”

“And you’re surprisingly good at this,” he said, his voice softer.

She looked at him, surprised by how sincere he sounded. For a second, they made eye contact and the tension between them changed into something neither could explain.

“Why did you help me?” Dimitri asked after a long pause.

Sera hesitated, her hands twisting in her lap. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not as cold as you.”

He chuckled, though it quickly turned into a wince. “Fair enough.”

She kept looking at him, seeing how his usual confidence was gone because of his injury. It was weird, seeing him like that. So vulnerable. Almost… human.

“Does it ever stop?” she asked quietly.

“What?”

“The fighting, the killing. Do you ever get tired of it?”

Dimitri's face darkened. “You don’t get to the top by being tired. You survive, or you don’t. It’s that simple.”

Sera frowned. “That’s not living, Dimitri. That’s just getting by.”

He didn’t answer, his eyes drifting to the ceiling. Her words really got to him, a thought he wasn't ready to face.

○●○

Over the next few days, Dimitri stayed in the mansion, his injury forcing him to rest. Sera found herself taking care of him, bringing him meals and checking on his wound.

“You don’t have to keep doing this,” he told her one evening as she handed him a glass of water.

“Someone has to,” she replied, her tone sharp. “And it’s not like you’re letting anyone else help.”

Dimitri watched her, a weird feeling in his eyes. He wasn’t used to being cared for, not like this. He ran a world of power and control, where showing weakness got you killed.

But Sera didn't seem to care, though.  She treated him like a stubborn patient, not some mafia boss and it was… weird.

“Why are you really doing this?” he asked one night as she changed his bandage.

She hesitated, her hands pausing. “Because I don’t want to owe you anything. If I didn’t help, you’d probably hold it over me forever.”

Dimitri smirked. “Smart girl.”

As time went on, Dimitri's wound healed and things between him and Sera started to change. They still argued, still clashed, but there was a new understanding between them.

One evening, while they were sitting in the living room, Dimitri sipping whiskey and Sera was lost in thought, he spoke up.

“You asked me if I ever get tired of it,” he said, his voice soft.

Sera glanced at him, surprised he was bringing it up.

“I do,” he admitted. “In my world, if you stop, they bury you. Keep moving, or perish.”

Sera didn’t know what to say. For all his cruelty, Dimitri was still a man a man burdened by the empire he had built.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” she said gently.

Dimitri looked at her, and for a second, he actually believed her.

But he knew better, Trust was a luxury he couldn't afford in his world.

And yet, watching Sera care for him so kindly, even though he didn't deserve it, he couldn’t help but wonder if, just maybe, there was another way.