ANMELDENPOV: ACEFucking hell.I sat in the back of the car, my hands clenched so tightly around the leather upholstery that I could hear the stitching snapping under the pressure. Every nerve ending in my body felt like it was being flayed alive. I had done it—I had played the part of the obedient, heartless Callahan heir—but the cost was a gaping, festering wound in my chest that no amount of wealth or bloodline power could ever heal.I felt absolutely terrible. Nauseous.But I had no choice. I had watched Rose stumble, watched her fake that pathetic little tear, and I knew exactly what my father would have done if I had shown even a flicker of empathy toward Vine in that dining room. The wrath he would have rained down on her wouldn't have been a simple verbal lash; it would have been permanent. I had to step up. I had to perform.And yet, seeing the way Vine’s expression had crumpled—that brief, devastating second where the light in her eyes had completely extinguished—felt worse than a
POV: VINEThe silence that followed Ace's question was deafening. I…. I couldn't believe he'd just told me that. Ha… who would've thought?The entire restaurant seemed to grind to a halt, the clinking of silverware and the murmur of polite conversation vanishing into a vacuum. He was still kneeling there, his hands protectively cupped around Rose’s apparently bloodied palm, his gaze fixed on my face with a terrifying, hollow intensity."I said, what is wrong with you?" Ace repeated, his voice dropping into a low, jagged rasp. "Apologize to her. Now."There was no way in nine hells….. fuck. Stupid me didn't even have a name for what I was feeling. It was an insane combination of heartbreak, disbelief, and a rage so sharp it felt like it was carving me open from the inside. I looked at the way he was staring at me—like I was nothing more than a stain on his perfectly curated night—and I let out a laugh. It was a jagged, bitter sound that shocked even me.Back to the bad old times, w
POV: VINEThe lobby of the social club was a nightmare of marble and polished brass, but nothing was as hard or as cold as the look Ace didn't give me.He didn't say a damn word in reply to Bluey’s jab about the captaincy. He just stood there, his jaw locked into a rigid line of steel, and then he did the one thing I didn't think he was capable of. He reached out and hauled Rose toward him by the waist, his hand sliding over the exposed skin of her back with a sickeningly possessive possessiveness."Sorry, babe," Ace said, his voice dropping into this smooth, calm, boyfriend-like register that felt like a serrated knife dragging across my nerves. "Can't stop him from being a man-child. I'm sure you're hungry. Let's get in, yeah?"I stood there like a statue, my throat tight as I swallowed the lump of bile rising there. I stepped aside, giving them a wide berth, and as they walked past me, I held my breath, waiting for the flicker of recognition. A glance. A glare. Anything.He didn't
POV: ACE"I don't know, Jaxon," I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. I stared at him, the weight of the last twenty-four hours pressing down on my shoulders like a physical mountain. "I don't have the fucking answers. When I did have the answers, when I knew exactly what to do to protect the people around me, you didn't take my advice. You chose this path, and now the consequences are written in your own blood."Jaxon was vibrating with fear, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the squat rack. "But it's Clyde. How am I supposed to just... walk away from her? How am I supposed to tell her that I’m actually bound to her sister by a triple bond that’s slowly killing us both? She’s going to think I’m a monster.""Right now, there is only one path that keeps you both breathing," I said, my tone flat and stripped of any sympathy. It was the survival of the pack, the cold logic my father had hammered into me since I was a pup. "End what hasn't even started with Clyd
POV: ACEThe basement of the Callahan estate was a fucking tomb.I was on my knees, my wrists suspended by thick, heavy-duty chains bolted into the concrete walls on either side of me. The cold iron bit into my skin, but it was nothing compared to the fire currently consuming my back. Every time the lash came down, the jagged leather strips tore into the muscle, painting the floor beneath me with a fresh, wet slick of crimson.CRACK.Another whip landed, deeper than the last, slicing through the already shredded skin of my shoulder blades. I didn't wince. I didn't even make a sound. I just stared at the concrete floor, my jaw locked so hard I could feel my molars grinding together, turning my soul into a block of black, impenetrable ice.I was here because I hadn't made the announcement. I had walked out of that boardroom, ignored every single one of my father’s instructions, and essentially spat in his face. To top it all off, I’d turned the playoffs into a personal, ego-driven blood
POV: VINEThe notification burned into my retinas. Laila’s death reopened. My sister, who had been dead and buried for years, was now the center of a new police inquiry because people in Stone Hill Valley were dropping like flies with the exact same symptoms.I didn't think. I just acted.My fingers were trembling so violently I almost dropped the phone, but I managed to navigate to the old contact entry I had saved years ago, back when I still believed in family loyalty. Officer Miller. The detective who had been assigned to the case before he was suddenly removed and reassigned to a desk job in the city.I hit call. It rang three times before he picked up."Officer Miller?" I asked, my voice barely holding together."Who's this?" He sounded tired, older than I remembered."It's Vine. Laila’s sister."There was a long, uncomfortable silence on the other end. "Look, kid. I can’t talk to you. I really can't.""Miller, the news is reporting that cases are spiking again. Similar causes o
POV: VINEThe first thing I felt when consciousness dragged me back was the heavy, suffocating weight pinning my chest and legs to the mattress, paired with a tingling numbness and dull ache throughout my lower body that I couldn't quite name. I blinked against the harsh morning light filtering th
POV: ACEThe team was still banging their sticks and cheering, filling the arena with loud, annoying noise, but I wasn't in the mood for their crap.I pulled Rose off me by her arms, squeezing hard enough to make her wince, and dragged her away from everyone, pulling her into the dark equipment tun
POV: VINEWe were still frozen in that tiny library spot. The air was so thick it felt like trying to breathe underwater. Ace’s hands were hard on my jaw, his thumb dragging across my bottom lip like he owned the space I was in."What the hell is wrong with you?" he muttered, his voice low and grav
POV: VINEA day later, I was trying hard to pretend the world wasn't falling apart around me.I tried to go back to my normal routine. I walked across the quad with my laptop bag over my shoulder, keeping my head high.But my body was a mess. The bandages on my neck chafed against my shirt collar.







