LOGINDAMON'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,
EVE'S POV The penthouse had become unrecognizable. What was once our safe, luxurious home was now a command center filled with strangers...police detectives, private investigators, Damon’s top executives, and elite security operatives in tactical gear. Maps covered the dining table, multiple large screens showed live feeds from traffic cameras, building security, and helicopter overviews of the city. Phones rang constantly. Voices overlapped in urgent, clipped tones. I sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket that did nothing to warm the ice in my veins. My arms were empty, my chest felt hollowed out. Lily’s favorite blanket ... the one she’d been wrapped in when they took her... lay sealed in an evidence bag on the coffee table. I couldn’t stop staring at it. Hours had passed since the abduction from the rooftop garden. The search was massive, Damon had thrown every resource he had into it. Amber Alert issued. Private teams scouring the streets, media under tight control. But th
I was in the middle of a design project Monday afternoon when Jessica appeared at my desk with that look on her face.The "we need to talk right now" look."Lunch," she said. Not a question. A command."I'm kind of busy—""Now, Eve."I saved my file and grabbed my bag.We ended up at the Thai place
Three days.It had been three days of this new arrangement and I was losing my mind.Not in a bad way. In a "I can't stop thinking about him" way. In a "every time he looks at me I remember exactly what he looks like naked" way.We'd fallen into this routine. Work during the day. Pretend to be norm
The words came out before I could stop them.Everyone stopped eating and looked at me."I just mean..." I could feel my face getting hot again. "She's not here. Maybe we could talk about something else."My mother's smile went tight and thin. "Of course, darling. We're just making conversation.""I
Saturday morning I woke up to the smell of bacon. Which was weird because I didn't cook bacon. Didn't really cook anything beyond cereal and toast, honestly. I stumbled out of bed in my pajamas—ratty t-shirt and shorts that had seen better days—and followed the smell to the kitchen. Damon was at







