Chapter: 16"No." I shook my head stubbornly, settling back my spoon beside the bowl. "I won't eat no more." There was no way I give him the satisfaction to find out I ate, finally. Plus, I didn't need to eat anyway. I was fine, I was all good! And since I was near the desk, I decided to seach it again. I knelt in front of the wooden furniture, opening all the black drawers. This time, I took more care in everything I've found. One of the books was a register. I settled it down the desk, but could hardly decipher it because I didn't know what all those numbers reffered to. Shrugging, I just placed it back where I found it and pulled another book. This one looked more like a notebook, with a black cover but no title. I curiously held it out to the light for a further inspection, when something slipped out of the pages. Kneeling, I picked it up to see exactly what it was. That was a picture, showing a smiling young woman with shoulder-lenght auburn curls, rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes, carele
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Chapter: 15"What did you say about my Dad?!" I exclaimed, immediately joining the two men."That's none of your business, bitch!" Spat Mike, threateningly stepping in front of Anton."As long as it concerns my father, that is." I calmly yet firmly objected. Mike took a few steps toward me, looking down at me. Despite being shorter than him of a few inches, I coldly held his gaze without showing any fear. Honestly, I was way too infuriated and in need of answers about my father to even care about what he'd do or say."Lesson number one, bitch!" Groaned the masked man. "When I tell you something, you don't talk back to me!""Tell me what you were saying about my father." I insisted, apparently unfazed."I told you no talking back, bitch!" Yelled Mike, starting to loose his composure."Oh, you were talking to me?" I defiantly asked, raising my chin slightly. "Well I'm sorry, I didn't understand, I thought you were talking to someone named bitch! My name's Joan." Mike's shoulders shook as he g
Last Updated: 2026-08-20
Chapter: 14"I don't care." I shook my head, crossing my arms. "I'm not eating!" I knew I was playing a dangerous game by provocating him, but it was maybe worth the try. If the gang leader promised my dad to return me unharmed to him, he'd probably bring me back sooner if I refused to eat, before I suffer from starvation."I don't know what game you're playing!" He strongly said with a stern expression, his hands on his slender waist. "But soon or later, you'll need to eat!" Instead of arguing with him, I gave Anton the silent treatment. I was maybe acting like a sulking brat, but at least, while I was doing that I was in control; I was in control and I had the power because he didn't know what I was thinking."Can I take a shower, please?" I instead asked in a soft voice, changing subject. Anton seemed a little surprised by the change of subject, but he was still fuming. He took several deep breaths and unballed his fists a few times before to answer:"Yes, go ahead. You don't need to
Last Updated: 2026-08-19
Chapter: 13Without a word, he paused just as he was about to exit the cabinet. Then, he slowly spun around and walked back to me, though he didn't stand too close. But even in the dark, the intensity with which he looked at me made my skin burn. A ray of moonlight spred itself through the window, lightening his pale face for a moment. He was paler than later in the day, his ebony black hair messy around his angular face and the bruise on his cheekbone of a deeper shade of purple."Why?" He repeated, a tired smile stretching his lips. "Because I gave my word that I wouldn't let no harm come to you, that's why." With that, he grabbed my arm and gave it a gentle tug to incitate me to follow him. This time, I did nothing to draw my arm back or slap his hand away. He led the way back to his room and this time, I followed him in without protesting or trying to run away again."Mr Carmichael?" I asked, as he plopped down on his bed."Mmh?" Tiredly grunted the black haired man, looking up at me quizz
Last Updated: 2026-08-18
Chapter: 12Shit! I just couldn't believe I had miscalculated the height of the building! Now, I was free falling, maybe to my freedom but also maybe to my death! Clawing toward the window sill, I tightly closed my eyes and readied for the hard impact. But nothing came. Instead of feeling my bones breaking in impossible angles against the concrete floor, I felt something warm, large and smooth wrap itself around my hand. Opening my eyes, I saw I wasn't falling anymore. Looking up, I met the dark brown eyes of Anton Carmichael. The latter had managed to slip his arm through the narrow window just in time to catch me."Don't let go, Miss MacCarthy!" He whisper-yelled, his voice sounding almost reassuring in the dark."As if I was going to let go!" I forced myself to tease him back, though I was scared he'd let me fall and break my neck. Actually, even though I considered struggling to break free from his grip for a few seconds, I immediately rejected that idea. Doing that would probably kill me,
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: 11I didn't reply yet because there was only one thing that I could see: Muscles. All I could see was an impressive muscle mass, swiftly moving underneath porcelain white smooth skin. Embarrassed, I looked away from Anton's toned torso. His abs flexed one last time as he raised his arms above his head to pass on a white sleeveless T-shirt."You can look up." He smirked, his face at a few inches from mine. I slightly jumped since I didn't notice he went right in front of me. Taking a step back, I blushed furiously for having only glance at this criminal's torso, whether or not he was built like an athlete! Anton seemed to amuse himself about this, but thankfully didn't say anything about it. Instead, he turned around and layed down in his bed, leaving an empty side for me."So?" He asked when he noticed I was still hesitating, tapping the side beside him. "Are you going to join me or...?" Reluctantly, I layed down in the bed beside him, not feeling extremely at ease with a gangster
Last Updated: 2026-08-16
Chapter: 77He sat down across from her..She set the tablet aside..They looked at each other across the counter in the warm ordinary midday light of the diner with the lunch sounds moving around them and Kathy on her stool pretending not to watch and Priya and Cam navigating the last of the tables with the easy competence of people who had found their rhythm in this place..She said "Soup's coming."He said "Good."She said "You look tired."He said "I'm fine."She said "I know you're fine. You also look tired." She reached across the counter and covered his hand with hers.. the gesture that had become as natural as breathing.. "You can be both."He turned his hand over and held hers..She looked at their hands for a moment.. then looked up at him with the full steady force of those eyes that had been reading him accurately from the beginning..She said "Is it really over."He said "The immediate threats. Yes." He paused with the honesty that she had always deserved and had always received from
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Chapter: 76Third Person POV ~Renata Voss moved on a Wednesday.Geek saw it coming forty eight hours before it happened.. the particular digital signature of someone shifting from reconnaissance to active preparation.. the archive infiltration consultant making contact with the institution's external network in a way that was subtle enough to bypass standard security monitoring but not subtle enough to bypass Geek who had been watching for exactly that approach since the moment he identified the man's methodology..He came to Maddox on Monday morning with his laptop and the particular energy of someone who has been waiting for a specific thing to happen and has just watched it begin..He said "She's moving. Her digital guy made first contact with Dr. Osei's institution network Sunday night. Probing. Not infiltrating yet.. just testing the edges." He turned the screen toward Maddox.. "He's good. Genuinely good. If I hadn't been sitting on that network specifically he would have gotten through the
Last Updated: 2026-08-20
Chapter: 75Delilah looked at him with the steady certainty that was entirely hers.. "What do you need from me."He said "Your awareness. Your caution. Nothing changes about your routine visibly.. if Voss is watching the compound she's watching for changes in pattern. We don't give her any." He paused.. "And your trust. We're going to set something up and I need you to trust that the pieces we put in place are enough."She said "I trust you."Simply.. completely.. the same three words she had said on the night of the Kathy rescue in the compound hallway.. carrying the same weight they had carried then and more besides because everything that had happened since had only added to them..He said "There's something else."She looked at him..He said "Delaney's tests from last week. The results came back this morning." He held her gaze.. "The marker is active. Fully active. Not dormant anymore.. not partially presenting.. fully active and accelerating."She was very still..He said "Delaney said it's
Last Updated: 2026-08-19
Chapter: 74The evening settled around them.. the compound lights coming on one by one in the windows.. the sounds of people inside doing ordinary things.. Mama Rose's voice somewhere in the kitchen.. the low rumble of a bike engine pulling in through the gate.. the distant sound of Henri and Dare on the phone.. a friendship that had continued across the distance with the particular momentum of two people who had decided it was worth maintaining..Adaeze's voice somewhere in the garden beyond the wall.. talking to Delaney with the easy flow of someone who has started to find their footing in a new version of themselves..Drake's footsteps across the compound floor somewhere above them.. the sound of a man moving through a space he belonged to again..Kathy's laugh from inside.. the full unguarded version that meant someone had said something genuinely funny and she hadn't had time to moderate her response..All of it..The living breathing sound of something that had been broken and was now whole
Last Updated: 2026-08-18
Chapter: 73Third Person POV ~The bond settled into them like weather.Not dramatic.. not the sudden cataclysm that some of the older wolves described when they talked about the moment of recognition.. more like the way a season changes.. gradually and then completely.. the world looking the same from the outside and being fundamentally different from the inside in a way that couldn't be reversed and didn't need to be..Delilah spent the first hour of it simply existing in the kitchen with Maddox.. drinking coffee and not talking much and letting the new quality of everything wash through her at whatever pace it needed.. which was characteristic of her and which he had already understood was how she processed significant things.. not by speaking them immediately into existence but by sitting with them until she had taken their full measure..He gave her the hour without rushing it..At some point Mama Rose appeared and looked at the two of them with the expression of a woman who had seen this pa
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: 72Delilah said quietly "She cried for about ten minutes and then she drank her tea and asked me if I would come back tomorrow."He said "Will you?"She said "Every day until she doesn't need me to."~Henri progressed with the particular stubbornness that Delaney had predicted and everyone who knew him had expected.By the third day after the operation he was insisting on sitting up for meals. By the fifth day he had relocated himself to a chair beside his bed and was reading the documentation from Calypso's storage unit with the focused attention of a man conducting a long overdue reckoning with history.. going through every page with the expression of someone who is meeting a version of a person they loved in a context they never fully had access to before..He cried twice that Delilah knew of.. both times alone and both times briefly.. the particular grief of a man who loved his wife's bravery and was only now understanding the full dimensions of it..On the sixth day he asked Maddox
Last Updated: 2026-08-16
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