🔥 What happens when the walls of Fernando’s mansion close in tighter, and Archer’s shadow looms closer than ever? Can Michael keep Ashley safe while navigating Fernando’s dangerous obsession? 👉 Don't miss the next explosive chapter.
Fernando’s POV The morning light crept into my study with a regal slowness, gilding the edges of the world in gold. Everything was bathed in silence. The faint scratch of my pen across paper broke the stillness, ink bleeding into coded ledgers that could fall governments if read by the wrong eyes. It was names of ports, coded initials of contacts, and numbers that meant nothing to the uninitiated and everything to me. The lifeblood of my empire. And yet, my mind was not with the ledgers. Not with the shipments, not with the profits that would flow through invisible veins into my accounts. My mind wandered elsewhere. To last night. To Michael. The memory was a fever I could not shake. The warmth of his body pressed against mine in the darkness. The scent of his hair, the faint salt of sweat clinging to his skin. He had been exhausted, too spent to resist me fully, and in his exhaustion, he had yielded. Not with passion, not yet, but with the simple surrender of a man to
Fernando’s POV The dining hall was too quiet, save for the clink of silverware against porcelain. I had hoped that tonight, at least, the sound of Michael’s voice would bring some life into the room, but he barely touched his food. He pushed the roasted meat around his plate, toyed with the glass of wine Anabelle had poured, and let silence sit between him and Henry.I ate slowly, deliberately, though I had little appetite myself, but unlike Michael, I had learned long ago that appearances mattered. Even at my own table, especially at my own table, I never allowed the mask to slip.Michael’s eyes, though, told the truth. They were shadowed, weary, red at the edges as though he had been holding back tears. His broad shoulders sagged as if the very weight of the mansion rested there.But he was here.That mattered more than anything. He had come back, not for me, not directly, but because of Henry.Finally, Henry spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.“Michael, will Ashley be okay
Michael’s POV I had lost count of how long I had been pacing the cold hospital corridor. Every time a door creaked open, every time a nurse walked by with a clipboard or cart, my heart shot up into my throat, thinking maybe it’s about her, maybe it’s news about Ashley.But it never was.Ashley was still in surgery, still fighting, still on the edge.I was fighting too, but my battle was with patience, with helplessness, and with the gnawing fury that had taken root in my chest the moment that bullet tore through her body. I clenched my fists so tightly my knuckles ached.Behind me, Fernando’s voice cut through my storm.“Michael we’ve been here for hours and It’s already getting late. We should go home and you need rest. It's all we can do at this point.”I didn’t even turn to look at him. “I’m not going anywhere.”His sigh was deep, weary, like he had repeated himself too many times already. “I understand you want to stay, but what good are you to Ashley if you collapse right he
Fernando’s POV I’ll be honest, I had hoped the ambulance wouldn’t make it.Not because I was threatened by Ashley in anyway. That’s the story I tell myself, anyway. It’s easier to pretend my thoughts are cold calculations rather than something darker. But in truth, her survival was a complication I didn’t want, a burden, a problem wrapped in flesh and blood that threatened everything I had worked for.So when the sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder, slicing through the city’s noise until they reached the hospital gates, a sour heaviness pressed down on my chest. It was disappointment, cold, sharp, and undeniable.The red-and-blue lights smeared across the glass doors as they burst open. The paramedics wheeled her in, pale as wax, blood staining the sheets beneath her body.I masked my disgust with a neutral face. Michael would never forgive me if he knew what I really felt, but deep down, I wished that second ambulance had broken down too. I wished the blood loss had clai
Michael’s POV The smell of antiseptic entered my nose the second we stormed into the hospital lobby. The place buzzed with frantic activity, but none of it mattered because Ashley wasn’t here.My eyes searched every corner, every door, every corridor that led deeper into the building. I searched for the paramedics who had whisked her away in the ambulance, searched for the familiar red-and-white flash of the vehicle itself, searched for anything that proved she was here and being helped.But she wasn’t.I spun on my heel, my heart pounding against my ribcage so violently it hurt. “Where the hell is she?” My voice cracked through the sterile air, drawing startled glances from patients and nurses. “Where the hell is Ashley?”Fernando came up behind me, his hand clamping down on my shoulder like iron. “Michael, calm down—”“Don’t tell me to calm down!” I shook him off and stalked toward the nearest nurse. “The ambulance! Where’s the ambulance that was supposed to have gotten here. W
Fernando’s POVThe wail of the ambulance sirens faded into the distance, swallowed by the city’s roar, until only the shallow echo remained between the boutique walls and the trembling pavement. For a moment, the silence that followed seemed louder than the sirens themselves.Michael’s knees gave out beneath him. He stayed crouched in the middle of the parking lot, staring at the trail of blood Ashley had left smeared against the ground, as if frozen there by some invisible hand. His mouth opened, but no words came, only a strangled sound, part sob, part scream.I watched.I didn’t flinch, I didn’t even blink, inside, I felt whole in a way only justice, my justice, could deliver. Yesterday, in front of my men, she had humiliated me, her palm smacking across my face for all to see. She had dared to belittle me, to treat me as if I were some petty, powerless foolNo one slaps Fernando Ramirez and walks away alive, but I couldn’t show that satisfaction. Not here, not now.So I drew in