LOGINAiden had barely made it halfway to his car, his boots crunching over bits of broken glass, when the vibration in his pocket made his heart stutter.He pulled the phone out. The screen glowed with a name that felt like a weight: Father.Aiden’s jaw tightened so hard it ached. For a long, pulsing second, he considered letting the phone ring out into the silence of the night.But the timing was too precise. It was a predator’s timing.“Where are you?” Sebastian’s voice came through the line, as cold and level as a frozen lake.“Just leaving,” Aiden replied. He pulled his car door open, the hinge letting out a sharp, metallic groan that sounded like a warning.“Good. Come home. Now. We need to talk.”There was a pause. Aiden looked back at the gray, fortress-like walls of the precinct.Inside those walls, Olivia was waiting for a rescue he wasn't sure he could pull off.“What about?” Aiden asked.“It’s family, Aiden. Don’t keep me waiting.”The line went dead with a final, clinical click
The bright lights of the police station felt like needles in Aiden’s eyes.The air inside smelled like old coffee and floor cleaner - a cold, lonely scent that seemed to cling to the walls.Aiden didn’t wait for anyone to tell him where to go. He used his name and his power to push past the heavy doors until he reached the room with the thick glass walls.Olivia was sitting there.She looked small and tired. Her hair was messy, and her face was pale.She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit that was way too big for her frame. When she saw him, she jumped up and ran to the glass, hitting it with her hands."Aiden!"Her voice sounded like it was breaking. She pressed her face against the cold glass, her breath making it foggy."Liv, just breathe," Aiden said. He kept his voice steady and strong. He sat down and picked up the heavy black phone on his side of the glass.He watched her hands - they were shaking so much she could barely hold the receiver."Aiden, you have to believe me," sh
The scream of Aiden’s tires had barely died down before he was out of the car. He didn't even turn off the engine.The headlights stayed on, cutting through the dark like two angry eyes, shining right on the man standing by the gate.The stranger looked like he belonged in a gutter. He wore a heavy coat stained with oil and dirt, and his hair was a messy nest under a dirty beanie. He didn't flinch as Aiden marched toward him.He didn't even look up. He just stood there, fumbling with a crushed pack of cheap cigarettes, his fingers yellow and shaking…..not from fear, but from a nervous twitch."Who the hell are you?" Aiden’s voice was like a knife.The man didn't answer. He finally pulled out a bent cigarette and put it between his dry lips.He struck a match against the stone pillar of the Logan gate. The orange flame showed his face - thin, hollow, and covered in grime."I asked you a question!" Aiden roared. He reached out and grabbed the man’s dirty collar, yanking him forward.Th
The foyer of the Logan estate was a cavern of cold marble and echoing silence, but tonight, the air felt charged, vibrating with the invisible frequency of a bomb about to detonate.Aiden stood at the base of the grand mahogany staircase, his chest heaving, the dampness of the night clinging to his jacket like a second skin.High above him, perched on the landing like a bird of prey, Vivian stood perfectly still.She didn't look like a woman who had just been accused of orchestrating a murder; she looked like a queen surveying a messy subject. She held her wine glass by the stem, her fingers long and pale, the deep crimson liquid catching the dim amber light of the chandelier.She leaned against the ornate gold-leaf barricade, watching Aiden from her height with a terrifying mix of power and maternal guts.The staircase between them was no longer just architecture; it was a physical manifestation of the gap between them.Vivian held the high ground of composure and status, while Aide
The heavy silence that followed Sebastian’s ultimatum was thick enough to choke on.Olivia looked at the man standing in the doorway, the silver-headed cane, the perfectly tailored charcoal suit, and eyes that looked at her as if she were a smudge on a priceless painting.Sebastian Logan didn’t just want her signature; he wanted her soul.He wanted her to crawl into a cage and lock the door herself, all to protect the pristine, gilded lie that was the Logan reputation."I’m not signing it," Olivia said. Her voice was thin, but it didn't tremble.Sebastian’s silver eyebrows twitched, the only sign of his growing impatience. "I don't think you heard me, child.Your mother’s life is currently a line item on a budget I control. I can strike it through with less effort than it takes to sign a lunch tab."Olivia gripped the edge of the metal table, the handcuffs clinking against the steel. "I heard you. I heard Vivian, too.You’re all feeding me different versions of the same poison, hoping
Olivia flinches, the cold metal of the handcuffs biting deep into her skin as she surges forward. For a split second, the fear is eclipsed by a white-hot flash of fury.She wishes she could lung across the table, to teach Vivian a lesson she’d never forget for daring to use her mother’s life as a bargaining chip.The sheer audacity of the threat - to pull the plug on a woman already fighting for every breath - makes Olivia’s blood boil.But the chain snaps taut with a jarring metallic ring, pinning her back to the chair.Her eyes were wide, vibrating with a mixture of unshed tears and primal rage.She glares at Vivian, her chest heaving as she tries to suck in the stagnant air of the interrogation room.The image on the phone - the rhythmic rise and fall of the oxygen mask over Magdalene’s pale face - is burned into her retinas.Vivian doesn’t move. She doesn’t even blink.She remains leaned over the table, her face so close that Olivia can smell the expensive, floral scent of her per







