Chapter: Chapter 188The silence that followed felt unnatural like even the walls were holding their breath.Ryan didn’t move for a long time. His pulse still echoed in his ears from the moment the screen went black. Adrien stood near the table every muscle drawn tight his eyes scanning the room as if something were still watching them.Finally, Ryan whispered, “We need to sweep the place.”Adrien nodded, already reaching for the drawer where he’d stashed his portable scanner. “Every inch No assumptions this time.”He flicked the device on. A faint hum filled the air as he adjusted the frequency, the screen glowing a soft blue. The sound was sharp, clinical a search for ghosts that weren’t supposed to exist.They started with the living room. Adrien moved like a soldier methodical, precise. Ryan followed close behind, holding a flashlight even though the daylight bled pale through the windows. The beam cut across corners, behind vents, under furniture.Nothing.They moved to the kitchen. The scanner chirp
Last Updated: 2025-10-20
Chapter: Chapter 187For hours, Adrien hadn’t spoken a word. He sat in front of the computer monitors, the light from the screens casting sharp lines across his face. His knuckles were still bruised from last night’s explosion, small cuts scattered across the back of his hands reminders of how close they’d come to being caught in his father’s trap.Ryan lingered near the doorway, a cup of coffee in his hand, watching Adrien’s profile. The safehouse smelled faintly of damp concrete and burnt metal. He could tell Adrien hadn’t slept. He didn’t need to ask the tension in the air said enough.“I ran diagnostics twice,” Ryan said softly, setting the mug on the desk beside him. “No breach on the outer systems No signals coming in or out.”Adrien didn’t move. His eyes stayed fixed on the central monitor.“Adrien,” Ryan tried again, gentler this time. “You should rest.”“I can’t.” His voice was low, hoarse. “He’s still inside.”Ryan frowned. “Inside what?”Adrien’s gaze flicked toward one of the smaller monitors
Last Updated: 2025-10-20
Chapter: Chapter 186The city outside was slick with reflections neon signs bending in puddles, headlights stretching like ghosts across wet asphalt.Inside the safehouse, Adrien’s fingers worked methodically over the keys, tracing digital pathways through layers of encryption. Every few seconds, the screen flashed with new strings of code, numbers, and red error flags.Ryan sat on the couch behind him, his shoulders tense. The silence had teeth.“How long before Hale gets the trace?” he asked quietly.“Thirty minutes,” Adrien said, not looking up. “If Viktor’s using a live relay we’ll catch his real signal the moment it blinks.”“And if he’s not?”“Then he’s smarter than I thought.”Ryan exhaled, rubbing a hand down his face. “You’re gambling with your life on a theory.”Adrien’s lips twitched faintly. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”That answer made Ryan’s stomach knot. There were moments small, unguarded moments when he caught a glimpse of the person Adrien used to be. Before the games, before the mur
Last Updated: 2025-10-19
Chapter: Chapter 185The safehouse was silent, save for the hum of old wiring and the steady tick of rain against the cracked windowpanes. Morning light hadn’t reached this part of the city yet too far from the skyline too lost in the industrial shadows to see anything but gray.Adrien hadn’t moved in hours.He sat before the dusty desk the laptop open code spilling endlessly across the screen. His eyes tracked every line, every fragment as if he could peel Viktor’s presence out of the digital static. The glow of the monitor sharpened the cut of his jaw, the exhaustion hollowing his face.Behind him Ryan stood with crossed arms, fighting the urge to intervene.The room smelled faintly of burnt coffee and wet concrete. They’d locked every window checked every door twice, even reset the router three times. But the message ROUND TWO BEGINS still hung between them like a loaded gun.Ryan finally spoke. “You’ve been at it since we got here.”Adrien’s fingers didn’t stop typing. “And?“And you haven’t said a wo
Last Updated: 2025-10-19
Chapter: Chapter 184Adrien didn’t waste another second the moment he recognized the mark, he moved through the apartment like a storm methodical, silent, unrelenting. Drawers opened Cabinets checked. Windows inspected Every space was touched by his precision.Ryan followed him, heart pounding. “Adrien, slow down“Don’t.” Adrien’s voice was sharp enough to cut air. “If he got in once, he can do it again We need to know how.”Ryan clenched his fists, forcing himself to focus. “The locks weren’t tampered with. I checked them last night.”“Then he used the key.”Ryan froze. “What key?”Adrien straightened slowly, eyes meeting his. “The one I didn’t know existed until now.”For a heartbeat, neither spoke The weight of the implication sank like a blade between them.Ryan’s voice dropped. “You think someone gave it to him?”“I think he’s always had it.” Adrien turned away, checking under the couch, then behind the curtains. “The question is why now?”The apartment was small enough that every sound echoed: the s
Last Updated: 2025-10-18
Chapter: Chapter 183The message glowed faintly on Adrien’s phone, a single line of text that made Ryan’s stomach drop.ROUND TWO BEGINS.No sender No timestamp Just the digital equivalent of a smirk.Ryan stared at it for a few seconds, frozen, his fingers hovering just above the screen. Every instinct screamed to wake Adrien to show him, to demand answers but something stopped him The words from earlier echoed in his head.He already knows Adrien father next move.He already expects it.And maybe that was what scared Ryan most.He set the phone back on the counter careful to leave it exactly where it had been charging. The message faded into darkness as the screen went black again. Outside the city’s glow bled weakly through the blinds, painting long restless shadows across the walls.Adrien’s voice carried faintly from the bedroom. “You’re awake?”Ryan swallowed, steadying his breathing. “Just cleaning up.”“Don’t.” Adrien’s tone was distant heavy with exhaustion that didn’t belong to the body but to
Last Updated: 2025-10-18
His Name Was Never Mine
He stole my name. Then he tried to steal my life. But he’ll never steal my heart will he?”
When August Hale, a quiet literature student with a past he tries to forget, transfers to a prestigious university under a scholarship, all he wants is to stay invisible, graduate, and move on. But his plan falls apart the moment he discovers another student on campus using his exact full name.
Same name. Same birthday. Same hometown.
But this August Hale is wealthy, charming, and cruel and he already knows too much.
At first, August thinks it’s a prank. A coincidence.
Until he starts losing things
His place in classes
His reputation
His identity
The fake August Hale, whose real name is Sebastian Wolfe, is playing a dangerous game. And when he sets his sights on the real August, obsession begins to blur the line between identity theft and romantic fixation.
August wants answers.
Sebastian wants August.
But as August begins to dig into Sebastian’s past, he unearths something much darker than he expected a twisted reason why Sebastian chose him and why he can’t let him go.
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Chapter: Chapter 66: Echoes in the dark August sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the faint glow of his phone screen. It was late past midnight but sleep hadn’t come easy in days. The message notification at the top of the screen blinked like a warning light, one he’d tried to ignore but couldn’t.Ash: We need to talk. Please, August. Don’t let him twist you. I know who Sebastian really is.August exhaled shakily and set the phone face down on the duvet. His pulse was unsteady, his chest tight. For days, Ash had lingered at the edges of his life like a shadow that refused to disperse. He said he was trying to save him, that Sebastian was dangerous, manipulative but Sebastian had already explained everything. He’d looked August in the eye and promised that Ash was lying. That Ash wanted to destroy what they had.And August had chosen to believe him.Still, the weight of Ash’s words clung to him like smoke.“Still awake?” Sebastian’s voice broke the silence. He was leaning against the doorway, his shirt half buttoned, ha
Last Updated: 2025-08-20
Chapter: Chapter 65: Tighter Chains Tighter ChainsThe morning crept in slow and heavy, light cutting across the curtains in fractured lines. August stirred in the bed, blinking against the pale glow, his hand still wound tight from the jerking of phone from his hand of last night. The heated argument the look in Sebastian’s eyes it all replayed in jagged fragments.For a moment, the bed beside him felt cold, empty. Panic flickered through his chest until he caught the sound of footsteps returning. The door eased open, and Sebastian stood there, hair disheveled, shirt halfway buttoned, a coffee cup in one hand.He didn’t look like the sharp, untouchable man who could command a room. He looked… tired. Human.“Morning,” Sebastian said quietly, setting the cup down on the nightstand. His voice carried none of the sharp edges from before, only a tentative weight.August sat up, pulling the blanket tighter around him. “You’re back early.Sebastian nodded, slipping onto the edge of the bed. For a long moment, he just stared
Last Updated: 2025-08-19
Chapter: Chapter 64: Fractures at Midnight The night was heavy, thick with shadows that seemed to cling to the walls of the apartment. Sebastian had been gone for hours, drowning in work and responsibilities that felt endless, but beneath it all, something more corrosive simmered in his chest: Ash. Every time August’s phone buzzed, every time his eyes drifted with that absent look, Sebastian felt the ghost of Ash between them like a wedge prying them apart.It was well past midnight when Sebastian finally unlocked the door and stepped inside. The apartment was quiet, dimly lit only by the glow of a lamp in the living room. His body ached, his shirt clung to him with the scent of cigarettes and sweat from stress. All he wanted was to collapse into bed beside August, maybe hold him close, if August even wanted him there tonight.He pushed the door closed softly, careful not to wake him. But as he walked down the hall, he froze.From August’s room came the faint sound of a voice hushed, trembling, but unmistakably his. The tone w
Last Updated: 2025-08-17
Chapter: Chapter 63: Pretend it’s didn’t happen Morning came slowly, like the light itself was reluctant to enter the house. The rain had stopped sometime in the night, but the sky remained heavy and grey, the kind that made every sound echo sharper, more noticeable.August stirred in bed, the sheets cool against his skin. He reached out instinctively to the other side, but the space was empty. Cold. His chest tightened before he even opened his eyes.Sebastian hadn’t come to bed.He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck as fragments of last night replayed in his head the car ride, the silence, the argument that had unraveled them both. The words he had thrown, the look on Sebastian’s face when he said them. It all sat like a weight in his chest.Dragging himself out of bed, August padded barefoot down the hall. The house was quiet, too quiet. He found Sebastian in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, a cup of black coffee in his hand. He looked like he hadn’t slept, dark shadows beneath his eyes, his hair a little disheveled.
Last Updated: 2025-08-16
Chapter: Chapter 62The world outside blurred by in muted streaks of grey as the car sped down the nearly empty road. Rain tapped softly against the windshield, a steady rhythm that should’ve been calming, but instead felt like a ticking clock counting down to something neither of them wanted to face.August sat pressed against the passenger door, his arms folded tightly across his chest. His heartbeat hadn’t yet returned to normal after the chaos back at the café the fists, the shouting, Sebastian’s sudden appearance, and Ash’s glare burning through him.He swallowed, his voice quieter than he intended. “What were you doing there, Sebastian?Sebastian didn’t look away from the road. His jaw was locked, the sharp line of it tightening with every passing second. “I could ask you the same thing,he said, his tone clipped.“I told you,” August muttered, trying to keep the defensiveness from his voice. “I was just meeting a friend.Sebastian’s grip on the steering wheel flexed, leather creaking under his fin
Last Updated: 2025-08-12
Chapter: Chapter 61The message came mid morning, while August was halfway through his second cup of coffee and scrolling idly through his inbox.We should talk. Just you and me. No Sebastian.The name wasn’t saved, but August didn’t need it to be. He’d seen that precise, almost theatrical phrasing before. Ash.His first instinct was to ignore it he’d heard enough from Sebastian to know that Ash’s version of “talk” usually meant “dig under your skin.” But there was a second part to the text that made him pause.If you want to know what he’s keeping from you, meet me at Westbury Café at 3.August sat back, staring at the screen. It was bait. Obviously bait. But curiosity, that stubborn little itch, settled somewhere in his chest. He told himself he wouldn’t go. And yet by the time the clock pushed past two, he was already pulling on his jacket.The café was quiet for a weekday, just the occasional hiss of the espresso machine and the muted chatter of two people by the window. Ash sat in the far corner, dr
Last Updated: 2025-08-12
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