His Bounty

prologue: elena

You ever wake up one day and realize your life ain't yours anymore? Like, everything you've been running from, every dumb mistake, every smart one, even—it's all caught up to you? That's the moment I knew I'd messed up. The second my face ended up on a damn bounty poster, with a price on my head higher than most thieves or killers out there.

I didn't kill nobody—well, not anyone who didn't deserve it, anyhow. But that doesn't seem to matter much when you've got powerful men pointing fingers at you, claiming you're something you ain't.

My name's Elena, and right now, I'm worth more in chains than I ever was walking free. Someone decided to paint me as an outlaw, and now, I'm just trying to keep my head attached to my shoulders. I've been running for weeks, dodging bounty hunters, lying low in backwater towns, never staying long enough to catch my breath. I'm good at surviving. Got pretty damn good at slipping out of tight spots, too.

But something's changed.

There's this one man chasing me now—one who doesn't give up. He's not like the rest, and I can feel it in my bones. He's quieter, smarter... more dangerous. I know I should be scared of him. Should be running harder than ever. But somehow, I'm not. Somehow, a part of me... wants to see how far he'll go to catch me.

Maybe it's stupid. Maybe it's childish. But I can't help it. There's something about being someone's bounty.

And if I'm gonna be caught, at least I want it to be him.