Naomi Velez The cold city air hit me hard. I was tired, and the pavement felt damp under my feet. Maria was out there, caught up in Darian Wolfe’s problems. She might think I had left her, but I would never do that. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of Viper’s stolen hoodie, which smelled like him and made me uneasy. I walked quickly down the sidewalk. Home felt too open and unsafe. The Reyes mansion, with its strong walls, was the only place that felt somewhat safe right now. But first, I needed to go to Maria’s office. It was the best starting point in her falling world. The building where Maria worked looked different. The sign that said "Dr. Maria Reyes, Clinical Psychologist" was missing. A blank space on the wall showed where it used to be. My heart raced. I went inside, expecting to smell fresh paint and leather, but it was dusty and full of boxes. People I didn’t know filled the waiting room. A woman with a clipboard looked at me, annoyed. "Can I help you?" she ask
Darian Wolfe I hung up the phone, my fingers shaking as I set it down on the table. Viper’s voice still rang in my ears: "Boss, we’ve got bad news: The man you killed is one of Sombra’s men, and he won’t stop until he gets you. And… I... It's Naomi, she escaped." My chest tightened, my breath catching for a moment. Everything had been falling into place, but now it was crumbling. Maria Reyes sat on the bed, her hazel eyes watching me, soft but curious. "I know it’s not really my business, but is it something bad, Darian?" she asked, her voice gentle, cutting through the storm in my head. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. She was more than a pawn now—she’d made that call, trusted me with her secrets—but if she found out that I held her best friend captive, I’d lose her. I’d spent three days here, hiding out, keeping her close. The Wolfe’s old castle loomed in my memory, its stone walls and dusty portraits too heavy with the past. But with Maria, this room felt like a refuge. I’d let
Naomi VelezI sat on the cold floor of Viper’s apartment, my back pressed against the bed, my chest tight with disgust. I’d failed again. Seducing him with dinner and soft words hadn’t worked.Was I not sexy enough? Or was Viper just too smart, playing me like a toy? The walls felt closer every minute, the silence screaming in my ears. I had spent another two days doing nothing.I began to panic, I would lose my mind. I couldn’t breathe right. My thoughts jumped to Maria—always Maria—but then they turned inward. What was I doing here? Why was I stuck in this hell?Every question circled back to her, like she was the key to everything. Viper had said it: I’d been a sidekick in her story. Now, I wasn’t fighting for her. I was fighting for me, for my sanity. I had to get out, not to save anyone else, but to keep from losing my mind.I’d dragged myself into this mess, and I’d drag myself out. Viper had a weakness—every man did.Sex was the obvious card, but maybe I’d played it wrong befor
Maria Reyes I opened my eyes to a soft, golden glow flickering across the stone walls. The room felt old, like a castle from a storybook, with its heavy beams overhead and a fireplace crackling in the corner.My body ached—bruises throbbed from the attack in the car park, my nose still tender from where I’d been hit—but the quiet here wrapped around me like a blanket. The air smelled of woodsmoke and wax, warm and steady, pulling me into a strange calm. I shifted on the bed, the mattress soft beneath me, and that’s when I saw him.Darian Wolfe stood by the fireplace, shirtless, pouring wine into a glass. The firelight danced over his broad shoulders, catching the scars that slashed across his skin—marks of a life I was only beginning to understand.He looked peaceful, his movements slow and sure, and for a moment, I just watched him. His dark hair fell slightly over his forehead, and his jaw was sharp against the warm light.He was handsome—too handsome—and my chest tightened with fe
Maria Reyes The smell hit me first. Old, wet earth and something rotten. Mold, thick and cloying, rising from the cracked leather seats beneath me. I was crammed into the back of this dead car, a rusty old sedan abandoned in a forgotten corner of a crumbling car park. The rusty metal walls of the sedan felt like a coffin. Then, the sound ripped through the suffocating quiet – my phone. A shrill, alien shriek that made my whole body jerk. I fumbled wildly in my pocket, hands slick with sweat, trembling so hard I almost dropped it. Darian. His name flashed on the screen. He called back. Hope, sharp and sudden, wary with the raw panic that hit me. "Darian!" My voice came out a ragged gasp, barely a whisper. "I’m past the estate gate, the old car park. I have a feeling someone’s following me… watching me. I’m scared, Darian. Really scared." The words came out desperately. "Maria? Okay, okay. Stay right there," His voice was tight, strained, the sound of someone forcing calm. "Turn on
Darian Wolfe I stood there, stunned at who I saw, "Hello Darian." Her words hung in the air. There she was—Linda Maurice. Her perfume hit me first, a rosy, oriental wave that dragged me back decades—to a mansion that had been both salvation and cage. I stepped inside, she was in her early forties, doing nothing to dull the sharp beauty I’d known since I was a boy. Flynn Maurice’s youngest daughter, the billionaire who’d rescued me from the orphanage after my father’s death, promised me a future. A promise that came with chains. "Hey, Linda," I said, forcing a casual edge as I turned to my closet, sliding my watch off with a flick of my wrist. "What a surprise." "Seems like you weren’t expecting me at all," she replied, brushing her hair back with that deliberate grace she’d always wielded like a weapon. She closed the distance between us, her heels clicking softly against the hardwood. I could feel her eyes on me, uncovering the layers I’d built over the years. "Work," I sighed