ログイン*Aria’s POV*The nausea hit me like a tide — sudden, overwhelming, and crushing.I barely made it to the bathroom in the master suite. The cold tiles bit into my knees as I retched into the toilet. My shoulder, still healing from the bullet wound, throbbed in protest at the violent heaving of my muscles.It had been like this for three days.I gasped for air, wiping my mouth with a trembling hand."Aria?"Lucian was at the door instantly. I heard his footsteps, heavy and urgent. He knelt beside me, his hand cool against the back of my neck."Not again," he whispered."I'm fine," I rasped, though I wasn't. The room was spinning. My stomach felt like it was twisting into knots. "It’s just... something I ate.""You haven't eaten," Lucian said sharply. "You haven't kept anything down since Tuesday."He helped me to my feet, his grip tight as if he was afraid I would crumble. He guided me to the sink. I rinsed my mouth, looking at my reflection in the mirror.I looked terrible. Pale, dark
*Aria’s POV*The hunt for Carlo began before the sun breached the horizon.Lucian didn't sleep. He sat in the command center of the mountain house, surrounded by the hum of servers and the glow of monitors, coordinating a manhunt from the isolation of the peak."Pull his financials," Lucian ordered into the secure line. "Trace his cell phone pings from the last forty-eight hours. I want to know where he slept, what he ate, and who he spoke to.""We're on it, Boss," Rylan’s voice crackled back. "We're checking his apartment in the city now."My knuckles were white as I gripped the edge of the console. The voice — Carlo's voice — echoed in his head. You have no idea what I'm capable of.It made sense. Carlo had been his shadow for five years. He knew the schedules, the routes, the security codes. He had access to the penthouse. He knew about the mountain. He fit the profile perfectly."Lucian," I said softly, placing a hand on his back. "You need to eat something.""I can't.""Adrian is
*Aria’s POV*The blizzard outside was a wall of white, erasing the world. It isolated us, cutting the mountain off from the valley below. The wind screamed against the steel frame of the house, a constant, mournful howl that set my nerves on edge.Inside, the command center was the only room that felt finished. Banks of monitors glowed in the dim light, displaying the perimeter cameras — useless white static — and the internal feeds.Lucian sat in the center of the room, a glass of whiskey untouched on the console. He was staring at a single screen that displayed the live feed from the main gate."Do you think they'll come?" I asked, standing behind him."Not tonight," Lucian said. "The roads are buried. Even Zero Day can't drive through six feet of snow.""Then why are you watching?""Because I can't sleep."I walked over and placed my hand on his shoulder. He leaned into the touch, his muscles tight as coiled springs.Suddenly, the monitors flickered.It wasn't a glitch. It was a ta
*Aria’s POV*The cleanup didn't take long. In our world, messes were disposed of with alarming efficiency.By dawn, the bodies of the Zero Day operatives were gone. The blood on the marble floor had been scrubbed until the surface gleamed, giving no indication that ten men had died there only hours ago. But the smell lingered — copper and cordite, soaked into the pores of the stone.Lucian stood in the center of the living room, issuing orders into a sat-phone. He hadn't slept. His shirt was crisp, his mask of control firmly in place, but his eyes were hollow."Burn the secondary properties," Lucian ordered. "Liquidate the offshore accounts flagged by Damian’s trace. I want us off the grid by noon.""You're collapsing the network?" Rylan asked, stunned."I'm pruning the dead branches," Lucian corrected. "If Zero Day wants to hack us, I’m giving them a closed system. No internet. No digital footprint."He turned to me."Pack warm. We leave in an hour.""The mountain?" I asked, clutchin
*Aria’s POV*The basement of the penthouse was a place where screams went to die. It was soundproofed, cold, and smelled of bleach and old copper.Lucian walked down the concrete stairs, his footsteps heavy in the silence. He had changed his shirt, but the blood on his hands felt permanent.I followed close behind, my injured arm throbbing with every step. I had insisted on coming. I needed to see the face of the man who had tried to bury us.Rylan was already down there. He stood by a heavy steel table where Silas was strapped down. The old man was awake now, the sedatives worn off. He looked terrible—battered, bruised, and pale, but his eyes were bright with a manic, hateful light."Ah," Silas rasped, his voice echoing in the small room. "The King and his Queen. Come to gloat?"Lucian didn't speak. He walked to the table and placed a heavy .45 caliber pistol on the metal surface, the metal clanging loudly."I'm not here to gloat," Lucian said. "I'm here for the name."Silas laughed,
*Aria's POV*I watched the grainy monitor in the panic room, my breath fogging the glass of the gas mask. The green haze in the penthouse was slowly dissipating, sucked out by the emergency ventilation system Damian had activated.On the screen, Rylan was zip-tying Silas’s wrists. The old monster was limp, unconscious, a bag of bones and malice on the expensive rug.But Lucian wasn't there. He was running."I see him," Rylan said, his voice tight in my ear. "He's in the stairwell. He’s heading for the garage.""Is Adrian... is he really with Victor?""The nanny isn't answering her comms," Rylan said grimly. "She's in the garage."I gripped the edge of the console. "I'm going down there.""Aria, your arm–""My son is down there."I ripped the mask off, the air tasting of bitter almonds and stale fear. I grabbed the spare pistol Rylan had left on the counter."Open the door."Rylan hesitated, then hit the release. The heavy steel slid back.I ran.---------------------------------------
*Aria’s POV*I hated him.I hated him in a way that lived under my skin, in my bones, in a quiet between heartbeats.I hated him for the room he showed me. For the monster he’d become. For the way he’d looked at me like he wanted me to carry the weight of it.And worst of all–I hated him because p
*Aria’s POV*I opened my eyes to silence. Not the peaceful kind of silence, but the one that pressed against my ears. That’s when I realized that something was wrong.I was laying naked, in Lucian’s bed.A lot of things were wrong.I didn’t remember when I fell asleep, the only thing I remembered w
*Lucian’s POV*I don’t go to her room after I leave.That restraint costs me more than the violence ever did.I walk instead – through the corridors I built, ruled, bled for – until the air feels thin enough to breathe again. The mansion is silent, obedient, perfectly ordered. It always is.That ni
*Aria’s POV*Back to the present.The corridors were too quiet. Not the peaceful kind – the kind that pressed against my ears until my thoughts grew loud and frantic. Every step echoed, every breath sounded wrong, as if the mansion itself was holding still, waiting for the moment it would exhale an







