LOGINDerek froze just inside the doorway, his eyes locking with Jesse’s as Jesse halted in disbelief, his chest tightening while awe and longing settled in his gaze.Derek rushed across the room and pulled Jesse into a hug so tight they both inhaled sharply, hearts hammering as they clung to each other. For a long moment, they stayed like that, breathing each other in, eyes fixed on one another, until their lips met in a deep, urgent kiss.The sound of the front door opening made them pull apart at once, their bodies stiffening as Lorenzo stepped in, his presence filling the living room with an authority that pressed heavy against the air.Derek and Jesse turned to him instinctively, catching the corner of his mouth lift in a brief smile that vanished almost immediately. Behind him, Tonia appeared, moving with a lethal grace that drew the room into stillness, and for a heartbeat, no one spoke.Derek stepped forward towards Lorenzo and bowed slightly. “Good day, Sir,” he said, his voice ste
“You need to calm down,” Harrison said quietly as he closed the door behind him, the lock settling into place as the room fell silent. Asher remained still for a moment, then took the leather chair with controlled ease, his presence steady and unyielding.Harrison sat opposite him. “I’m here because something you buried has been reopened,” he said, his tone direct. “A sealed matter from years ago. One that carried your involvement from the beginning.”Asher’s gaze did not shift.“The closure was deliberate,” Harrison continued, his words flowing without pause. “The process was engineered to end quickly and cleanly, insulated legally, structured to withstand inspection. It worked because you made sure it did.”Asher leaned back slightly, his expression unchanged. “Until it didn’t.”“Until someone reopened the path...” Harrison said. “By alignment. The details from one case began to mirror another, and once that connection surfaced, it couldn’t be unseen.”Asher’s jaw tightened slightly
“No, Dreon,” Jaden breathed, pushing him back gently even as Dreon’s mouth lingered at his neck, warm and insistent, his face half buried there while his hand traced slow, familiar paths over Jaden’s bare skin.Jaden wore only thin pajamas, no boxer beneath, the fabric riding low on his hips, exposing the curve of his waist and the teasing line of his body.“You’re avoiding me again,” Dreon said, disappointment slipping through his voice when their eyes met, the look between them heavy with want they were both pretending not to feel.“I’m not, Dreon,” Jaden cut in softly, his left hand resting Dreon’s thigh, grounding and intimate all at once. Dreon’s gaze dropped to Jaden's hand before lifting again, darker now, searching Jaden’s face for something he was not giving.“It’s been a week,” Dreon said, the edge of anger creeping in as he turned away. “A full week, and you won’t let me feel nor touch you.”“Dreon,” Jaden murmured, withdrawing his hand slowly, his eyes following the moveme
Amanda stepped inside and closed the door behind her with controlled ease. Caleb rose from beside Asher and moved toward her, his body tight with restrained urgency, his eyes flicking past her shoulder once before returning to her face as if searching for an answer she had not yet given.“What happened?” Caleb asked, concern evident despite the effort he made to keep his voice steady.Asher's gaze lifted to Amanda and then shifted briefly to Caleb before returning to her.“Amanda?” Caleb said, his voice cool and exact.“He’s fine,” Amanda replied calmly.“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Caleb said, the words controlled even as a tight pull settled deep in his chest.“We found him with a man Jaden said came to his rescue,” Amanda explained, her eyes never leaving Caleb’s. “During the exchange, the man was shot. His name is Dreon. Jaden requested to stay and look after Dreon.”Caleb studied her, his gaze narrowing slightly as if measuring the weight of every word she spoke, t
“You keep moving,” Amanda breathed as she crossed the breach, gun already up, eyes cutting through smoke and broken light.Zeph nodded once, already turning, his focus snapping left as a shape peeled out of the haze. He fired without slowing, the shot dropping the man before his weapon cleared his chest.Fred moved in behind Amanda, tight and fast, Tamara tracking his shoulder as they advanced, her breathing steady as she fired twice at a man who fell dead immediately to the ground.Steel flashed at Naomi’s heels as she pulled free the first chakram, releasing it in the same motion, the blade slicing clean through the smoke and biting into a throat. She spun, the second leaving her hand in a smooth arc, severing the wrist of a man pointing his gun at Fred, sending his weapon clattering away.A flash burst from the upper bar, and Zeph fired on instinct, the shot snapping the shooter’s head back.Movement slid in from the left, and Fred met it head-on, driving his shoulder into the man’
“We got him,” Alex said, his voice low and certain as he led Dreon down the narrow hallway, the overhead lights humming while their footsteps rang softly against the concrete.Dreon stayed silent, his attention fixed forward as the corridor opened into a room guarded by two armed men. The space was tight and stark, and as he stepped inside, his eyes caught on the chair positioned beneath a single hanging light, where Jaden was bound fast.Jaden’s wrists were pulled tight behind the metal frame, his ankles secured, his mouth sealed, and a dark cloth knotted firmly over his eyes. Dreon’s breath caught as recognition crept in slowly, then all at once, sliding down his spine. His eyes found Jaden’s hair first, the familiar shape, then followed the line of his shoulders and posture, and a broken breath slipped from Dreon before denial could even form.“No,” Dreon breathed, the word slipping out as shock widened his eyes crossing the room in quick strides, ignoring Alex’s startled look, his







