LOGINITALY Italy breathed differently.Not like California's sharp glass-and-steel lungs, nor Cade City’s greedy metallic rhythm.Italy breathed slowly. Deeply. Like a land that had seen too much and decided to carry its grief with elegance.The jet touched down at a private airfield outside Salerno. When Amara stepped out, dusk kissed her skin, warm and orange, carrying the faint scent of sea salt and old stone. But she didn’t stop to inhale. Didn’t lift her face to the sun.Grief did not allow indulgence.She walked past the waiting car without a word. The driver scrambled to open the back door, but Amara slid into the front seat instead, eyes fixed straight ahead, voice low and clipped—deadly in its composure.“To the cemetery.”Those three words turned the air inside the car grave-cold.The drive took thirty minutes. Amara didn’t speak once. Not when the coastline appeared in glittering strokes. Not when they passed lemon groves glowing gold. Not when they cut through the narrow ancie
Ethan Cade did not drink coffee.He consumed it.Like ammunition.Shot after shot.Cup after cup.And tonight, his desk was littered with the husks—porcelain soldiers slain in battle—evidence of the war he had been fighting for hours without pause.The skyline outside his office windows bled gold into midnight, skyscrapers gleaming like polished blades. The Cade Enterprises tower stood tallest, proudest, its crown touching the sky like it owned the damn hemisphere.Tonight, though, ownership felt… negotiable.He’d been pacing for nearly three hours, one hand buried in his hair, the other holding the remnants of yet another cappuccino he didn’t remember finishing. His usually flawless shirt was wrinkled, sleeves shoved past his elbows, tie discarded entirely.His empire was bleeding.Barely.But bleeding all the same.And that was unacceptable.Completely. Absolutely. Violently unacceptable.Ethan halted mid-stride, eyes darting across the scattered reports on his desk—projections, los
The silence between them thickened, humming like a struck wire. For the first time since she walked into the café, Amara—Elara—felt the ground tilt underneath her. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t even shock. It was that old, sour taste of a life she had buried with her own hands trying to claw its way back up through the dirt. Daelan waited until her fingers stopped digging into her palms before he finally spoke. “I need a favor,” he said quietly. The word favor tasted wrong coming from him. From her little experience with him, she knew he wasn’t a man who asked for things. He extracted them. Strategized them. Bent circumstances until they surrendered. Hearing him ask… it set off alarms. Amara raised her chin, expression cold again. “You’re going to have to try harder than blackmail-by-name, Daelan.” “It’s about Damien.” Her brows twitched, just barely. She sat back, arms folding, irritation cutting clean through the lingering shock. “Oh please. I don’t know him. You said it yours
The café was quiet in that expensive, intentional way — muted lighting, arched windows, the faint hum of jazz floating like smoke. A place designed to look casual while hiding the fact that every cup of coffee cost enough to feed a family.Amara slipped into it like she owned it.Black coat. Hair pinned. Expression carved from marble.She spotted Daelan immediately — corner table, back to the wall, posture loose but eyes watching every entrance and exit like he was mapping escape routes.She approached without slowing, heels clicking sharp and precise across the polished floors.He stood when she reached the table — a gentleman gesture from a man who was anything but gentle — and she waved him down before he could even open his mouth.“Let’s get to the point, Daelan.” Amara slid into her seat, crossing her legs with the elegance of someone who had decided long ago that she’d never bow again. “Why exactly did you ask to meet me?”Daelan settled back into his chair, studying her with th
VOSS INDUSTRIES – EXECUTIVE FLOOR, NIGHTThe city was a shimmering skeleton of light and glass when Amara finally stood alone in her office again. The meeting had gone exactly as planned — no, better. Ethan’s rage was a live thing, a storm she had summoned with precision, and now it was moving exactly where she wanted it to.The faint reflection of her face in the darkened window smiled back at her. Controlled. Composed. Ruthless.Kaylee had left hours ago, after delivering the final report on Cade Enterprises’ next merger target — a company Ethan was desperate to secure to stabilize the financial hemorrhage she’d orchestrated.Amara’s fingers brushed the folder absently. “You really should’ve left well enough alone, Ethan.”But of course, he never did.And that was the beauty of it — he was predictable. Always had been.She turned from the window as her phone buzzed softly on the desk. One message. Kaylee.> Phase one successful. Cade’s comms breached. Files in place. Proceed?She ty
VOSS INDUSTRIES – EXECUTIVE FLOORThe elevator chimed softly before the doors parted, revealing the kind of silence that belonged to power — expensive, deliberate, and suffocating.Ethan Cade stepped out, every line of his body honed and coiled. The staff along the corridor stiffened. No one dared to meet his gaze. He didn’t need to raise his voice; his presence alone was a command.He didn’t stop at reception. “Amara Voss,” he said, his tone clipped, low. “Tell her I’m here.”The receptionist — barely out of college, judging by the panic in her eyes — stammered, “I’m not sure she’s—”But the glass doors at the end of the hallway slid open.“Right here.”Amara stood framed by the light spilling from her office. Crisp white suit. Heels like weapons. Calm, composed and dangerous.“Ethan Cade,” she said, like she was tasting the name. “To what do I owe this unannounced pleasure?”He stalked forward, his expression unreadable but his voice sharp enough to cut through the air. “You’ve got







