LOGINAnd this is the end of Arc One. If you’ve made it this far, then you already feel it—the tension, the questions, and the things that don’t quite add up. Quinn is only just beginning to unravel, and every answer is going to come with a cost. So tell me… what do you think is really going on? I’d love to hear your thoughts, your theories, and what you think happens next. Stay with me, because this is where everything changes.
QUINN“Don’t do that,” I said quietly.My voice didn’t shake, but something inside me did. Because what he just said sounded unbelievable.“Don’t do what?” he retorted.I inhaled. “What you just said sounds impossible.”A smile curved on his lips.“Nothing I said is impossible.” He didn’t argue but spoke calmly like a fact. I let the words sink in for a while before responding.“That is your assumption,” I said, “do you just throw words around because of a photo given to me by Xavier? Or are you just building conclusions out of fragments?’“I have more than assumptions,” he said quietly. “I have proof.”“Then show me, I said.He paused and watched me, as if deciding something. Then slowly, he turned and moved toward the far side of the office where a built-in panel was stuck to the wall. He placed his right hand against the surface, and it clicked and unlocked.Watching him, he was deliberately slow. A way of saying that whatever was behind the panel was not something he accessed ca
QUINNMy fingers tightened slowly around the phone. I didn’t move immediately.My heartbeat didn’t spike; it steadied. And that was when I knew I was no longer afraid of what was behind me. Whatever was waiting, it wouldn’t be just danger, but another answer.Slowly, I turned. He was already watching me when my eyes caught him. He stood straight. Apparently, he had been there long before I noticed him.His gaze didn’t search; it landed on me directly. Somehow, he always managed to know where I would be.I exhaled. “You made me think it was someone else.”“You went to him.”Morrison’s voice cut through the space between us. I didn’t reply to him immediately because he already knew the answer.We both stood on the building that had Mr. Jason’s office, and with all that had been going on, who else would I come here to see?“You already know the answer,” I said.His eyes moved over my face slowly and deliberately. I didn’t flinch a bit.“We shouldn’t talk here,” he said.I went closer, co
QUINN“Does the name ring a bell?”I watched him closely. Because this was a trap, not a question.Mr. Jason tapped his fingers on the table, like he just realized who betrayed him. The calm expression he wore so perfectly cracked, and something darker slipped through. Fear.That was all I needed. Fear was a language I understood very well now. I had used it before on Seraphina, and it worked. And, this man I called father, wouldn’t be an exception.“Where did you hear that name?’His voice finally came, lower than before.I didn’t answer immediately. His reaction was more important to study than my answers.“You know him,” I said.His jaw tightened. “That is not what I asked.”“And that’s not what I said.”Every sentence sharpened the tension further. I folded my arms tightly across my chest, and for a moment, it didn’t look like we were having a conversation anymore.It was slowly becoming a standoff. And neither of us intended to walk away unscathed.I leaned back slightly in my ch
QUINN“Then who am I?”At this point, I was no longer asking out of curiosity. I was asking because I was beginning to fear the answer.He didn’t speak immediately after my last question. The silence stretched across the room carefully.I walked away from where I stood near the bookshelf to my original position when I came into the office first. A seat just across him, facing him.As I watched him, I imagined the evil he was capable of. Perhaps, calm on the outside and dangerous underneath.The ones who never raised their voices and smiled even while their bodies remained hidden in their secret room. Men like him were the most dangerous. My fingers tightened slowly against my lap.Then suddenly, a bullet tore through my face.The sound came a second later, loud, violent and close enough to kill. Wind rattled the windows violently.I pressed a shaking hand on my chest as a sharp blur slammed into my head. Hands dragged my body across something hard.“Move it. Move it.” I heard the voic
QUINNSleep never came.I lay in the darkness staring at the ceiling while Morrison’s voice kept replaying in my head. He sounded like a man trying not to fall apart completely.I turned sharply on the bed and shut my eyes tightly. No. I refuse to feel guilty for him. He had destroyed too many things already for me to pity him now. I tossed my body, trying to sleep, but sleep eluded me, avoided me like a plague. I sat abruptly and dragged both hands through my hair.Everyone around me acted like they were carrying pieces of the same secret. And I was the only person locked outside of it.The vibration of my phone snapped me out of my thoughts.*Be Careful Who You Trust* ~ Joe.A cold feeling settled instantly in my stomach. Why would he text that instead of saying it to my face?I stared at the screen for a long moment before slowly dropping the phone.The apartment suddenly felt unnaturally quiet. Only the sound of distant sirens rang in the air.I stood and walked to the window o
SERAPHINAI entered the car and slammed the door, almost aggressively.Perhaps that would keep humiliation from following me inside.My hands tightened around the steering wheel while Jasper’s voice continued echoing viciously in my head. “Quinn.”The way he called that name, as if he longed for her. Like she infiltrated his mind and soul and gave him no breathing space. It kept replaying in my head.I shut my eyes briefly.I stood by Jasper, believing Quinn no longer existed emotionally between us. She was simply his wife by Law and nothing more.That was how the arrangement was supposed to be. So when exactly did she become the third person on our bed? My body folded around the hurt instinctively.I laughed bitterly under my breath and started the engine.“No,” I whispered sharply.I refuse to panic. I am a woman of strategy who does not stop until it has happened. And that is exactly what I would do. Strategy!The car pulled into the road smoothly while the city lights reflected







