Chapter 5

Selene’s POV

The storm arrived like it had been hunting us all night. Rain slammed against the service station roof, shaking loose bolts and dust.

Cassius stood in front of me, gun raised, every line of his body coiled tight. He didn’t blink, he didn’t breathe.

Boots crunched outside. Slow, heavy, and deliberate.

My pulse climbed into my throat. “Cassius…that sounds like”

“Livia,” he finished.

Lightning flashed, cutting through the cracked window. Her shadow appeared, soaked, furious, and pacing like a predator waiting for blood.

“Cassius!” she yelled. “You can’t hide her forever!”

Cassius didn’t move. “Stay behind me,” he said without looking back.

I obeyed, even though my legs were shaking hard enough to rattle the shelf behind me.

The door handle shook violently. Then again, even harder.

“Open the damn door!” she screamed.

Cassius’s voice dropped into a deadly whisper. “Quiet.”

The command wrapped around my spine. I held my breath as Livia kicked the door again.

The wood split near the bottom. Another kick. A louder crack.

Cassius grabbed my arm and pushed me deeper behind the shelves. “Do not move.”

My breath trembled out of me. “Cassius…she sounds angry.”

“She’s always angry,” he muttered, “but today she’s dangerous.”

The door shook again, harder this time. The hinges gave a metallic groan.

“Cassius!” Livia shouted. “You’re making this worse!”

Cassius stepped closer to the door, gun angled, jaw flexing. “You betrayed us.”

Silence swallowed the room. Only the storm answered, like it had something to say.

Then Livia laughed. It wasn’t a happy sound. It was sharp, bitter, and full of pain she’d held for years.

“You betrayed me first,” she yelled. “For her.”

My breath punched out of my lungs. Cassius didn’t turn around.

“Livia,” he said calmly. “Leave.”

“Leave?” Livia scoffed. “You don’t get it. You never did.”

Lightning split the sky again. Her shadow twisted across the window. Wild hair, clenched fists, and rage radiating off her.

“You think Darius cares about her?” she yelled. “No. He wants you broken. He wants you begging for mercy.

Cassius took one slow step toward the door. “You told him where I’d take her.”

Livia’s voice cracked. “I told him because you stopped listening to me.”

“I didn’t….”

“Yes, you did!” she snapped. “Every time she looked at you, you changed.”

My stomach twisted. Cassius tensed.

“Livia…” 

“No,” she said. “Let me finish.”

Rain slammed so loudly it sounded like applause. “You stopped trusting me,” she said.

“You stopped seeing me. You stopped choosing me.”

She exhaled shakily, and for a moment, her voice sounded heartbreakingly human. “You left me behind, Cass.”

Cassius aimed his gun higher. “What did you do?”

Before she could answer, headlights cut through the storm. Another engine roared to a stop outside.

Livia’s voice dropped to panic. “No. No, no, he wasn’t supposed to come yet.”

Cassius froze. “Who?”

Thunder swallowed her answer.

Then, the door suddenly exploded inward, not from Livia, but from a heavy force behind her.

She screamed as she stumbled into the room, soaked and shaking. Her gun flew from her hand and skidded across the floor.

Cassius raised his weapon instantly. “Don’t move.”

Livia lifted her hands, eyes wide, mascara streaking down her cheeks. “Cassius, listen to me. He’s here.”

“Who?” Cassius demanded.

Before she could reply, a new voice drifted through the ruined doorway. Cold, smooth, and unmistakably familiar.

“Still bossing people around, Cass?”

Cassius’s breath hitched. His arm faltered. A tremor ran through him that I’d never seen before.

“No…” he whispered. “That’s not possible.”

A silhouette stepped out of the rain, slow enough to raise every hair on my arms. Tall, broad shoulders, and confident in a chilling way.

Lightning flashed, and my breath caught for a heartbeat.

The man could’ve been Cassius’s reflection. Same jawline, same dark eyes, same  presence. But colder, sharper, and wrong.

He smiled. “Miss me, brother?”

Cassius staggered back. “Luca?”

The man spread his arms lazily. “Surprise.”

Livia gasped. “He wasn’t supposed to come yet,” she whispered.

Cassius’s eyes snapped to her. “You knew?”

Panic flashed across her face. “I didn’t know everything,” she said quickly. “He lied to me too.”

“Liar,” Luca said, without even glancing at her.

He only watched Cassius, savoring the moment like dessert.

Cassius lifted his gun again, hand shaking with rage. “You died.”

“You buried what I needed you to,” Luca said. “You always were easy to fool.”

The room pulsed with tension, God, I could feel it in my teeth. Even the storm seemed to lean in, like it wanted to hear everything.

Cassius’s voice was raw. “What do you want?”

Luca stepped forward, water dripping off him. “I want what you stole.”

“And that is?” Cassius growled.

“My life,” Luca said. “My place. My club.”

Cassius’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper. “You left the club the day you died.”

Luca’s smile faded. Darkness carved into his features. “I didn’t die,” he said softly.

“You killed me.”

The air disappeared from the room, or maybe that was just me forgetting how to breathe. Cassius shook his head.

“What are you talking about?”

“You abandoned me,” Luca said. “You chose the club over me. You chose Carter over me.”

My heart thudded painfully, too loud and too fast, annoyingly human. Cassius looked like someone had punched him in the chest.

“That’s not true,” he said, but his voice was thin and uncertain.

“Yes, it is,” Luca said. “And now I’m taking everything back.”

His gaze slid to me. The way he looked at me, cold, calculating, and curious made my skin crawl.

“And she,” Luca said, “is how I’ll do it.”

Cassius lunged. Rage ripped through him like lightning. “Don’t touch her!”

Luca lifted his gun with terrifying calm. The barrel pointed straight at Cassius’s chest.

Cassius froze. I froze. Even Livia stopped breathing.

“Cassius,” I whispered. My voice barely existed.

Luca smiled slowly. “You see? Weak. Predictable. Easy.”

Cassius clenched his fists. “Let her go, Luca. She has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with this,” Luca said. “She’s the reason you’re slipping. She’s the reason you’re distracted. She’s the reason you’re vulnerable.”

The words hit Cassius like blows. He didn’t deny it.

Luca turned the gun toward me. I gasped and stumbled back.

Cassius roared, “NO!”

He moved but Luca moved faster, shifting the gun back toward him with a smirk.

Livia flinched. “Luca, please stop. Don’t do this.”

“Stop?” Luca laughed. “Why would I stop when I’ve barely started?”

He stepped fully inside the room, water pooling at his feet. The lights flickered above him.

“This,” Luca said, raising the gun again, “is going to be fun.” My stomach dropped. Cassius froze. Livia gasped. One wrong move, and any of us could be dead.