Chapter: Chapter 38: Where the Lights Never Turn OffI don’t tell Jace.The decision settles in my chest the moment I read the message, heavy and cold, like a stone dropped into deep water. I know I should tell him. I know every instinct I have is screaming that this is a trap.But Noah didn’t stop when things got dangerous.And neither can I.The rest of the day passes in a blur. Teachers talk. Students laugh. Someone bumps into me in the hallway and apologizes, completely unaware that my mind is somewhere else entirely. Every sound feels too loud. Every shadow feels like it’s leaning in closer.By the time the final bell rings, my nerves are stretched thin.I wait.I let the campus empty. I let the sun sink lower, painting the buildings in warm gold that feels wrong, almost mocking. I text Jace something vague about being exhausted and turning in early.The lie tastes bitter.When I finally leave the dorm, it’s nearly dark. I pull my
Last Updated: 2025-12-25
Chapter: Chapter 37: What He Did NextJace doesn’t answer right away.That silence is worse than any confession.The morning air feels suddenly heavier, like it’s pressing down on my shoulders. My phone is still clutched in my hand, the screen dark now, but the words from that unknown number keep echoing in my head.Ask him what he did with the tape after Noah vanished.“Jace,” I say quietly. “You’re scaring me.”He closes his eyes for a moment, like he’s bracing himself against something painful. When he opens them again, the boy who usually hides behind confidence and sharp edges looks stripped bare.“I didn’t destroy it,” he says immediately. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”Relief flickers through me, fragile and shaky. “Then where is it?”He exhales slowly. “After Noah disappeared, everything changed. My dad locked the station down. Files vanished. People stopped talking. Anyone who had been even remotely involved was suddenly transferred or silenced.”I swallow. “Including you?”He nods once. “Especially me.”I can
Last Updated: 2025-12-24
Chapter: Chapter 36: The Truth Doesn’t WhisperI don’t sleep.I lie on my bed staring at the ceiling while the dark slowly turns gray, replaying the video over and over in my head. Noah’s face. Jace stepping between him and his father. The way the footage cut out right when everything mattered.By the time my alarm buzzes, my head is pounding and my chest feels tight, like I’ve been holding my breath all night.I get dressed quietly. Hoodie. Jeans. Hair tied back. I don’t bother trying to look like Eva Sinclair this morning. I don’t have the energy for pretending.My phone buzzes once.Jace: I’m already there.No emoji. No sarcasm. Just words that feel heavy.I slip out of the dorm before anyone else is awake. The campus is quiet in that eerie early-morning way, when everything looks softer but feels more dangerous. Fog hangs low near the football field. The buildings loom like they’re listening.We agreed to meet near the old chess tables by the courtyard. Noah taught me how to play there once, years ago, when I used to come watc
Last Updated: 2025-12-24
Chapter: Chapter 35: No Safe CornersWe don’t stop running until the cold air burns my lungs and my legs start to shake.Jace finally pulls me behind the science building, into a narrow space between brick walls where the lights don’t quite reach. We bend forward, hands on our knees, trying to breathe quietly like we didn’t just sprint from security guards and ghosts with secrets.“Okay,” I whisper once my heart slows a little. “That was… not part of the plan.”Jace lets out a sharp laugh, the kind that sounds like it hurts. “Pretty sure the plan died back in the old wing.”I straighten, hugging my arms around myself. My phone is still warm in my palm. That message feels like it’s burning through my skin.They’re closer than we think.And they’re scared.“Caleb wasn’t lying,” I say. “About Noah.”Jace nods slowly. “I know.”“You don’t even hesitate,” I murmur.He looks at me, really looks at me, and something serious settles in his eyes. “Because a lot of what he said lines up with things I wasn’t supposed to know.”My s
Last Updated: 2025-12-24
Chapter: Chapter 34: Footsteps in the DarkThe figure disappears around the corner, shoes slapping against concrete.“Hey!” Jace shouts.We don’t think. We move.I run after him, heart hammering so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs. The side of the administration building blurs past me, lights streaking, shadows stretching long and crooked. Whoever it is runs fast. Too fast for someone who just stumbled into trouble by accident.They knew where to go.“Don’t lose them,” Jace says, breath sharp beside me.“I won’t,” I answer, even though my lungs are already burning.The path narrows between buildings, dimmer here, quieter. My shoes skid slightly on fallen leaves. I almost slip, but Jace grabs my arm and pulls me upright without slowing down.“Thanks,” I gasp.“Focus,” he says. “They’re heading toward the old wing.”My stomach tightens. The old wing is barely used anymore. A relic from Blackridge’s past. Half the lights don’t work, and security cameras are rumored to be “under maintenance” for months. Convenient.Too co
Last Updated: 2025-12-24
Chapter: Chapter 33: The Unseen PlayerHere ream slices through the maze like a knife, freezing my blood in an instant.“Ava!”My name—my real one—echoes across the campus.Jace and I stare at each other for half a second. That’s all it takes.Then we run.Branches whip against my arms as we tear through the hedge maze, slipping out the other side and sprinting across the quad. Students stop and stare, murmuring, confused and alarmed, but I don’t slow down. I don’t breathe. I don’t think.My legs move on instinct—toward danger, not away.“Ava, slow down—” Jace grabs my wrist.“No!” I yank free. “Someone called my name. They know me. They know who I am.”“Ava, we don’t know what we’re walking into—”“That’s exactly why I’m not stopping.”He curses, but runs beside me anyway.The closer we get to the administration building, the louder the noise becomes—not another scream, but frantic voices, footsteps, the sharp sound of someone crying. A crowd has already gathered at the steps.And then I see her.Mira. The friendly outsid
Last Updated: 2025-11-17
Chapter: Chapter 9 – The Missing HeartMy hands wouldn’t stop shaking.No matter how many times I told myself to breathe, to think, to stay calm, they just wouldn’t stop.The message on my phone glowed like fire.He’s with me.Those three words didn’t just cut through me—they killed something inside me.Luca was already calling out orders, his voice steady but sharp. Sofia stormed into the room with two guns slung at her sides, and even through the chaos, the world around me blurred.I couldn’t hear. Couldn’t think.All I saw was my son’s face.Alessio’s laughter from this morning.His little hands clinging to my fingers.His sleepy voice asking, “Mama, can I have pancakes again?”And now he was gone.“Amara!” Luca’s voice snapped me back, loud, commanding. “Look at me.”I blinked, realizing I was still holding my phone like it might turn back time.“He has him,” I whispered. “He has my son.”Luca took the phone gently from my hand, reading the message. His jaw tightened, his gray-green eyes darkening. “No name. No number
Last Updated: 2025-10-29
Chapter: Chapter 8 – The Wolf’s ShadowI didn’t sleep that night.No one did.The house was too quiet, the kind of quiet that didn’t feel peaceful—just heavy. Luca’s men had doubled the guards, Sofia hadn’t stopped pacing, and every time the wind hit the windows, I flinched.Not because I was afraid.Because I was angry.He’d followed us. He’d photographed my son.He’d found me.The moment I closed my eyes, I saw his face again in that courtyard—calm, confident, untouchable. Like the past five years hadn’t burned him at all.But I’d seen the flicker.The moment his eyes landed on Alessio, something inside him cracked.And I was going to use it.By dawn, I was in the strategy room, hair tied back, robe thrown over silk pajamas. The coffee in my hand had long gone cold. Sofia was already there, leaning against the table, scrolling through a tablet.She looked up when I walked in. “You didn’t sleep either.”“Sleep is a luxury,” I muttered, setting my cup down.“Yeah, well,” she said, yawning, “you might need it before you sta
Last Updated: 2025-10-29
Chapter: Chapter 7 – Blood Between ShadowsThe sound of guns being cocked always hits the same way—it freezes the air. Makes everything too sharp, too quiet, like the whole world’s holding its breath waiting for the first drop of blood.That’s what it felt like standing in the middle of Luca’s courtyard, caught between the man who had once destroyed me and the man who’d taught me how to rebuild.Luca’s men aimed steady, their hands sure. Marco didn’t flinch. And Dante—he just stood there in that dark tailored suit, his expression carved from calm fury, like he owned the ground we stood on.His eyes were still the same. Storm-gray. Unforgiving. The kind of eyes that could make a person forget how to breathe.But I wasn’t that person anymore.“Call them off,” I said to Luca quietly.He didn’t look at me. “Not a chance.”“Luca.”His voice stayed low, cold. “He’s trespassing on my land.”“I know,” I said, stepping forward. “But this isn’t how this ends.”Luca’s jaw flexed. “He’s lucky I haven’t ended it already.”Dante’s smirk fli
Last Updated: 2025-10-29
Chapter: Chapter 6 – A Deal with the DevilThe room smelled like power.That particular mix of whiskey, gunmetal, and smoke that always clung to war plans. The map stretched across the table looked more like a body we were about to dissect.Luca stood at the head, sleeves rolled up, his quiet authority filling the space. Sofia lounged beside him with a cigarette dangling from her lips, her eyes sharp, amused, like she was already picturing Dante bleeding.And me? I was trying not to think about how much of my soul I was about to trade for revenge.Luca’s voice cut through the low hum of conversation. “We move on the North docks first. Matteo Rinaldi has debts with half the city. You can use that.”“Already planned to,” I said, tracing my finger along the map. “He’s desperate. Desperate men are predictable.”Sofia smirked. “Predictable men are easy to break.”“Good,” I replied, glancing up. “Because I’m done playing gentle.”Luca’s eyes flicked toward me. For a second, something unreadable passed between us. Admiration, maybe.
Last Updated: 2025-10-28
Chapter: Chapter 5 – Fire in Her VeinsAmara's POVMornings in the Romano estate didn’t start with silence.They started with war being built.The sun climbed lazily over the courtyard, spilling light across the cobblestone path where Luca’s men trained like clockwork—boots striking ground, guns being checked, orders being shouted in low voices. It was the rhythm of power, steady and dangerous.I stood at the window with a mug of coffee warming my hands, my silk robe brushing against the tops of my thighs. Alessio’s soft laughter carried through the hallway behind me, cutting through the steel of the world outside like a beam of light.Five years ago, I’d woken up to loneliness.Now I woke up to this—power wrapped in quiet, and a little boy with Dante Moretti’s eyes.“Mama!” Alessio’s voice echoed down the hallway, followed by quick footsteps.I turned just in time for him to barrel into the room, holding a toy plane in one hand and dragging one of the house cats with the other. His dark hair was a mess, his little tuxedo
Last Updated: 2025-10-23
Chapter: Chapter 4 – The Don Meets the QueenAmara's POVFive years laterThe chandeliers above glittered like captured stars, their light scattering across the room in soft golden shards. Laughter spilled through the ballroom, warm and practiced, the kind of laughter that belonged to people who hid knives beneath their silk.The Romano annual gala wasn’t just a party. It was a stage. And tonight, I wasn’t a guest.I was the performance.The heels on my feet clicked against the marble floor with steady rhythm, my black silk dress gliding around me like smoke. My hair was pinned up, exposing the sharp lines of my jaw—the same face Dante Moretti used to touch with careless fingers. I wasn’t that girl anymore. The one who had looked at him like he was the sun.Now, I was the storm that followed after.“Breathe,” Sofia murmured from behind me, her sharp eyes sweeping the room as she handed me a champagne flute. “Your game face is perfect, but your fingers are too tight.”I forced my hand to relax. “I’m fine.”“You’re lying,” she sai
Last Updated: 2025-10-23
Chapter: Chapter 24 — The Terms of SurrenderScarlettThe phone is still vibrating on the floor when my knees give out.My mother’s face—peaceful, oblivious, lit only by the muted glow of her living-room lamp—fills my vision like a threat wrapped in false innocence. Someone is in that room. Someone close enough to take that picture. Someone close enough to kill her without making a sound.My stomach twists so hard I have to grip the coffee table to stay upright.Miles scoops up the phone, his entire expression changing—hardening the way steel does under flame.“Scarlett,” he says quietly, “don’t move.”“I—” My voice breaks. “They’re inside her house, Miles. Inside.”“I know.” His jaw ticks. “But don’t run into the fire without knowing where it burns.”My breath comes shallow and fast. “She’s my mother. What do you expect me to do—sit here? Wait?”Cole, who has been standing like a silent pillar near the window, finally turns toward us. His normally unreadable face carries something startling—concern. Not soft, delicate concern.
Last Updated: 2025-12-09
Chapter: Chapter 23 — The Weight of the TruthThe car doesn’t slow.Rain hammers against the windshield like it’s trying to break in. Streetlights streak past in broken gold lines, and every one of them feels like a countdown. Miles’s words are still sitting in my chest, heavy and poisonous.Your father didn’t train him to break your heart… He trained him to frame you.My hands tremble in my lap. I press my palms together like I can physically hold myself together.“Say that again,” I whisper.Miles’s jaw tightens. “Scarlett—”“No.” My voice cracks. “Say it again. Slowly. Like I’m not already losing my mind.”He exhales through his nose. “Your father was murdered. And the evidence was designed—carefully—to point to you.”The city blurs. My ears ring. “That’s impossible. I loved my father. You know that.”“I know,” Miles says softly.“Then why would he—” My voice collapses. “Why would he turn the world against me like that?”“He didn’t,” Miles replies. “Ethan did. Under orders.”The name feels like a knife twisting deeper.I squee
Last Updated: 2025-12-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 22 — The Man At The DoorNo one moves.Not me.Not Miles.Not Daniel.Not even my mother.Ethan’s voice sits in the air like a blade balanced on a fingertip.“Scarlett…” he calls again, softer this time. “I know you’re scared. You don’t have to be.”My stomach twists painfully. Scared doesn’t even begin to describe it. I feel like my past just broke into my present with muddy boots and a loaded gun.Miles shifts slightly in front of me, blocking my view of the door entirely. I realize then how protective the movement is. Instinctive. Silent.Daniel’s hand hovers near the inside of his jacket. I don’t ask what’s there. I already know.My mother stands frozen, eyes wide, shaking—she looks like she’s staring at a ghost she helped create.Ethan’s footsteps move closer.Slow.Unrushed.Confident.Each step sends a quiet shock through my chest.“Scarlett,” he says again, right outside the door now. “I’m not here to hurt you.”I let out a quiet, broken laugh before I can stop myself. “That makes one of us,” I whispe
Last Updated: 2025-12-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 21 — THE MAN WHO NEVER LOVED MEFor a second, the world doesn’t just go quiet.It stalls.Every memory I’ve ever had of Ethan flickers through my mind like someone yanking a string of lights—our first dinner, our first kiss, the way he’d tuck hair behind my ear, the late-night talks about future homes and wedding colors and vacations we’d never take.My mother’s words ring like a bell that won’t stop vibrating:“Your father groomed him to destroy you.”I blink slowly, as if I’m trying to wake up from a dream that plays too real, too sharp.“No,” I whisper. “No. That’s insane.”My mother meets my eyes with that same sick, trembling sadness. “Honey, I wish it were.”Miles doesn’t try to intervene.Daniel doesn’t object.Nobody gives me a lifeline.I’m drowning in silence.“What are you talking about?” I ask—my voice too soft, too childish, too desperate. “Ethan loved me. He wasn’t—he couldn’t—”“Scarlett,” Daniel says gently, “look at the footage again.”I do.And there he is.In my father’s vault.Moving with certain
Last Updated: 2025-11-22
Chapter: CHAPTER 20 — THE VAULT THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE OPENEDFor a few heartbeats, nobody speaks.The words your father feared you echo through the room like they have their own pulse, bouncing off the walls until they lodge under my skin and stay there. My mother stands completely still, her posture soft but immovable, like marble sculpted into grace.Daniel looks furious, his jaw locked tight.Miles looks like someone unplugged his emotions and replaced them with pure alarm.And me… I feel weightless. Hollow. But also painfully aware of every breath I pull in.“What do you mean he feared me?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. It trembles anyway.My mother doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, she takes off her gloves one finger at a time, revealing small, faint scars on her palm—scars I’ve never seen before. She smooths the gloves, folds them neatly, sets them on my father’s desk.It’s such a gentle motion that it unnerves me more than anything else.“Scarlett,” she begins, “your father… he wasn’t only powerful. He was dangerous. And his
Last Updated: 2025-11-22
Chapter: Chapter 19 — Things Break Quietly Before They ShatterFor a moment, nobody moves.My mother stands in the doorway like she was carved out of stillness. Elegant. Controlled. Beautiful in a way that feels almost weaponized. Her presence fills the room the way perfume does—soft, invasive, impossible to ignore.Miles blocks me like a wall.Daniel stands at my father’s desk, face unreadable.And I’m frozen with the black folder pressed against my chest, my fingers gripping the edges like it’s the only thing keeping me upright.My mother’s eyes don’t leave the folder.“Give it to me, Scarlett,” she repeats, quieter this time. Too gentle. Too careful.A tone she uses when she’s about to break something without raising her voice.I swallow. “Mom… what are you doing here?”She finally looks at my face.And the smile she gives me is wrong.It’s the smile she uses at charity galas, when reporters shove microphones at her and she has to pretend everything is perfect. That smile has never belonged in a moment like this.“I came because you’ve put you
Last Updated: 2025-11-16
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