CHAPTER 6 THE FIRST CONFRONTATION

Snow drifted between the three of them…

Lucian, still as a blade.

Damien, smiling like the devil wearing a tailored suit.

Elara, caught in the middle of two storms designed to destroy each other.

Lucian’s voice was calm.

Too calm.

“Damien. Step away from her.”

Damien tilted his head, almost amused.

“Why? She was mine first.”

Elara flinched.

Lucian took a step forward.

“She was never yours,” he growled. 

“You don’t own people.”

Damien’s smile sharpened.

“And yet here you are, playing the hero for a woman who doesn’t know half of what you’ve done.”

Lucian stiffened.

Just barely.

But Elara felt it like a shock.

Damien continued softly, almost whispering.

“Does she know why you really left my family?”

Lucian’s jaw tightened.

“Does she know what you did to earn your freedom?”

“Elara,” Lucian murmured without looking back, “get in the car.”

“No.” Damien lifted a hand. “If she leaves, I’ll end this tonight.”

Elara’s breath froze.

“Damien stop!” she whispered.

 “Please. This isn’t…”

“Quiet.”

His voice cracked like a whip.

Pure control.

Pure cruelty.

Lucian moved instantly

“Don’t talk to her…”

Damien’s hand slid into his coat.

Lucian lunged forward, grabbing Elara by the waist and throwing both of them to the ground just as…

BANG.

The bullet smashed into the wall behind where Lucian’s head had been.

“Elara, stay down!” Lucian barked, pulling her beneath him, shielding her body completely.

Damien laughed…cold, triumphant.

“You think I’m here to kill you?” he called out. “Relax, Lucian. I don’t want your corpse.”

Lucian slowly rose, positioning himself between Elara and Damien.

“Drop the gun, Damien.”

Damien twirled it lazily.

“Why would I? It’s the only thing keeping you from leaping at my throat.”

Lucian stepped forward.

“You don’t need the gun to keep me away. You need the girl.”

Elara sucked in a breath.

Damien’s smile widened.

“So you do care.”

Lucian didn’t deny it.

Didn’t hide it.

Didn’t soften it.

“Yes,” Lucian said, voice dark and steady. “More than you ever could.”

Damien’s eyes glittered.

“And that,” he whispered, “is exactly why I’m not letting her go.”

He lifted the gun again this time aiming not at Lucian but at Marek beside the car.

Lucian reacted first.

He shoved Elara behind him

charged forward

and slammed into Damien just as he fired.

Another shot.

Glass shattered.

Snow exploded upward.

Lucian and Damien collided hard, crashing into the alley wall.

Damien’s gun flew from his grip.

The two men struggled raw strength against trained brutality.

“Elara, run!” Marek shouted.

But Elara… couldn’t move.

Not when Lucian was fighting for her life.

Not when Damien’s hand locked around Lucian’s throat.

Not when Lucian’s fist slammed into Damien’s ribs.

Not when Damien hissed through his teeth:

“You think she loves you?”

A cruel laugh.

“She’ll run the second she learns what you are, Ward.”

Lucian snarled and drove his elbow into Damien’s jaw,

a sickening crack echoing down the alley.

Damien collapsed to one knee.

Lucian grabbed him by the collar, lifting him slightly.

“Touch her again,” Lucian said quietly

“and I won’t stop at breaking your bones.”

Damien wiped the blood from his mouth and chuckled.

“You’re already too late.”

Lucian froze.

Elara felt the shift, an instinct curling cold in her stomach.

Damien rose slowly, eyes fixing on her.

“Elara,” he said softly, “you think he’s your savior?”

His smile was wicked.

Deadly.

Certain.

“Ask him about the night he walked away from me.”

A beat.

“Ask him whose blood he spilled to earn his freedom.”

Lucian didn’t speak.

Didn’t deny it.

“Elara,” he said, voice low and urgent, “don’t listen”

Damien held her gaze.

“He was a good man,” he whispered.

“A man you once trusted.”

Her breath shattered.

Lucian’s face paled

a crack in his armor.

A secret bleeding through his silence.

“Elara,” Lucian whispered, reaching for her, “don’t believe him. Please.”

But Damien’s final words landed like a knife:

“He killed someone for you.”

Her world tilted.

Lucian stepped toward her

Pain in his eyes.

Desperation in his voice.

“Elara…”

She stepped back.

Damien’s laugh echoed through the alley.

Lucian watched her with something breaking behind his gaze.

The first fracture in the fragile bond they had built.

Snow melted on her cheeks.

She didn’t know if it was from the cold

or tears.

“Elara,” Lucian whispered, voice cracking,

“Let me explain.”

But she couldn’t breathe.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t speak.

Marek opened the car door.

“Elara you can come inside.”

She looked between the two men

One who frightened her and One who broke her.

Both who wanted her.

And she whispered four words that sliced Lucian open:

“I don’t know you.”

Lucian flinched

A silent wound.

A quiet devastation.

“Elara…please…”

She backed into the SUV and shut the door.

Lucian stood in the snow, eyes hollowed with something sharper than pain.

Damien smirked.

“See? Easy.”

Lucian turned toward him slowly.

And the look in his eyes promised that Damien Hale would not leave this city alive.

The SUV sped away.

Elara’s hand slid to her stomach.

Her baby kicked gently, as if sensing her heartbreak.

Lucian stood alone in the snow.

Watching the woman he was falling in love with disappear into the night.

                            ******

The Apartment That Doesn’t Feel Safe Anymore

The penthouse was too quiet, too large and too cold.

Too filled with the ghost of Lucian’s presence.

Elara sat on the edge of the bed Marek escorted her to, hands trembling, her mind replaying Damien’s words over and over.

He killed someone for you.

A good man.

Someone you trusted.

Her breaths came shallow.

Unsteady.

Near-panicked.

She pressed her palms to her face.

“No,” she whispered.

“Lucian wouldn’t

He couldn’t…”

But Lucian never denied it.

He didn’t defend himself.

He just begged her to trust him.

Her heart twisted painfully.

Marek stepped into the doorway, expression unreadable.

“Elara,” he said quietly, “Lucian ordered me to stay outside this room. But if you need anything, call.”

She didn’t look up.

“Is it true?” she whispered.

Marek hesitated too long.

“Elara…”

“That’s enough,” she said softly.

 “I understand.”

When he left, the door clicked shut like a final sentence.

Elara lay back against the pillows, her hand resting over her belly.

The baby kicked again. A tiny reminder with a soft existence in a violent world.

“I don’t know who to trust,” she whispered to the room.

“To you, little one… I’m sorry.”

The tears finally came rolling quiet, warm, and relentless.

And somewhere in the city, Lucian Ward was hunting Damien with a rage that could burn empires.

But Elara didn’t know that yet.

All she knew was that she was alone.

More alone than she’d ever been.

                       ******

The next morning arrived wrapped in a cold Los Angeles fog, the kind that softened the skyline and made every sound feel distant. From the window of her small apartment overlooking Downtown, Elara watched the city stir awake with cars humming below, lights flickering on in office towers, and rain clouds gathering like unspoken warnings.

She hadn’t slept.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lucian Vale and his hand gripping her wrist, his voice low and fierce, the strange warmth in his gaze even as danger crackled around him. And layered beneath that, like a shadow stitched into the fabric of her memory, was Damien. The man who had been watching her long before she knew he existed.

Two wolves circling the same flame.

Elara rubbed her arms, trying to chase away the sneaking fear that neither of these men wanted to protect her for reasons she understood.

Her phone buzzed.

A text coming from another unknown number and it reads…

“You shouldn’t walk to work today”.

Her breath caught.

Before she could reply, another message appeared…clean, controlled, too steady.

– Lucian

Elara exhaled shakily. She wasn’t sure if she felt safer or more exposed.

She typed back.

Why?

The answer came fast.

Because Damien moved again last night. And he wasn’t looking for me.

A chill threaded down her spine.

An hour later, Lucian’s car rolled to a stop in front of her building. Sleek, dark, and quiet enough to feel predatory. When the tinted window lowered, Lucian’s eyes were stormy, gray, unreadable and locked onto hers.

“Get in, Elara.”

He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.

Something about him always felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, thrilling, terrifying, too easy to fall from.

As she settled into the passenger seat, she noticed the tension in his shoulders, the slight strain around his jaw.

“You’re angry,” she murmured.

Lucian didn’t deny it.

“Damien shouldn’t have gotten that close to you.” His knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. “He’s escalating.”

Elara swallowed. “What exactly does he want?”

Lucian’s eyes flicked to hers …searching, analyzing.

“You.”

No hesitation. No soft

ening.

Just the truth.

Her heartbeat stuttered.

“And you?” Elara whispered before she could stop herself. “What do you want?”

The air thickened.

Lucian’s gaze lingered a moment too long then a silent confession wrapped in restraint.

“That’s the problem,” he said quietly. 

“I’m not sure I can answer that in a way that would be safe for you.”