Novels by Mimi's pen

Author POV The rock was cold in Alex’s hand. Jagged edge pressed against his palm. Seraph felt it hover behind her head, close enough that her hair moved when his fingers trembled.Sloane’s gun stayed level. “Alex. Put it down. Now.”Alex didn’t move. His arm stayed locked around Seraph’s waist. His breathing was fast, uneven, against the back of her neck. Not calm. Not cruel. Terrified.“I can’t,” he whispered in her ear. “If I don’t, Maya gets arrested tomorrow. Elena has files. Her signature. Forged, but it won’t matter. She’s twelve, Seraph. She thinks I’m the one who keeps the monsters away.”Seraph’s heart hammered. She didn’t struggle. She didn’t scream. She listened. “Then let me help you,” she said, voice low. “There’s another way. We have the drive. We take Elena down. No one has to die.”Alex laughed. It hurt to hear. “You think Elena doesn’t know that? She sent me the photo of Maya because she knew I’d choose her. She wants you to watch me become him. She wants me to prov

The car smelled like rain and Alex’s jacket. Seraph slept with her head against the window, flash drive clutched in her palm. Data that could end Tradefare. Data that made her a target. Alex drove. Quiet. Too quiet. She woke when the streetlights disappeared. No city glow. No other cars. Just trees crowding the road and the sound of tires on gravel. The GPS showed nothing but black. Seraph sat up slow, rubbing her eyes. “Where are we?” “Taking the back way,” Alex said. He didn’t look at her. Both hands on the wheel. Knuckles white. “Less traffic. Less eyes.” Seraph frowned. “Back way to where? The safehouse is on the other side of the city.” Alex didn’t answer. He reached forward and turned off the GPS. The screen went dark. The car went darker. Seraph’s stomach tightened. “Alex.” “Yeah?” His voice was still Alex. Still low, still tired. But there was something under it. Something she’d never heard before. “Why’d you turn off the GPS?” she asked. She kept her voice even. Sh

Author POV Darkness swallowed the warehouse whole. The nightlight died. The single bulb above the door went out. Even Elena’s gun made no sound.For three seconds there was only breathing. Seraph’s. Maya’s. Elena’s sharp inhale.Then Alex’s voice again, closer this time: “Hands off the gun, Elena.”A scuffle. Metal clattered on concrete. The gun skidded across the floor and hit Seraph’s foot. She didn’t pick it up.A lighter flared. Alex stood ten feet away, one wrist still cuffed to a piece of broken chain. Sloane’s cuffs, probably snapped off with a pipe somewhere between the precinct and Pier 17. His face was pale, sweat at his temples, but his eyes were clear. No flatness. No knife.“Alex,” Elena said. She didn’t sound surprised. She sounded annoyed. “You were supposed to be in a cell.”“I was,” Alex said. He didn’t look at her. He looked at Seraph. “Then I remembered you count to twenty when you’re lying. You only

Author POV The apartment didn’t feel empty. It felt hollow. Like Alex took the air with him when Sloane dragged him out. Seraph stayed on the floor for a long time. The phone buzzed again in her hand. She didn’t look. She knew what it would say. More photos. More threats. Elena’s way of saying *you’re next*. Her palm hurt. She opened her fist. The flash drive was still there. Warm from her sweat. Data that could end Tradefare. Data that got Alex cuffed. The knife lay ten feet away, blade sunk into the floorboard from where Alex drove it down. He chose not to. He chose her. And Elena punished him for it. Seraph stood. Her legs shook. She crossed the room and pulled the knife from the wood. It came free with a sound like tearing. She set it on the table. Didn’t touch the blade. Didn’t want to know if her hands would shake too. Her

Author POV Sloane didn’t lower the gun. “Alex. Last chance. Drop the knife.” Alex didn’t blink. He didn’t turn. The knife stayed an inch above his leg, blade catching light from the kitchen. Three feet between him and Seraph. Two feet between him and Sloane behind him. Seraph’s heart was so loud she couldn’t hear herself think. The flash drive bit into her palm. The phone in her other hand buzzed again. Elena. Always Elena. “Alex,” Seraph whispered. His name felt wrong in her mouth now. Like saying it might break something. “Don’t.” “I’m not,” he said. But he didn’t drop the knife either. His eyes stayed locked on hers. “I’m not making you choose, Seraph. I’m making myself.” Sloane shifted her weight in the doorway. “Alex, she has backup outside. If you hurt her, you don

Author POV The apartment was quiet after Amplified. Too quiet. Seraph sat on Alex’s couch, the flash drive warm in her palm. Data that could burn Tradefare. Data that made her a target.Alex was in the kitchen. Water ran in the sink. The sound of a knife scraping against a cutting board. Slow. He’d been quiet since they got back. Quieter than usual.Seraph’s phone buzzed on the coffee table. Unknown number. She almost ignored it. Ronan used unknown numbers. But something made her pick it up.The message had no text. Just a photo. Alex. Two hours ago. Standing across the street from her building. Hood up, hands in pockets. Watching her window. The timestamp glowed in the corner: 11:47 PM. Right after the warehouse. Right before he knocked on her door.Under the photo, three words: *She has the drive. Finalize it tonight or I will send the photos of your sister to the police.*Seraph’s

Kayla I couldn’t keep up with Ryder. I ran anyway, my shoes slipping against the hospital floor. I didn’t care that everyone was staring when he slammed both hands on the reception desk. “Ryder.." My voice cracked and sounded distant. He didn't spare me a glance. The receptionist and nurses flinched.“Where's my mother?" God.Those three words gutted me. Because I’d said them before. The day my father collapsed in his office. The day I stopped being Kayla Moreno, daddy’s girl, and became something broken. FLASH BACK.Kayla’s gown was ruined with mud. She was shaking so hard she could barely push open the hospital doors. “Miss Moreno.” The doctor’s voice was wrong. Too soft. “My father… Where is my father?” Her eyes stung from the tears that she tried to hold back. The words scraped her throat. “Her eyes searched the doctor's for a clue.It had to be a mistake. Today was her birthday. Her dad promised her a surprise. She shouldn't be here.“We didn’t catch it earl

Author povRyder and Kayla sat at the sofa of her studio apartment. Her hands were intertwined with Ryder's."You've been staring at me this way for over an hour,Ryder. Now I'm serious,damn serious don't you have work to do? You left your company just to stare at me?. Com'on Ryder." Kayla groaned. Relaxed her back on her sofa."Liam has it all sorted out." He grinned at her.She sighed for the umpteenth time. "Obviously. Liam has it all sorted out, just as Riley has it sorted out. I promise I'll get back to work starting tomorrow and that's final.""As you wish,your Highness." He courtesied in front of her."What are you doing?" She chuckled under her breath..

Author PovThe sound of a girl coughing filled the room.She gasped as she tried to guide her eyes away from the sunlight that radiated from the window next to her,with the back of her hand. Slowly her eyes dragged over the clothes she wore.Her mind calculated fast. Blue shirt. Black leggings that she's never seen before. She gasped in horror when she realised she was in an unfamiliar room. "ouchhh" she sighed in frustration when her head pounded hard, making her dizzy again."You're awake." She heard a familiar voice call out to her when she held her hurting head. She turned fast in fear. Her eyes grew wider when she thought of a possibility of the unknown,she held the gray blanket to her chest tightly."What did you do to me.?" The words slipped out of her mouth within a second. She held her head as she tried to remember how she got there but she could only remember entering her ride after a short conversation with him. Noah. But it was futile."What do you mean by that, Liana.?"

Kayla My gaze on him didn’t die down one bit. Ryder was in my kitchen. Making me food. Like nothing had happened. Like we drink crash out about the neck chain few nights ago.My hands were folded, relaxed on my lap, but inside I was a mess. Every move he took. Every shift of his shoulders. Every flex of muscle under that black tee. I saw them all. I memorized them.At some point I shifted in my seat. The chair creaked under me. He still hadn’t told me a single thing about the other night. Not one word. Not since he’d walked out of my door at the dead of the night with his shirt half-buttoned and that look on his face. The silence was eating me alive. “At this rate, you’d probably ravage me with this look,” He said. It came out dry. A joke,I knew but..I didn’t laugh. “Why did you come back?” It was meant to be a question. A real one. One I needed him to answer. But one look he gave me made me curl back into myself. His eyes were dark. Tired. And certain. “I can’t let you go.”

Kayla Two weeks laterWould you still want to tangle with the guy who saved you through all those messes you've been through without having a single grudge against you? rainy nights and sunny days,he'd come by,grinning at me like i'm the only thing that mattered in the world.i try to tell myself it's just a passing phase,i'm probably obsessed with him because i see a part of him. A childish part of him that makes me think of nothing else but him.ryder. "You've been staring at that gap for more than an hour,miss Kayla".ahh.Riley.my hands reached for the fountain pen next to me. "How's Liam?" She chuckled,tapping my table concurrently. "you would have known if you heard me talking""I was listening to you.""You don't know how Liam is faring" She rolled her eyes."You've been good. Right?". Her gaze softened. that gaze that made me want to curl at the far end of my bed. Maybe cry my eyes out.I sniffed before realising. "it's fine. I can talk about him now.""Him?"yes. Him.I o

Author POVThe door to the hospital closed shut roughly behind her. Liana’s bag wiggled at her side as she tried to steady her footsteps. They looked jittery. I felt worse. Low curses slipped out of her lips like she was chewing on them, swallowing each one before it could be heard.She searched aimlessly for a taxi. The evening air in LA was still warm, but it did nothing to calm the shake in her hands. Her heel tapped constantly against the graveled floor of the hospital driveway. Buses, nurses, families — everyone moving with purpose while she stood there like the ground had tilted.Her hands found their way to her bag. She dug through it, fingers clumsy, until she found her phone. She pulled it out and dialed a number. The other line went through almost immediately.“You dare not try me, you daughter of a bitch.” Liana’s voice cut through the air, sharp and loud, even with the busy pedestrian walkway behind her.The voice on the other end was calm. Too calm. “You’re supposed t