Ocean’s POVThe warehouse air was damp and stale, smelling faintly of rust and old oil. Ocean hugged her knees against her chest, her wrists raw where the zip-ties had cut into them. The men who had snatched her were ghosts now—slipping in and out without speaking, leaving her alone with nothing but the echo of dripping water and the scrape of rats in the corners.She had counted the hours by the slivers of light under the door. Five times it had brightened and dimmed. Five times she had whispered Paul’s name under her breath like a prayer.She thought of Sebastian—not the CEO, not the power player—but the man who once knelt beside her hospital chair and brushed her hair back, promising, “I’m not going to let you go through this alone.” That memory hurt worse than the cold concrete beneath her.Footsteps approached. A man in a leather jacket stepped inside, his face masked by shadow. “Your boyfriend thinks he runs the city,” he
Sebastian’s POVThe elevator doors slid open on the top floor of Veyron Industries, spilling Sebastian into a corridor lined with glass walls and the quiet hum of ambition. The skyline beyond the windows was a jagged heartbeat of neon and smog, but today it felt like a cage. The company’s empire—his empire—looked as pristine as ever, but Sebastian knew the cracks weren’t in the building. They were in him.The boardroom’s polished table was already occupied by a handful of directors whispering in clipped tones. A rival conglomerate had been circling like vultures since the scandal with Isla’s family name leaked. The whispers weren’t just about market shares; they were about loyalty, about whether their once-impenetrable CEO could still hold the line.Sebastian set his leather folder on the table and forced a calm nod. “Let’s get started.”Mara, his chief of operations, cleared her throat. “They’re offering a hostile buy-in on the Eastern branch, Sebastian. If we don’t counter by next
Behind us, tires screeched—Rico’s SUV slammed through a side gate, headlights blazing. Lucas leaned out the window, firing warning shots into the air. The gunmen scattered like rats.We dove into the SUV’s backseat. Rico floored it, fishtailing onto the main road as the rain turned into a downpour that swallowed the city’s neon glow.An hour later, inside an anonymous condo overlooking Makati’s skyline, the room buzzed with low voices and the beeping of medical equipment. Lucas disinfected my shoulder while Rico reinforced the door. Ocean sat wrapped in a blanket on the sofa, wet hair clinging to her cheeks. She looked at me like she wanted to both hit me and hold me.> Ocean: “You could’ve died.”Sebastian: “Better me than you.”Ocean “That’s not a choice I asked you to make.”Sebastian: “It’s the only one I’ll ever make.”Her lips parted, but no words came. Instead, a tear slipped down her cheek—silent, devastating.I reached out, brushing it away with my good hand. The closeness wa
Sebastian s POV The city lights streaked past in molten ribbons as I gunned the accelerator, the wail of a distant siren blending with the thundering in my chest. Ocean’s recorded voice still echoed in my ears: Don’t give up on me. As if there was a universe where I ever could. The GPS coordinates pulsed on the stolen phone—an abandoned rail yard on the edge of Manila’s port district. Every instinct screamed trap, but hesitation wasn’t an option. I dialed Damien again on speaker. > Sebastian: “Shadow me, but hang back five blocks. No headlights. If they see you, she’s dead.” Damien: “Copy. Rico’s already rerouting drones. Sebastian… don’t let anger cloud you.” Sebastian: “Anger’s the only thing keeping me upright right now.” The rain started again, spattering the windshield like warning shots. The yard was a skeleton of rusted freight cars and twisted tracks, lit only by flickering floodlamps. My headlights cut through the mist, revealing graffiti-scarred walls and pud
Sebastian's POV Sebastian replayed the video three more times while parked on the shoulder of EDSA, traffic hissing past like a distant ocean. Every freeze-frame of Ocean’s face stabbed at him: the set of her jaw, the glint of tears that hadn’t stolen her fire. She looked terrified but unbroken—and that broke him more than if she’d begged.His hands trembled as he shoved the phone into the dash mount. “Whoever you are,” he muttered under his breath, “you just made the worst mistake of your life.”He dialed Joseph on speaker.> Sebastian: “Scrub the video metadata. Trace the sender. Cross-check cell towers near EDSA between 2:30 and 2:50.”Joseph: “Already on it. The USB drive has fragments of a shipping manifest—looks like Pier 13.”Sebastian: “Send everything to my tablet. Wake the pier contacts.”The steering wheel creaked under his grip as he accelerated, weaving through the half-as
(Sebastian POV)The City Never Sleeps, But My Heart Is Barely BreathingThe dashboard clock glowed 2:43 a.m., but Sebastian couldn’t tell if the night had just begun or if it had already bled into eternity. Manila’s streets were slick with leftover rain, neon reflections puddling on asphalt like broken glass. Every stoplight felt like a taunt, every horn blast a reminder that time kept moving—even while Isla might not be safe.He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, knuckles whitening. His phone buzzed again: another update from security—still no sighting.> Security Chief (text): “Checked both ports. Nothing. CCTV loop shows no van past the toll after 1:10.”Sebastian: She has to be somewhere. Keep looking. Double back.He shoved the phone into the console, chest heaving. The memory of Isla’s trembling fingers on his jaw during their last argument haunted him: the way her voice cracked when she whispered, “You don’t get to decide my life.” Now someone else had decided it for her