Crave Me,Kill Me
Aria Quinn has spent years hiding from a truth that nearly destroyed her one night, one death, one secret. Now, with a new name and a second chance, she’s clawed her way into New York City’s elite creative scene. Her latest project? Rebranding the crown jewel of Vale Corp, a global empire ruled by wealth, ruthlessness, and the one man she never saw coming.
Cassian Vale is a billionaire heir with ice in his veins and a legacy he never asked for. Groomed to protect the family name at all costs, Cassian has buried every emotion, every weakness until Aria storms into his world and ignites a fire he’s no longer able to contain.
As they fall into a relationship fueled by lust, obsession, and need, Aria and Cassian begin unraveling each other’s secrets. But their connection is more than forbidden it’s dangerous. Because the more Cassian investigates his family’s past, the more he realizes Aria was never a coincidence. She’s the key to everything. And someone will do anything to silence her… even if it means killing them both.
In a city of shadows, seduction, and power, love isn’t safe. It’s a war.
And only one of them might survive it.
Baca
Chapter: Chapter Sixteen: No More Silence Between UsThey got out before sunrise.Through the eastern wing. Underground access tunnel. A half-buried freight hatch that hadn’t been used in a decade Nova’s escape route of choice. Aria carried her for the last hundred yards.No words passed between them until they were in the stolen van, parked deep in the woods.Nova slumped in the passenger seat.Aria drove like she didn’t know how to stop.Three miles out, she finally spoke.“We can’t go back.”Nova’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Not yet.”Aria gripped the wheel harder.She wanted to turn around.To go back for Elias.To drag Elena into the hallway and finish it with her bare hands.But strategy mattered now.Emotion cost lives.She’d learned that from Cassian.And now?She was about to turn his lesson back on him.She pulled into a wireless dead zone.Killed the van.Opened her laptop.Nova watched her.“You’re really doing this?”Aria nodded.Then copied the purge file.Attached a photo of Elias from the live feed.And beneath
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Chapter: Chapter Fifteen: The Facility That Wasn’t on the MapThe signal led her three hours north.No signs. No fences. Just a crumbling medical center deep in the forest, its exterior half-eaten by ivy and time. The kind of place where people disappeared long before they were missed.Aria parked a quarter mile out.Moved in silence.The tracker was pulsing louder now synced to Nova’s pendant. A final failsafe. If it pinged inside this building, it meant Nova had been brought here alive.The door was unlocked.The halls? Silent.Everything inside was still powered faint lights, a humming backup generator in the subbasement.She slipped through the corridors like memory.And then… she found it.Room 6B.Door slightly ajar.On the floor: scuff marks. Burned wires. A shattered comm link Nova’s.She was close.Aria stepped in. And froze.There were screens on one wall.Live feeds.Some empty.One showing a cell Nova, hands bound, still breathing, slouched but upright.She was alive.But it wasn’t the only feed.Another screen showed a room
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Chapter: Chapter Fourteen: No More Soft LandingsThe file went out at 3:03 a.m.No name. No trace. No metadata.Just an encrypted payload, delivered to the inbox of the only board member who’d ever tried and failed to investigate Charles Vale’s off-books funding operations.Aria knew what would happen.The man would open it.See the request.See the name C. Vale tied to the suppression of a living witness.He would hesitate.And then?He would move.Not because he cared.But because Cassian Vale was the only person keeping this empire on its feet.And the moment they realized he’d lied?He’d fall with it.Aria didn’t feel triumphant.She didn’t even feel clean.She felt focused.And that was worse.Nova glanced over from the couch, blanket around her shoulders, eyes sharp even in half-light.“You just declared war.”Aria nodded.Nova sipped her coffee. “Took you long enough.”Aria sat beside her.“It’s not over.”“I know,” Nova said. “Which is why you need to be ready when they stop trying to erase you…”She paused.“And start t
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Chapter: Chapter Thirteen: Ghost ProtocolThe safehouse was cold. Not broken, just unfinished.No art on the walls. No plants. No mirrors.Nova sat on the floor in sweats, wires spilling from her laptop like veins. Coffee in one hand, tablet in the other, dark hair tied into a no-nonsense knot.She looked up the second Aria walked in.“Cassian?” Nova asked.Aria shook her head.Nova exhaled. “Good.”Aria dropped her bag. “Why?”“Because if you came here for comfort, I don’t do that anymore. But if you came for fire ”“I did.”Nova nodded once. “Then close the door. You’re gonna want both hands for this.”Aria sat beside her on the concrete, the sting of betrayal still clinging to her bones. Not just Cassian’s silence. Her own weakness.“I want to go at them directly,” she said.“Too early,” Nova replied, already swiping through code. “We need access. Leverage. Data trails.”“You have something?”Nova tapped her tablet and flipped it toward her.A map of LLCs, off-shore holdings, and laundering networks all tied to a single
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Chapter: Chapter Twelve: Her Name, in BloodThe moment she stepped off the elevator, she knew something was wrong.The lights on the 42nd floor were brighter than usual clinical. Cold. Two security guards flanked the hall. Not Vale Corp’s usual private muscle. These were federal-grade.And everyone was silent.No chatter.No eye contact.She walked to her desk slowly. Eyes sharp. Every step calculated.Then she saw it.A red flag on her terminal.ACCESS DENIED: ID FLAGGED FOR REVIEWCLEARANCE REVOKED PROBATIONARY HOLDHer heart didn’t spike.Her face didn’t shift.But inside?She felt it.Someone had leaked her real name.And the system had picked it up like blood in the water.She turned.Elena Marsh stood at the end of the corridor, pristine as ever. Red lips. Black suit. A single manila folder in her hand.She walked over, heels a metronome of quiet power.“Ms. Quinn,” Elena said, voice like smoke, “Mr. Vale is requesting you on executive level three. Alone.”Aria didn’t flinch. “What’s this about?”Elena smiled. “Your p
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Chapter: Chapter Eleven: The Man Who Watched Her BurnThe meeting place wasn’t a building.It was a grave.Buried in the West Bronx beneath a condemned warehouse, a half-demolished subway platform still accessible through a maintenance tunnel.Nova had tracked the number one of a dozen rotating dead drops used by disbanded intelligence contractors. Whoever this man was, he didn’t just survive the system.He used to run in it.Aria stepped out of the darkness, boots scraping old stone, flashlight in one hand, blade tucked into her coat.The man waited near a rusted column.Late 40s, maybe 50. Pale. Trim. Eyes like static. No weapon drawn, but his whole body read like one.“You came,” he said.“You called me Eden.”“I saw you die,” he replied. “Or thought I did.”She didn’t ask how he knew.Only one kind of man spoke with that kind of certainty.“You were there that night?” she asked.“I was backup. Hired to run cleanup if it got messy.”“And it did.”He nodded. “They underestimated the target.”Aria stiffened. “The man who died…?”“Wasn
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-06
Masuk
