LOGIN
A TALL, HORNY, STRANGER
ARIA "You know we have to leave, Aria." I frowned at my father. "No, we don't. You can, but I won't." He shook his head as if he had heard enough of what I had to say. "Well, I have made my decision, daughter." "Dad, we've only been in Stonehaven for a month and you want us to leave because you got another transfer letter? What about my new school? My friends? You just expect me to dump them and leave?" "That's how it has always been. We leave to where I'm transferred to." "No, dad. It's beginning to look like we're running." "From what?" he asked. "You tell me." We were in the dining room and my dad was getting ready to go to work. He as a cop, a detective to be precise. With the the First Division in Stonehaven, and the only one at that. He gulped down the remaining of his coffee and tossed some breed into his mouth. I watched him masticate. "I have nothing to say to you, Aria," my dad finally answered me. "Better go get your things packed. We leave tomorrow morning." I went to my room all right but I didn't lift a hand to pack my stuff. I left them where they were because I was sure I would stay. Why the hell did we always have to leave? I didn't want to, not yet at least. He could go wherever it was that wanted to claim him, but I would stay and complete high school in Stonehaven. Stonehaven was just a suburban town in the United States of America. We were used the summer in those parts. Nothing much happened, and we literally knew each other if one had the chance to peel off that antisocial skin. They way we moved from place to place, I lacked connection. I had no roots, no long time friends to call my own and he was okay with that? I needed to talk to someone at that point. My new best friend came to mind and I picked up my phone and called Emma. The background was noisy. Music was blaring off speakers. "Where the hell are you?" I sat up in bed and asked. She was someplace having fun while I was sulking at home? "At a party. I was just about to call you. We haven't started but we're kicking off soon. Where the hell are you?" Trust Emma to throw my questions back at me. "I'm at home." She chuckled. "Oh, you're going to miss out if you ground yourself in your room. Come to Beaver's Inn right now. I've got some friends I'd like to introduce you to." "I'm leaving tomorrow, Emma." "What?" "My dad got his transfer letter." She paused for a spell. Then said, "Okay. Come to the party and we'll talk about it, good?" "Good." "Call me when you get here, sweet. Jeez, that guy is handsome." If an handsome fellow was the last thing I would remember about Stonehaven, then I had a party to attend. *** "What kind of a place is this?" I raised my voice so as to be heard over the loud music. Emma was by my side wearing a tank top and bum shorts. As for me, I opted for black leather pants and body-hugging sleeves. "A clubhouse." "What's the party about?" I asked. "It's about catching fun. One of my friend threw it. You'll meet him soon." Emma always had numerous friends to introduce me to. I wondered if it was her way of playing matchmaker. The place was well packed with people. Some of them, I recognized from school. They smiled at me, nodded their heads to the music, and walked off. She took me to a red couch. There, we were alone, then she asked what I wanted. "We've got drinks, sweets, dessert, condoms if you like dicks, cakes and smokes too." "I'll take a light beer." "Smirnoff then," she chose for me. "I'll be right back." Just as she left the disc jockey changed the music and began playing by A Bar Song by Shaboozey. Everyone went apeshit. Everyone but one man. And that was because he had just stepped into the building. My jaw dropped. He was the most handsome man I had ever set my eyes on. He was tall and lean, had dark hair, and I noticed a tattoo at the side of his neck. He looked around the place with a cold dark stare then his eyes landed in my direction. I felt my stomach churn with need. Why did I suddenly need him at first sight? He took intentional strides towards my red couch. I wondered the amount of power he had in those hips and how they would sound against my ass if he happened to give me a doggy fuck. Emma brought me my bottle of Smirnoff and an opener, interrupting my train of thought. She looked at the man who had just stopped before us and said, "Thought you'd never show your face." "I didn't want to," he said, his voice loud dangerous. "Until I heard all the noise and thought there might be some lady here willing to fuck. Who is your friend?" His eyes studied me carefully as Emma said, "This is Aria. Aria, meet Nico." I got to my feet and offered my hand. "Hi." He took it and planted a kiss on my knuckles. I swear, my insides turned into jelly and I felt some residue escape to my pussy. No one needed to tell me that I was wet already. "Sexy," he drawled, which only seemed to worsen things for me. "Please don't ask her if she wants to fuck, Nico. She's off the charts. How long will you be staying?" "I'll leave once I get my... sex partner," he said, his eyes still on me, and he didn't even let my hand go. If Nico was the one putting all those sexual images in my brain just so that I could get interested, then he was doing a really good job. "Your friend seems ready for me, though," he said to Emma. "What?" I asked, wondering why he had said that. There was a smirk on his face as his eyes fell to my breasts. When I looked, I saw that my nipples were hard and visible through my outfit. "Fuck. Excuse me," I said, plucked my hand from his, and ran off.75THE KILL ZONELUCAThe rain made everything harder.Visibility.Movement.Blood.Water poured down the steel containers in endless streams while gunfire ripped through the dockyard from multiple directions. The sharp cracks of rifles echoed violently across the waterfront, blending with the distant thunder rolling over Stonehaven.Luca stayed low behind the container as another round of bullets tore into the metal above them.Sokolov’s men had positioned themselves perfectly.Elevated angles.Crossfire coverage.Limited escape routes.Professional.Very professional.Dominic checked his weapon beside him, breathing controlled despite the chaos erupting around them.“How bad?”Luca glanced toward the far end of the dockyard where two of his men were pinned behind a forklift under relentless fire.“Bad enough.”A voice burst through the comms.“Roof team on the east side!”Another burst of gunfire followed immediately after.Then silence.Luca’s expression darkened.One of his men wa
74THE DOCKSLUCAOld warehouses lined the waterfront like giant shadows, their rusted structures illuminated only by scattered streetlights and the distant glow of cargo ships out on the water.Stonehaven’s polished image disappeared here.This was the part of the city tourists never saw.The part that belonged to smugglers, traffickers, and men who preferred conducting business away from cameras.Luca had spent years navigating places exactly like this.And tonight, every instinct he possessed told him something was wrong.The convoy finally slowed near the end of a narrow side street.“There,” Dominic said quietly.Luca looked ahead.An old warehouse stood near the water, partially hidden behind stacks of shipping containers. Most of the building remained dark except for faint light spilling from a few upper windows.It looked abandoned.Which usually meant it wasn’t.The SUVs stopped.Rain tapped softly against the roof as Luca studied the building for several long seconds.“Therm
73THE WAITING ARIAHis voice was quieter now.Deadlier.“You don’t get to pull pieces out of my past just because you’re frustrated.”“I’m not frustrated.”“Then what are you?”The question hit harder than I expected.What was I?Terrified?Angry?Confused?All of it.“I’m tired,” I admitted quietly. “I’m tired of feeling powerless.”Something in Luca’s expression shifted again.The anger faded slightly, replaced by something more complicated.Understanding.He walked toward me slowly until only a small distance remained between us.“You are not powerless,” he said quietly.“Then why does everyone keep making decisions for me?”“Because keeping you alive matters.”“To who?”His gaze locked onto mine.“To me.”The words landed with startling force.The air between us seemed to tighten instantly.Neither of us moved.For one dangerous moment, everything else faded—the guards, the threats, the war building around us.It was just him.Just the intensity in his eyes.Just the way my puls
72INTO THE DARKARIAThe truth in my own words startled me.Because I could feel it happening.The fear was still there.But something else had begun growing beside it.Resolve.Luca saw it too.I could tell from the way his expression shifted slightly.And for the first time since I met him…He looked uncertain about what I might become next.***Luca didn’t answer me immediately.The silence stretched between us, heavy with tension and unspoken arguments. Outside the tall windows, the afternoon sky had begun to darken beneath gathering clouds, shadows creeping slowly across the estate as if the world itself was preparing for night.For war.Luca stood across from me with his arms folded, his expression unreadable again, though I could still see traces of that uncertainty lingering beneath the surface.Not fear.Never fear.But hesitation.And somehow, that felt even more dangerous coming from a man like him.“You’re serious,” he said finally.“Yes.”“You want to walk into a warehou
71THE TIMELINE ARIAThe reality of that possibility hit harder than I expected.I imagined being dragged out of the estate, forced into a car, delivered to someone I had never met but who somehow believed I belonged to him.The thought made my skin crawl.“There’s more,” Luca said.I looked at him again.“They mentioned a timeline.”“What kind of timeline?”“They were under pressure.”“From Sokolov?”“Yes.”“Why?”Luca’s jaw tightened slightly.“Because someone else is moving.”Confusion washed through me.“What does that mean?”“It means Sokolov isn’t the only person searching for the Markovic inheritance.”Of course he wasn’t.I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.Why settle for one dangerous criminal when the universe could apparently provide several?“How many people are involved in this?” I asked quietly.“We don’t know yet.”“That’s not reassuring.”“It’s honest.”I sighed and rubbed my temple.“This keeps getting bigger.”“Yes.”“And you still think we can handle it?”Luca
70THE COST OF WARARIA“They brought a car through your gates, Luca. They came armed. They were ready to take me.”“I know.”“Then we don’t wait for them to try again.”A brief silence followed.Then—“You’re asking for escalation.”“I’m asking for control.”His eyes held mine.For a moment, I saw something shift in them.Recognition.Approval.Something darker.“Careful,” he said quietly.“Why?”“Because once we take that step… there’s no going back.”I didn’t look away.“I don’t think we were ever going back.”The truth of that settled between us.Luca exhaled slowly.Then nodded.“Alright.”My heart skipped slightly.“Alright?”“We hit back.”The words carried weight.Finality.“And Viktor Sokolov?” I asked.Luca’s expression hardened.“He just made himself a priority.”A guard approached again.“Boss.”Luca turned.“What is it?”“We found something on one of them.”“What?”The guard held out a small object.A phone.Cracked slightly from the fall.Luca took it.“Locked?” he asked







