MasukEVE'S POV The abandoned boathouse at the edge of the river smelled of rot, saltwater, and fear. Police boats and Damon’s private security teams had the entire area surrounded. Helicopters thumped overhead, their spotlights cutting through the night like knives. I stood behind a police barricade, Lily’s blanket clutched in my hands, my body shaking so hard I could barely stand. Damon was a few feet ahead, coordinating with the lead negotiator and SWAT commander. Sophia was inside and cornered. After the botched raid and her temporary escape with Lily, the net had finally closed. But she still had my daughter. Our baby. The thought made my stomach twist into knots. “Stay back,” Damon told me, his voice rough. He had a fresh bandage on his side from the injury during the warehouse fight with Alex, but he refused to leave my side. “Let them handle the entry, we’ll get Lily out safely.” I nodded, but my eyes never left the boathouse. My sister...my own blood... had done this. Taken my
DAMON'S POV The warehouse smelled of rust, oil, and fear. I moved through the darkness like a shadow, my tactical vest heavy against my chest, blood already trickling from a graze on my arm from the earlier chaos. Eve was safe behind the police line with the operators, but I had broken away the moment we got confirmation Alex was holed up here alone. Sophia had slipped away with Lily again in the raid gone wrong, but this bastard... the one who had obsessed over my wife, sabotaged my company, and helped take my daughter... was finally within reach. My earpiece crackled. “Boss, we have visual. He’s in the central loading bay. Armed, but no sign of the baby.” Good, Lily wasn’t here. That meant I could end this without holding back. I kicked open a side door and stepped into the dim light of the loading bay. Alex Rivera stood in the center, gun in hand, his usually polished appearance disheveled... shirt torn, face bruised from the earlier scuffle. His eyes lit up with that sick, ob
EVE'S POV The warehouse district was a labyrinth of decay and shadows. Our armored SUVs cut through the night like predators, headlights off, relying on the chopper’s thermal guidance. Damon sat rigid beside me in the back seat, one hand locked with mine, the other gripping his phone with the live feed. His jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle ticking. The operators in the front were silent, weapons ready, and bodies tense. I was barely holding it together. My chest felt like it was being crushed. Every breath was a battle. Lily was in there...my tiny, innocent baby girl ...with Sophia. The woman who had tormented us for years, the sister who had always been the favorite, the golden child, now reduced to this monster who had stolen my daughter. “I should be the one going in alone,” I whispered, voice cracking. “She’s my sister, maybe she’ll listen to me.” Damon’s grip tightened painfully. “No. You stay right behind me. We do this together, but you do not put yourself
EVE'S POV The penthouse war room felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode. Screens glowed with maps, thermal overlays, and live feeds from the chopper circling the warehouse district. The tech team worked frantically, voices low and urgent as they refined the location. The parents remained clustered on the sectional like broken figures... Catherine sobbing softly into her hands, still murmuring that her Sophia could never do this, my own parents sitting pale and shattered, their faces reflecting the horror of what their favorite daughter had become. Then the lead tech spoke the words we’d been desperate to hear. “We have a solid location, sir. Middle warehouse in the river district, thermal confirms multiple adult signatures and one small one. They’re still inside the building.” Lily. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt. Damon was already in motion, grabbing his tactical jacket from the back of a chair, his movements sharp and decisive. “Get every team moving,”
EVE'S POV The penthouse felt like a tomb filled with ghosts. Hours had dragged by since Lily was taken from the rooftop garden, and the war room had only grown more crowded and suffocating. Police detectives murmured in one corner. Damon’s private security team coordinated on multiple screens. But the heaviest weight in the room came from the four parents sitting across from us. Catherine and Richard Sterling sat on one side of the sectional, Catherine’s face streaked with tears, still murmuring denials under her breath. My parents, Margaret and Edward Thompson, sat stiffly beside them ... my mother’s eyes red and swollen, my father staring at the floor like he could will the nightmare away. No one had left, no one could. I sat curled against Damon on the opposite end, clutching Lily’s blanket so tightly my knuckles were white. My body ached. My milk had come in hard and painful, a cruel reminder of my missing daughter. Every few minutes a fresh wave of panic would hit, making it
EVE'S POV The penthouse war room had grown even more chaotic in the hours since the ransom call. Police, private investigators, and Damon’s elite security teams moved with grim purpose. I sat on the couch, clutching Lily’s blanket like a lifeline, my body numb and my mind fractured. Every minute without my daughter felt like a lifetime of torture. My breasts ached painfully from missed feedings. My arms felt empty and useless. I kept imagining Lily’s little cries, her confusion, her fear. Damon hadn’t stopped moving. He was a storm of controlled fury... barking orders, coordinating searches, threatening anyone who moved too slow. But every time he glanced at me, I saw the same raw terror in his eyes that was tearing me apart. Then the doorman buzzed. “Mr. and Mrs. Sterling… and your mum and dad are here are here. They insisted.” Damon’s jaw tightened. “Send them up.” I barely had time to brace myself before the elevator doors opened. Damon’s parents — Catherine and his father,
Two weeks passed.Two weeks of me jumping every time the phone rang, checking over my shoulder when we left the apartment, waiting for the other shoe to drop.Damon kept telling me I was being paranoid.I kept telling him I wasn't.Then she showed up.We were having dinner when the doorbell rang. D
They'd been back from the wedding for three days when Damon's phone rang during breakfast.Unknown number.He almost didn't answer, then something made him pick up."Hello?"Eve watched his face change, watched him go still in that dangerous way he did when he was trying not to react."Sophia," he
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: THE TIMELINEDamon called Marcus at seven the next morning.I was awake, had been awake all night, staring at the ceiling while Damon pretended to sleep next to me."I need to ask you about something," Damon said into the phone, his voice rough from not sleeping. "That gallery
The two weeks flew by faster than Eve expected.Jessica took her dress shopping even though the dress was already made. Said they needed the experience, the tradition of it. They tried on ridiculous gowns they'd never buy and drank champagne and laughed until Eve's sides hurt."This is what it shou







