LOGINELON’S POV The gunshot thundered through the mansion; my ears immediately started to ring. For a split second, everything froze. Then Fort yanked me backward by the arm just as another shot sounded from upstairs and glass shattered somewhere in the darkness. “Down,” he commanded. We dropped behind the staircase in one fluid motion. My heart pounded against my ribs while thunder cracked outside, illuminating the pitch-black rooms with each jagged flash. “What the hell is happening?” I whispered. No one replied. Footsteps pounded overhead—fast, running. I heard Nathaniel curse in the gloom. Then Evelyn’s sharp voice cut through the darkness: “They found us.” My stomach clenched at her words. Another gunshot cracked overhead, splintering wood near the railing. Fort was already moving, calmly drawing a pistol from inside his coat. “You had a gun this whole time?” I blurted. “Elon,” he said coolly. “Right. Bad timing.” Somebody slammed into a hallway wall upstairs, shak
FORT’S POVFor a few seconds, I genuinely thought I was hallucinating.Not metaphorically.Not emotionally.Actually hallucinating.Because there was no logical explanation for Evelyn standing at the top of the staircase looking calm and alive while rain battered the windows behind her like the world itself was trying to force its way inside.Two years.Two years of grief.Two years of silence.Two years of forcing myself to function after identifying her car at the bottom of the ocean cliffs.And now she stood in front of me wearing black silk and that same unreadable expression I used to spend entire nights trying to decode.Beside her, Nathaniel leaned lazily against the railing as if this entire situation wasn’t catastrophic.I hated him immediately.The mansion suddenly felt too small.Too cold.The scent of rain drifted through the open doorway behind us while thunder rolled across the ceiling overhead.Still, Evelyn didn’t move.Didn’t smile again.Didn’t look guilty.That part
ELON’S POVThere were certain sentences capable of ruining an entire evening instantly.“We found Nathaniel” was apparently one of them.“In Evelyn Vale’s old house.”That part somehow made it significantly worse.The atmosphere inside the penthouse changed so fast it felt physically violent.One second Fort had me pinned against the edge of the table kissing me like he was trying to forget the world existed.The next—every trace of warmth disappeared from him completely.It was honestly terrifying how quickly he could become cold again.“Mara,” Fort said calmly beside me, which was impressive considering his expression looked one inconvenience away from homicide, “how exactly did Nathaniel gain access to that property?”Her voice crackled faintly through the speaker.“The security system was manually overridden from inside the residence.”Silence.Oh, good.That sounded deeply horrifying.Fort held my gaze for one brief second before taking the phone from my hand.“Is he still there
ELON’S POVAdrian left forty minutes later.Not dramatically.Which somehow felt more dramatic for him.One moment he was leaning against the kitchen counter drinking expensive whiskey like a morally questionable cryptid, and the next he was buttoning his coat while the storm battered the penthouse windows.Before leaving, he paused near the doorway and looked directly at Fort.“You’re spiraling,” he said calmly.Fort didn’t even glance up from the documents spread across the dining table.“I’m working.”“No,” Adrian replied. “You’re avoiding.”I looked between them cautiously.Honestly, it felt less like a conversation and more like two dangerous men fencing emotionally.Fort finally lifted his eyes.“And yet you’re still here.”Adrian smiled faintly.“Unfortunately, I like you.”“That sounds like poor judgment.”“Usually.”Then Adrian’s gaze shifted toward me briefly.“Try not to let him isolate himself tonight.”Fort looked deeply unimpressed.“Elon is not my emotional support anim
FORT’S POVI disliked fear.Not because it made people weak.Because it made them irrational.And irrational people made mistakes.The problem was that The Circle understood leverage exceptionally well.Which meant the phone in my hand was not a bluff.By the time we returned to the penthouse, the rain had become violent enough to drown the city in silver.Elijah was in surgery under federal protection.Police had flooded the Harbor District.And somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Nathaniel Hale had vanished completely.Convenient.Very convenient.The elevator ride upstairs passed in tense silence.Elon stood beside me watching carefully without asking questions for once.Adrian remained near the back wall, expression unreadable.Still thinking.Still calculating.The moment the penthouse doors opened, I walked directly toward my private office.“Elon,” I said calmly, “go to bed.”He stared at me.“You cannot possibly think I’m going to sleep right now.”“Yes.”“That’s actually in
ELON’S POVThe moment the stranger uttered her name, everything shifted.Not with a dramatic flourish.Not in a loud, unsettling manner.But worse.Silently.Fort became completely still beside me, his body radiating a tension that felt sharp enough to crack bone.Rain pounded against the dockyard, each drop merging with the thick, stranglehold of tension that saturated the air, making it difficult to breathe. And suddenly—An unsettling realization dawned on me: there were vast, shadowy corners of Fort’s life that I hadn’t even begun to understand.“Especially the files connected to Evelyn.”The stranger’s voice was calm, almost chillingly so.Controlled.Like he had just dropped a lit match into a pool of gasoline, waiting for the inevitable explosion.My gaze flicked to Fort, instinctively searching for a glimpse of the man I thought I knew.His expression had turned cold, a chilling frost I hadn’t seen before.Not anger.Not irritation.This was something deeper.Older.And that,
Elon’s POVThey didn’t take me far.Just down a corridor, through a side passage, and into a room that felt like it had never seen daylight.The moment the door slammed shut behind us, Everything narrowed int
Fort’s POVThe moment the lights went out, something in me shifted.It was the knowledge that something or someone a lot more dangerous than we can assume, wanted that package desperate enough to play dirty.An emo
Fort’s POVThirty minutes, My eyes flicked to my watch again.It had been Thirty Minutes.My jaw clenched slightly as I lowered my wrist, forcing my facial expression to remain neutral as another guest passed by me with a polite smile I didn&
Elon's POV "I've heard through reliable sources that you have informations that I might find valuable in your possession. But if you must know, I don't ask for free...I offer entertainment in exchange for whatever you might be offering..."The moment I said that, Chen's eyes narrowed sharply, this







