LOGINReaper The little girl looked completely ordinary. Completely innocent.I ran a hand through my hair and looked at the window. The rain lashed violently against the floor-to-ceiling windows there, but inside, the room was dead silent."Who the fuck is that?" Gunner's rough voice broke through the silence.He leaned over my shoulder, water dripping from his leather cut onto the ruined desk. His hand was still resting on the hilt of his combat knife, his eyes scanning the photograph for a threat that simply wasn't there.I didn't answer immediately. I traced my thumb over the photograph. My mind was racing through a thousand different possibilities, trying to connect a child in a red dress to the multi-million dollar extraction team that had hit my clubhouse. I tried to find the link between this innocent face and the silver serpent crest I had crushed in my fist.I had barely known Aaron. I had never intended to know him. But one day, I accidentally discovered he was not the coldest
MilaAaron pushed the doors of the master suite open with his shoulder.He carried me across the carpet and walked directly toward the bed in the center of the dimly lit room.Then he lowered me onto the silk sheets so gently. As soon as he released his hold on me, the exhaustion broke just enough for my survival instincts to kick back in.I scrambled back until the headboard stopped me, pulling my knees tight to my chest, putting as much distance between us as the mattress would allow.Aaron remained standing at the end of the bed. He didn't try to reach for me again. He simply stood there.My chest was rising and falling in deep breaths. I looked at his hands that I had seen pour coffee, turn the pages of books, and rest casually on the dining table at home. They were the hands of a monster."I hate you." I said through my gritted teeth. My voice was hoarse by my own screams and tears. "I hate you with every single fiber of my being."Aaron’s dark eyes met mine. The absolute lack of
ReaperThe streets were entirely out of blood. But the rain had started again. The last few days, it had been raining too much. But it didn't wash the grime from the pristine white silk pocket square I was crushing in my fist.The silver serpent. The golden anchor.I had spent an entire month interrogating, torturing, and burying every rival banger on the southside. I had ripped the underworld apart looking for the man who took my partner and my brother. But the streets didn't have my answers."Gunner." I growled."Yeah, Prez." He stepped up beside me. He was soaked. The rain was plastering his hair to his forehead."Call the men back to the clubhouse. All of them." I ordered, not taking my eyes off the silk. "Tell them to stop kicking in trap house doors. We are done with the southside."Gunner blinked, wiping the water from his eyes. "What? Reaper, we can't just stop looking…""We aren't stopping.” I interrupted as I finally turned my head to look at my Sergeant at Arms. At this po
MilaThe world stopped spinning as I stared at the man standing at the head of the long dining table.I stared at him until my eyes burned, waiting for the illusion to crack, waiting for the nightmare to be over and reveal the real monster hiding in this room.But the it didn't happen. And the man didn't disappear.It was Aaron.The billionaire CEO of the Empire Group. The quiet businessman who never raised his voice, never touched a weapon and spent his days in glass boardrooms while Ryan ruled the violent, bleeding streets of the southside.He looked perfectly fine. Even better. He didn't have a black eye. He didn't have bound wrists. There was no blood on his stark white collar.He didn't look like a hostage at all."I have been waiting for this dinner for a very, very long time, Mila." Aaron said. His voice lacked any trace of fear. It lacked any trace of surprise.My brain violently rejected what my eyes were seeing. He was there too, my mind screamed frantically. He was drove m
MilaThe dress fit as though it had been sewn directly onto my body. The long, fitted sleeves clung to my arms, acting as a soft armor, while the high neckline forced me to keep my chin tipped upward. When the maids finally zipped up the back, I turned to face the floor-to-length mirror in the corner of the room. The woman staring back at me didn't look like a captive. She didn't look like a terrified, pregnant girl who had been dragged out of a clubhouse.The maids guided me to a velvet stool in front of a vanity. They opened velvet boxes of expensive, untouched cosmetics."Nothing soft." I instructed before they could even touch me. "Do not make me look flushed or pretty. I want sharp lines. And I want red lips."They obeyed without a single word of protest. They pulled my dark hair back into an elegant twist that exposed the elegant line of my neck. They painted my lips the exact same shade of fresh blood as the gown, and lined my eyes until they looked feline and dangerous.Whe
ReaperI spent the next twenty-four hours tearing the underworld apart looking for that fucking anchor.I took photos of the bloody silk pocket square and sent them to every single contact I had. I woke up the head of the Irish mob in Chicago. I dragged our best hackers out of bed and ordered them to scrub every dark web database, every corporate registry, and every Interpol watchlist for a serpent wrapping around a golden anchor.I even swallowed my pride and went to the Russian Bratva. I sat at a table with men who would normally put a bullet in my back, slid the photo across the wood, and offered a million dollars to anyone who could give me a name.Nothing.Every single screen came back blank. Every old-timer I threatened swore they had never seen it. The crest didn't exist in any police file, any cartel ledger, or any military database.Whoever was behind this, he operated so far above the streets that my entire criminal empire looked like a sandbox to him.By the time the sun s
ReaperThe screen flashed with a text.Mila: Fuck you.Me: You wish.I leaned back, resting the phone on my chest. I should stop. I should maintain professional distance. But the memory of her taste was still on my tongue, and the anger at her leaving was still a fresh wound.Me: Tell me what you’
MilaFrom the gate, it took me exactly thirty seconds to walk to the house. I knew this because I used to count those seconds, a trick to calm myself from panic attacks.One. Two. Three. Each second was a tiny anchor.Caleb stood beside me. He seemed to be a little nervous even though he tried to
Reaper “I am going back to him.” Mila had announced.As soon as her words crashed into the room, sverything seemed to freeze. Then Justin blew up, “No way in hell you are!” He swiped his arm across a table, sending a bottle of Jack and a couple of glasses flying. They smashed on the floor, glass
ReaperThe basement stairs were steep, skinny, and had a musty, rotten smell. With every step down, the thumping bass of the music upstairs faded, replaced by the hum of the generator and the dripping of a leaky pipe. Justin was panting behind me, his fury burning hot. He was craving some blood. H







