Evangeline's POV I rose to my feet slowly, like the aura around me had suddenly shifted, more tense. My legs felt like they’d been dipped in concrete that were heavy, reluctant. But I had to stand.He was standing right there, staring at me.Still as a statue. Just inside the doorway like he owned it all. He looked almost untouched by everything, his dark eyes fixed on me with a quiet, calculated intensity. His expression didn’t change, not even when our eyes met.It was the same face I've always known, sharp lines, composed and cold.“What are you doing here?” I asked him. My voice barely rose above a whisper.He didn’t speak, not at first. He just… looked. His eyes dragged over me from head to toe, not with something heavier. Like he was checking to see if I'll do something nasty.And then, finally, his mouth twitched with a smirk. That same infuriating, unreadable smirk and he began walking towards me.“Answer me,” I said, I sharper now. “How are you here?”He didn’t stop moving.
Evangeline's POV Noah was now tightly clinging to me, his tiny fingers buried in the fabric of my shirt, as if any loosened grip might make me vanish. My hand curled over the back of his head instinctively. We needed to go. We needed to get out. The moment I moved, tightening my grip on Noah and shifting toward the door, the man stepped forward. slipping into our path and bocking it. “No,” he said, his voice low but firm. “You can’t leave.” I blinked up at him. My body still carried the ache of fear, the deep-burning fatigue from survival mode—but now a sharper note of frustration began to rise inside me. I squared my shoulders. “Move away,” I said tightly. He didn’t. His posture remained calm, annoyingly so. “Not my call,” he replied, tilting his head slightly. “I’ve got orders. You’re not supposed to leave until the boss returns.” “The boss?” I echoed, narrowing my eyes. “Who the hell are you talking about?” He gave me a look that was measured, unreadable and then said the
Evangeline's POV The prayer hadn't even left my lips completely when the world answered with violence. A sound split the air immediately. The glass doors in front of me shattered, not cracked, but exploded, hurling shards like silver daggers across the room. They tore through everything, concrete, silence, skin and rope. The bindings around my wrists sliced apart in a clean, terrifying line. I tumbled from the chair onto the ground with a gasp, my arms numb from the pressure that had held me prisoner. For a second, everything was still. Not until men burst into the room, three, maybe four, I couldn’t tell, they were too fast. Their guns raised like angry metal mouths, bullets was already flying from their guns. They weren’t aiming. Or maybe they were, at me or at Noah. At whoever had broken in. But the bullets didn’t make it. In front of my wide eyes, the first shot twisted mid-air, the shape warping like ink dropped in water. The bullets turned to liquid, dissolving mid
Evangeline's POVThe first thing I felt was cold.Not the kind that wrapped around your skin from winter air, but the kind that seeped into your bones, like the air itself had teeth. My eyes fluttered open slowly, my lashes sticky from sleep or something more sinister. The world above me swam in dull greys and unwelcoming shadows, a cracked ceiling with a bulb hanging from frayed wires. Dust floated through the air.Pain thrummed behind my eyes as I tried to sit up, only to find that I couldn’t.My wrists were bound to the arms of the chair. Tight, coarse rope burned against my skin when I moved even an inch.Panic came next, rising in my throat like bile.Where was I? What happened?The last thing I remembered was the knock and no answer—and then the hand, the scarf. The scent was sharp, chemical, laced with something that made my mind go dark in seconds.Now, here I was, tied in a place that felt like it belonged in some abandoned corner of the world.Muffled voices drifted from a r
Evangeline's POV The way Nathalie was looking at me. I couldn’t shake it off, not even as I tried to laugh it off, tried to force the moment to feel lighter and less significant. “I don’t really know much about the company,” I said with a shrug, shifting the grocery basket in my hands. “I just started a few weeks ago. Everything’s kind of a smooth.” It wasn’t a complete lie. There were things I still didn’t understand about Hunter’s Skyville since I started working there. The rules were strange, the security tighter than any corporation I had researched about and Damien…the new CEO after my ex-boss, Elias....hmm I tried not to think about him now. Tried not to let his name pull heat into my stomach or irritation to my tongue. But Nathalie’s gaze lingered on me, quiet and very curious. She didn’t press further but just smiled again, soft and glowing, like she was reassured. “No worries. It just came up when I was researching the area. The name stood out, you know?” I nodded li
Evangeline's POVThe morning sun filtered through the cheap curtains like golden fingertips, brushing against my cheek, coaxing me awake.I didn’t move.For a long moment, I just lay there—staring at the ceiling of the hotel room I’d booked for the month. It wasn’t home. At least it was mine for now. My little corner of the world. Temporary, but still a place to breathe.Eventually, I dragged myself up and padded to the bathroom. I let the shower run a bit too hot, let it sting the skin on my back until the fog in my head started to clear. Still, I couldn’t shake the weight in my chest.The dream had come again. The forest. The eyes. The feeling of being watched.I pushed it aside like I always did. Ever since I left Nathan and moved on, I have been having weird dreams especially each time I had a tantrum with that cold-hearted CEO.After dressing in high-waisted jeans and a soft knit top earthy green, my comfort color, I tied my curls into a loose bun and grabbed my tote. It was the