🔥 Michael has just bowed his head to Fernando’s command—but will his silence last? How much longer can he endure Fernando’s control before he breaks? 👉 Stay tuned for the next chapter, where obedience and rebellion clash.
Fernando’s POV The call had ended with a bang. Not a click, not static, not even the tired drone of a battery running out.No—what I heard was the kind of bang that echoed down to your bones, the kind that ripped the air apart and filled it with the smell of iron and dread.Michael.My mind screamed his name before my lips could.I stared at the phone in my hand, at the glowing screen that suddenly felt as cold as ice. The last thing in the background was that sound—that single, merciless gunshot.“No…” I whispered, the word breaking against the back of my throat. My fingers clenched hard around the phone until I almost snapped it in two.Had Michael been shot?The thought was like gasoline poured straight into my blood. My chest tightened, fury and panic battling for dominance. I wanted to run—just run toward wherever Archer had taken him—but I couldn’t. Not with Harold and his men standing right here, their rifles gleaming, their eyes sharp as wolves.Beside me, Marlo’s breath w
Archer’s POV My hand was tight around Michael’s collar, the barrel of my gun pressing dangerously against his temple. His heartbeat pulsed under my palm like a drum that wanted to break through his ribs.Around us, Fernando’s men were crouched behind cars and walls, their guns drawn, every muscle tight. They thought I was a madman. Maybe I was.But I wasn’t letting go. Not now. Not when everything I wanted was within reach.“Archer, listen to me,” Michael’s voice was strained, his throat dry from the way I gripped him, but he still tried. “This isn’t the way. You think this stunt—holding me like this—is going to change Fernando’s mind? You think putting a gun to my head will make him look at you with love instead of fury?”I laughed, though it was bitter and ugly. “You’re only saying that because it’s you in my grip, Michael. If our places were switched, if you were the one begging every day for his attention and getting nothing but scraps, maybe you would understand why I’m here.”
Fernando’s POV My car sat like a wounded beast on the outskirts of the city, its once-pristine body riddled with bullet holes. And across from me, standing too calmly for a man who had orchestrated such a stunt, was Harold.I clenched my fists, my chest rising and falling with fury that burned so hot it blurred the edges of my vision.This was how they wanted to stop me? This was what they thought I would accept?A polite conversation wrapped in gunfire and bullet casings.Marlo stood at my left, his face twisted in disbelief. His eyes darted between the ruined car and Harold. Emilio stood to my right, his jaw tight, lips pressed thin, his usually calm demeanor straining under the weight of insult.“Are you seeing this?” Marlo finally broke, his voice trembling with outrage. He gestured wildly at the smoking wreck that used to be my car. “Are you actually seeing this? You riddled our car with bullets just to… what? What, Harold? To talk?”His voice cracked on the last word, sharp as
Michael’s POV I could still feel Ashley trembling against me. The both of us were pressed into the hardwood floor of her apartment, the coldness of it biting through my clothes, the smell of anger and fear clinging to the air.My arms wrapped tightly around her, not only to comfort her, but to remind myself that I was still alive—that, somehow, despite the cold metallic crowd of guns aimed at us, I was breathing.Archer’s shadow loomed above us. I could hear his breath, ragged, uneven, the kind of breath that belonged to a man who was seconds away from unraveling. His gun didn’t waver, not really—he had too much discipline for that—but his eyes were a storm.Behind him, his men stood in a semi-circle, weapons drawn, their focus split between us and the muffled bursts of gunfire echoing through the building’s hallway. Every shot was a reminder that this was no bluff—Fernando’s men were here, fighting, clawing their way toward us.The war outside only proved what Archer already feare
Fernando’s POV The sound of automatic fire became a storm around us. Emilio cursed under his breath, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles went pale. Marlo already had his gun out, his body shielding mine as if he would absorb every bullet if it came to it.I stayed bent low in the backseat, every nerve in my body alive with fury. Who had dared? Which of my enemies had grown insane enough, suicidal enough, to attack me like this?I had seen betrayal before, I had lived with it, but this was a declaration of war.The windshield cracked again. Emilio slammed his head lower as sparks flew from the dashboard. “We can’t stay like this, boss! They’ll rip the car apart piece by piece!”Marlo’s arm pressed hard against me, forcing me lower. “Stay down, boss. Do not move. I’ll deal with whoever the bastard is that thought this was smart.”I swallowed a sharp breath, my voice a low growl. “Who? Who would be insane enough to come at me in broad daylight?”“They’re not cartel,”
Archer’s POV I had Michael right where I wanted him, and I wasn’t about to let him get close enough to change that.The sharp crack of my gunshot still echoed off the apartment walls, leaving behind the sharp smell of gunpowder that clung to the air. Michael froze where he stood, his chest rising and falling, his hands half-lifted in that practiced way he always did whenever he wanted to look less threatening. But I knew better. I had learned my lesson the hard way—he was fast, sharper than he looked, and dangerous when underestimated.I still remembered the humiliation of the last time I tried this—when Michael had turned the tables on one of my men, stripping the gun right out of his hand as though he were taking candy from a child. Never again. My pulse hammered at the memory, and the sound of my warning shot was as much for me as it was for him.“Stay the hell where you are,” I snapped, my gun pointed straight at his chest. My voice came out harsher than I had intended, vibrat