Inez stirred awake, her body aching with exhaustion. A dull pain throbbed at her side, a reminder of the mission she had completed earlier that day.
It hadn’t been an easy one. She had pushed herself past her limits, and now her body was making her pay for it.Her limbs felt heavy, and her head pounded slightly as she blinked against the dim light of her room.She rarely allowed herself to rest this much. Normally, she was up before everyone else, ensuring that the mansion was running smoothly. But today was different. Today, her body had given her no choice but to slow down.The bullet wound which Mariana, her sister had helped her treat before she returned home, Hurts like hell.She couldn’t remember the last time she had sustained a bullet wound in a mission in many years.A sharp knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts.“Inez?” A voice called from the other side. It was one of the younger maids, her tone hesitant but concerned.InezBrayden’s eyes fluttered open, the dim light of morning seeping through the edges of the curtains. His head throbbed with an intensity that made his stomach turn. He blinked slowly, trying to focus, but everything around him felt blurry and distant. His hand instinctively moved to his temples, rubbing them gently in an effort to relieve the pressure building inside his skull. The pain was relentless, pounding in time with his heartbeat, and it took all his willpower not to groan aloud. He felt like he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in weeks. His muscles ached, his body felt heavy, as if the weight of the world was pressing down on him.With a soft grunt, Brayden slowly shifted, trying to sit up. The motion triggered a wave of dizziness, forcing him to close his eyes and steady himself. His head swam, and the room seemed to tilt ever so slightly. He let out a shallow breath and held on to the edge of the bed for support, waiting for the spinning to stop.
Brayden’s phone buzzed in his hand, the vibration pulling him from the heavy thoughts swirling in his mind. He glanced down at the screen and saw Inez’s name flashing. With a sigh, he pressed the green button to accept the call.“Inez,” he greeted, his voice low, tinged with exhaustion. The events of the past hours had worn on him, but he couldn’t afford to show weakness. Not now.“Brayden, what’s the situation? Where are you?” Inez asked, her tone efficient, as always. She had an uncanny ability to cut through any situation and get to the heart of the matter.Brayden rubbed his thumb over the screen of the phone, staring at the vast emptiness of the forest before him. “Send a car to my location,” he instructed, his words deliberate. “I need it to be here in the next thirty minutes. Also, prepare the villa on the island. I’ll be heading there for the night.”Inez didn’t ask questions, didn’t try to read between the lines. She simply responded with
Darla’s laugh suddenly rang out, a harsh, mocking sound that reverberated through the cold room. She threw her head back, as though Brayden’s threats were nothing more than a joke. Her eyes were full of defiance, her voice steady, even as she taunted him. “You think I’m scared of you, Brayden?” she scoffed, shaking her head. “I’d rather die than give you any information about my father. I’d rather rot here than spill anything.”Brayden stood in front of her, unmoving, his face expressionless as he glanced at his wristwatch. The second hand ticked slowly, each passing moment feeling heavier than the last. He didn’t flinch, didn’t react to her defiance. His eyes remained locked on hers, cold and calculating. Time, he thought. Time was something he no longer had the luxury of.“Time’s up,” he announced flatly, his voice devoid of any emotion.In an instant, Brayden’s calm demeanor shattered. He reached for the pistol at his side and fired two q
Brayden’s car screeched to a halt in front of the underground facility, the engine still rumbling as he stepped out. He moved quickly, his boots clicking against the cold concrete as he walked with purpose toward the steel door. His thoughts raced, each step bringing him closer to the answers he needed, each second more pressing than the last. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.As Brayden entered the facility, the heavy door slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing in the otherwise silent hall. The atmosphere inside was grim and cold, with dim lighting hanging from the ceiling. It felt like a place where secrets were kept, and lives were traded for information. It was a place where people either came out alive with answers or never came out at all.The sound of footsteps echoed ahead, and Brayden saw Ryder standing by the interrogation room, waiting for him. The man was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
Brayden stood frozen in place, watching Penelope as she stormed out of the house, her footsteps quick and frantic. Her tears were evident, trailing down her cheeks like a river of hurt that Brayden couldn’t seem to stop. His chest tightened, an ache that gnawed at him. He reached out instinctively, his body moving toward her, but before he could take a step, he saw Rosa behind him, leaning casually against the doorway, her arms crossed, an arrogant smile playing on her lips.“Well, that went exactly how I expected,” Rosa remarked, her voice laced with satisfaction. “It’s almost as if you’ve forgotten who I am, Brayden.”His blood began to boil, anger surging through him like a tidal wave. But there was something worse—a gnawing sense of helplessness that twisted inside him. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Penelope, but that was exactly what was happening. And it seemed like nothing he did was going to stop it.“Don’t you dare,” Brayden ground out
Brayden stood in the spacious living room of his villa, his eyes scanning over the collection of her belongings he had just brought upstairs to help her settle in. As he placed the last bag down near the bed in the guest room, he took a deep breath and stared out the window, the night stretching out before him in silence. The villa, which had always felt like home, now felt cold and unfamiliar in the wake of recent events. The strange combination of guilt and anger gnawed at him.Just as he was about to step out, he heard the sound of movement coming from his bedroom. Frowning, he turned to the door and walked down the corridor toward the room, his footsteps heavy with impatience. When he entered, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring in disbelief.The room was completely transformed. Soft candles were scattered across every surface, their warm glow illuminating the space in a way that made it feel more like a honeymoon suite than the space he used to re