LOGINCHAPTER 186 — THE BROTHER AT THE DOORDamon didn’t speak. He didn’t breathe. He just stood there staring at the shaking door like the voice on the other side reached into his chest and tightened something he didn’t know could break again.“Your brother?” I whispered.He didn’t answer.His mother stepped forward. “He’s with them.”Damon snapped his eyes toward her. “No. He wouldn’t—”“He already did,” she said. “And he’s not alone.”The pounding on the door came again, harder. Metal groaned, long and sharp. Damon’s hand twitched like he wanted to rip the door open just to see his brother’s face. Not to surrender. Not to escape. But to confirm with his own eyes what his ears refused to accept.“Damon,” I said softly, touching his arm.He didn’t even blink.“Say something,” I whispered.He swallowed, jaw locked. “It’s not him.”His mother shook her head. “You know that voice. Don’t lie to yourself.”Another slam. Dust fell from the ceiling. One of the men covered the upper hinge with his
CHAPTER 185 — THE BULLET THAT CHANGED EVERYTHINGDamon didn’t think. His arm wrapped around me so fast the air punched out of my chest. The gunshot echoed again, sharper this time, and the hallway lights flickered like the building itself panicked.“Move!” Damon’s mother snapped.She didn’t wait. She grabbed Damon by the sleeve and pulled him toward the side door that I hadn’t even noticed before. The shadows behind her erupted as the men she brought scattered and took positions like they’d done this a thousand times.Damon shoved me ahead of him. “Go.”“I’m not leaving you,” I said.“You’re not,” he shot back, pushing me as another bullet cracked against the wall above our heads. “You’re staying alive with me.”The urgency in his voice left no room for argument.We rushed through the narrow doorway, and the sudden change in air told me we’d left the main hall. The door slammed behind us, trapping the gunfire on the other side—for the moment.Damon’s mother didn’t slow. Her steps wer
CHAPTER 184 — THE WOMAN IN THE DARKI didn’t realize I had stopped breathing until Damon stepped forward and the shadows shifted around the woman standing in front of him. His shoulders tightened. His jaw clenched. His hand trembled at his side like it couldn’t decide if it belonged to a grown man or the frightened boy he once was.“Mother?” he whispered again, this time barely able to force the word out.The woman didn’t move at first. She just stood there watching him with a calmness that made my skin crawl. Her face was barely visible under the dim light, but I caught enough to see that she wasn’t shocked. She wasn’t confused. She wasn’t even emotional.She had been expecting this.“Look at you,” she said, her voice soft and steady. “You grew exactly the way I knew you would.”Damon froze. That voice hit him harder than any bullet ever could. He reached out a little, as if drawn to her without meaning to. “How…?” He shook his head. His pulse was loud enough that I felt it through h
CHAPTER 183 – THE DARK WHERE TRUTHS COLLIDEDamon reached for me the moment the lights vanished. His hand found my arm fast, firm, like he already feared losing me in the dark.“Stay behind me,” he said.His voice held no panic. Only focus. But I felt the change in his breath, the sharp rise and fall he tried to hide. The darkness swallowed everything. No shapes. No movement. Only the cold air brushing my skin.I placed my palm on his back so I wouldn’t lose him. His muscles were locked tight under my hand.“Damon,” I whispered. “He planned the blackout.”“I know,” he said. “He wants control.”A slow mocking clap echoed somewhere in front of us. Damon tensed under my touch. I felt the anger building in him like heat rising off his skin.His brother’s voice came through the darkness.“Surprised?”Damon shifted his stance. His body angled protectively in front of me.“You’re not walking out of here with her,” the man said.“Try,” Damon answered.Another laugh came. This one closer. Too
CHAPTER 182 – THE CHOICE THEY CANNOT AVOIDDamon did not blink. The phone stayed in his hand like it had turned into something heavier than metal. I watched the muscles in his jaw move once, then again, like he was trying to hold back a fire rising fast inside him.He spoke first.“We are moving.”The tone was flat, steady, too controlled. That was how I knew he was close to losing control.I stepped closer. “We need to think.”He gave a low breath, not annoyed, but desperate. “Ella, there is nothing to think about. He crossed a line.”“He wants you to run straight to him,” I said. “That message was crafted to push you. He wants a reaction, not a plan.”Damon lifted his eyes to me. I could see the war in them. Anger pulled him forward. Fear held him back. Love kept him steady in the middle.“He threatened you,” he said. “I cannot sit still after that.”“You are not sitting still,” I said. “You are choosing how we step into this. There is a difference.”His breath slowed. His shoulders
CHAPTER 181 – THE EDGE THEY CANNOT STEP BACK FROMDamon did not look away from me even once. His jaw stayed tight, like he carried words he had no idea how to release without breaking everything around him. He stood in front of me as if he hoped distance alone could stop the storm already rising between us.“Ella,” he said, voice quiet but sharp enough to make my stomach tighten. “You didn’t tell me about the second message.”I did not pretend to misunderstand him. There was no strength left in me for lies or soft excuses. “I knew what it would do to you.”“You mean you wanted to carry it alone,” he said. “Again.”My fingers curled into my palms. I felt my breath shift. He wasn’t wrong. I had done it again, kept one more secret to keep myself steady, thinking stability would come from silence. But the truth always found its way out, even the pieces I thought I could bury.“I needed to understand it first,” I said. “I needed to know if it was real or just someone playing with us.”Damo







