LOGINCHAPTER SIXTY-FOURThe car ride to Diamond Group feels longer than it actually is.I sit in the back seat, staring out the window at Caracas passing by in a blur of color and movement. The driver navigates through traffic with practiced ease, but every minute feels like an eternity.My heart is beating too fast. Anxiety mixing with something else I don't want to name.Because I don't want to see her.Don't want to face Seraphina after last night. After what she did to me. What they both did to me.The thought of looking into those ice-blue eyes, of pretending everything is normal and professional when she knows exactly how I sound when I'm begging...I can't.But I don't have a choice.The car pulls up in front of Diamond Group headquarters. The same building I stood in front of just two days ago. When everything was simpler. When I thought I was just starting an internship.Before everything spiraled completely out of control."We're here, ma'am," the driver says.I take a breath. Fo
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREEI woke up and immediately felt like my body had been crushed under a mountain. A dull, heavy ache settled into my muscles, but the sharpest sensation was the lingering heat between my legs.The memories of last night rushed back in a blurred, dizzying flood.I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as I stared at the ceiling, replaying the way their hands had moved over me. They hadn't actually penetrated me, they hadn’t taken that final step, but it didn't matter.It felt like I had been unraveled from the inside out, every secret nerve ending exposed and set on fire.I struggled to sit up, my head swimming. The room was unfamiliar, cold and expensive-looking.Then it clicked. Seraphina had won the argument at the gala; she had brought us here to her penthouse instead of going back to Dante’s territory.I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and my knees nearly buckled. I hadn’t gotten a single hour of real sleep.My body was exhausted, yet it felt strangely alive,
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREEThe flashbulbs and the suffocating whispers of the gala finally faded as the elevator doors of the Corvinus Grand Plaza hissed shut. My head was spinning. The emerald silk of my dress felt like a second skin, one that had been marked by their hands all evening under the table.Dante was a dark, brooding presence to my left, his chest heaving with a restlessness that made the small space feel like it was vibrating. To my right, Seraphina stood with a terrifying, icy stillness."I am not going back to your mansion tonight, Dante," Seraphina said, her voice cutting through the silence like a diamond against glass. "The press is already swarming your gates. My penthouse is private. Secured. And unlike your home, it is designed for the kind of education Elena requires tonight."Dante let out a low, guttural growl that vibrated in my very bones. "She is staying with me.""She is staying where she is safe," Seraphina countered, turning her ice-blue eyes toward me. "And wh
CHAPTER SIXTY - ONE The flight to Venezuela is uncomfortable.Not physically, Dante's private jet is as luxurious as expected. Leather seats. Full bar. More space than a normal person knows what to do with.But emotionally, the tension is suffocating.I'm seated between them. Dante on my left. Seraphina on my right.Neither of them speaks much. Just occasionally order drinks from the flight attendant. Check their phones. Respond to emails.But I can feel them watching me. Can feel the weight of their attention even when I'm looking straight ahead."Why are you doing this?" I ask finally. "Why does it matter if I go to this gala?"Seraphina looks up from her phone. "Because appearances matter, Elena. Because the world needs to see you with me.""And with me," Dante adds."But why? What does that accomplish?""It sends a message," Seraphina says calmly. "To everyone who might think about challenging me. About challenging us.""What message?""That you're taken," Dante says. His hand se
CHAPTER SIXTYAnd I'm left standing alone in the guest room, staring at the garment bag like it's a snake about to strike.For the first time, I feel truly ganged up against.These two are supposed to be arch enemies. Vampires and werewolves don't cooperate. Don't agree on anything.But they just agreed on this.And that's absolutely the most dangerous thing that could happen.Because it's one thing when they're fighting each other. When they're at odds. Then I can play them against each other. Use their rivalry to maintain some semblance of control.But when they agree? When they're united in what they want?I'm completely powerless.And I just realized exactly how bad this situation really is.I don't have five minutes.Seraphina is back in three.She doesn't knock this time. Just opens the door and walks in like she owns the place.Which, technically, she doesn't. This is Dante's mansion.But the way she moves through space, you'd never know it."You're not ready," she observes.I'
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINEELENA'S POV"Ariel, I promise I will tell you all about it, but right now there is nothing I can do."I'm trying to sound neutral. Casual. Like this is all perfectly normal.Like spending the night at my boss's mansion, my female boss who claims I'm her mate, is just a standard internship requirement."So, Elena." Ariel's voice comes through the phone, skeptical and concerned in equal measure. "You're trying to tell me that on your first day of work, Seraphina Corvinus...the Ice Queen herself, conveniently comes to the company, which is absolutely rare, by the way, and she asks you to follow her home to do further work?"She pauses. I can practically hear her eyebrow raising through the phone."And you just... went? Just like that?"I shrug even though she can't see me. "I'm as surprised as you are, Ariel. But there's nothing I can do. You know this internship means a lot to me. You know the kind of opportunities I'm getting from this. I just have to play along for
CHAPTER SIXTEENI look at him, feeling a confusing mix of emotions churning in my stomach.Shy. That's the dominant one. Followed closely by anger. And underneath it all, a thread of something I don't want to examine too closely."Is everything about sex to you?" The question comes out more timid t
CHAPTER FOURTEENI wake up with a pounding headache.The first thing I register is brightness. Sunlight streaming through those massive floor-to-ceiling windows, hitting me directly in the face with an intensity that makes my eyes water.I groan and squeeze my eyes shut again, turning my face away
CHAPTER THIRTEEN:I spread my arms wide. Stopped fighting."You've already taken everything from me. My freedom. My life. My future. You've separated me from everyone I know, paused my entire existence, trapped me in this gilded cage."My voice cracks."Might as well take this too. What's one more
CHAPTER SIXDante walks toward me slowly, deliberately, until he's only inches away.I can feel the heat radiating off his body. Can smell that intoxicating mix of expensive cologne and something wild that makes my wolf stir restlessly.I refuse to back away. Refuse to give him the satisfaction of







