LOGINVeronica's POV
The safehouse looked like something from a security catalogue. Stone walls. Reinforced windows. Cameras covering every angle. Armed guards are rotating shifts at the perimeter. Two hours outside the city in rural land where neighbours were miles away and privacy was guaranteed.
It was comfortable. Modern kitchen. Spacious bedrooms. A yard where Monte could play under watchful eyes. But it was also a cage and
Four's POVI stared at the bomb in my trunk and felt time slow down, Red digital numbers counted backward, Fifteen minutes, The device was small but sophisticated, Professional work, Victoria Chen was not playing games."Get out of the car," Rivera's voice crackled through my earpiece, "Move away now,"I slammed the trunk shut and ran, Got fifty feet before I stopped and looked back at the car, My hands were shaking, not from fear of the bomb, but from the realisation that Victoria had thought of everything, She knew I would try to help, Knew Rivera would equip me with surveillance gear, The bomb was a message, You cannot outsmart me.My phone rang, Victoria's voice was calm, "Did you find my gift?""You could have killed innocent people,""That would be wasteful, The bomb is on a closed street, No civilians, I am not a monster, Four, I am simpl
Detective Rivera's POVI sat across from Elena Vasquez in the interrogation room and studied her face, She looked tired, resigned, but not guilty in the way most criminals looked guilty, Something else lived in her eyes, Something complicated."Let us start from the beginning," I said, "Who hired you to kill Four Winter?""I never met them in person,""That is convenient,""It is the truth, Everything was done through encrypted messages, Payments came in cryptocurrency, Untraceable, Professional,"I leaned back in my chair, "So you expect me to believe you planted a bomb for someone you never met? Never spoke to? Never saw?""I have worked this way before, Many contractors do, It protects both parties, The client stays anonymous, The operative stays protected, Standard procedure in my line of work,"&nbs
Four's POVI signed the discharge papers against Dr, Chen's furious protests, My side screamed with every movement but I did not care, Today was the anniversary of my mother's death and I had not missed this visit in twenty three years, I would not start now"You are insane," Dr, Chen said, "Your wound could reopen, you could collapse, you need at least three more days of observation,""I need to see my mother,"Manuel was waiting outside my hospital room, His face told me he already knew what I was planning, "Four, we need to talk about the cemetery,""I am going,""There is a bomb,"Those three words stopped me, "What?""Elena Vasquez planted an explosive device under your mother's headstone, Sophisticated, Timed to detonate at exactly ten o'clock, the time you always visit, Carver knew y
Manuel's POVI ignored the pain in my side where the bullet wound was still healing and focused on the screen in front of me, Twelve hours, that was all we had to find this woman before she struck, I had survived worse odds but never with a child's life at stake.My intelligence network was the best money could buy, Contacts in every major city, Access to surveillance systems most people did not know existed, Within three hours, we had a location, The Grandview Hotel downtown, Room 412, registered under a fake name but the facial recognition matched.I coordinated with Rivera, Police surrounded the building, SWAT prepared to breach, We moved fast and precisely, The door came down in seconds, The room was empty.But she had left things behind, Bomb making materials scattered across the desk, Timers, Wiring, Chemicals, and a note written in neat handwriting on hotel stationery, two words
Detective Rivera's POVI sat across from Anton Petrov in the interrogation room and studied the man who had tried to kill Four Winter and Dmitri Volkov, He looked smaller now without his rifle and his rage, just a wounded criminal facing life in prison."Tell me about Carver's final attack," I said.Petrov smiled, Blood stained his teeth from where the sniper round had caught his shoulder, "Why would I tell you anything?""Because cooperation might reduce your sentence, because you claim to be a man of honor and letting innocent people die is not honourable, take your pick,""Honour," He laughed bitterly, "You speak of honour after what they did to Carver? After they destroyed everything he built?""Carver was a criminal, He destroyed himself,""Carver was my brother, not by blood but by choice, and your precious Four Winter
Dr, Chen's POVI was reviewing patient charts when the ambulance call came through, Multiple gunshot victims, Explosion injuries, Mass casualty event at an industrial warehouse, I grabbed my trauma team and headed to the bay.Then I saw who was on the stretcher and I almost laughed, almost, If the situation was not so serious, I would have found the dark humour in it, Four Winter, Again, This family had spent more time in my emergency room than some of my staff."What is it this time?" I asked as the paramedics wheeled him in,"Shrapnel wounds, Chest, shoulder, and leg, Blood loss, Possible broken ribs from blast concussion, BP is dropping, He needs surgery now,"I looked at Four, He was conscious but fading, His eyes found mine and he tried to smile, "Sorry, Dr, Chen, I know this is getting old,""You think?" I started assessment while my team prepped the OR, "This is the third time you have been in my trauma bay in four months, I am starting to think you enjoy my company,""Your bed
Four’s POVThe car hummed steadily down the quiet streets, headlights cutting through the fog of the late afternoon.The baby slept in my arms, wrapped securely in the blanket Veronica insisted on keeping him. He was smaller than I imagined, fragile in appearance but I felt the weight of him differ
Veronica’s POV.The room was quieter than before, dinner, as if the building itself had acknowledged the battle was over.For now.My sons slept peacefully against my chest, a soft rise and fall that anchored me more than gravity ever could.Yet despite the physical quiet, the tension in my chest r
Veronica's POV.The room had finally settled. The chaos of birth, of machines, of nurses rushing and clinking metal, had faded to a quieter hum. But quiet didn’t mean peace. My body still shook with residual adrenaline, exhaustion, and the raw edges of everything I’d been through. My son rested a
Jason.They denied me.Not with force. Not with confrontation or with raised voices, no security escorts, no spectacle that would justify anger. Just a nurse with a polite smile and an administrator who spoke in that carefully neutral tone institutions use when they want refusal to sound reasonable







