LOGIN(Niko’s POV)Seven days.Seven suns set, and seven suns rose. That’s how long I’ve been here.No windows. No clocks. No way to tell time except routine.And routine… is everything in a place like this.Wake up. Eat. Watch.Wait and repeat.They didn’t chain me. They never blindfold me. They didn't even lock the door.That was the first thing I noticed.No cuffs. No locked restraints.Just walls. Just guards. Just control.Which meant one thing—They weren’t afraid I’d run.They were confident I couldn’t.That annoyed me more than chains ever would.I sat on the floor, elbows resting on my knees, staring at the same wall I’d memorized three days ago.There’s a hairline crack near the corner.Too straight to be natural.Too clean to be damaged.A panel. Hidden. Locked.Everything here is intentional.Nothing is random. Including me.The door opened.No knock. Never a knock.Two guards stepped in first.Same ones as always.Same formation. Same silence.And then—Adrian.Of course.He wal
(Niko’s POV)The gates shut behind me.Not loud.Not dramatic.Just a heavy, final click.And somehow—that was worse.Because nothing here needed to prove power.It already had it.The compound didn’t feel alive.It felt… controlled.Every movement measured.Every guard placed exactly where they needed to be.No wasted space. No blind corners. No mistakes.I noticed all of it.I counted.Steps. Distances. Angles.Snipers on the walls.Two on the left tower.Three on the right.Rotations every few minutes—Disciplined. Military-level. Not hired muscle. Not random assassins.This was something else.“You’re doing it again.”Adrian’s voice slid in beside me.Too calm. Too aware.I didn’t look at him.“You’re talking again.”“You’re mapping exits,” he continued lightly. “Doors. Guards. Cameras.”A pause.Then quieter—“Breathing patterns.”My jaw tightened.“If you didn’t want this, why not blindfold me?”Adrian smirked, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Because where's the fun in that?
(Niko's POV)The car didn’t feel like a car.It felt like a moving cage.The doors were locked. The windows are too dark to see through properly. The men across from me hadn’t moved once since we left the mansion.Not even to adjust their grip.Not even to blink.Adrian, on the other hand, looked like he was enjoying himself.He leaned back in his seat, one arm stretched lazily across the headrest behind me like we were sharing space instead of him kidnapping me.“You’re thinking too loudly,” he said.I didn’t look at him.“You’re talking too much.”He smiled.“Good. That means you’re not panicking yet.”“Should I be?”He tilted his head.“Do you want the honest answer?”“No.”"Pity," he smirked.Silence fell again. But it wasn’t quiet.The engine hummed. Tires cut through the road. Somewhere ahead, another car shifted lanes.And beside me—Adrian’s presence pressed closer.Not physically. Something worse. Awareness.I could feel his eyes on me.Measuring and waiting.“Your heart rate
(Alessio’s POV )Darkness.Not sleep.Not peace.Just darkness.It stretches endlessly around me, thick and suffocating. I can’t feel my body. I can’t hear anything clearly. Time doesn’t exist here.For a while there is nothing.Then voices begin to leak into the void.“…still unconscious.”Another voice answers.“He lost too much blood.”The words feel distant, like echoes through water.I try to move.Nothing happens.My body refuses to listen.Something flickers in my mind.A corridor.Smoke.Gunfire.And then—Him.Niko.Walking away.My chest tightens even in the darkness.He didn’t look back.That is the last thing I remember.****When my eyes finally open, the world is too bright.White ceiling.Fluorescent lights.Machines humming beside the bed.It takes several seconds for my vision to focus.My throat burns.My shoulder feels like it’s been torn apart.I breathe slowly, forcing my mind to clear.Alive.That realization comes first.The second follows immediately.Niko is g
(Niko’s POV)The hunter didn’t drag me.That was the strangest part.He simply held my wrist and walked.Like he knew no one would stop him.Behind us, the corridor exploded into shouting.“Don’t let him leave!”“Block the exits!”“Boss said hold position!”The guards were arguing.Some raising their rifles.Some are lowering them again.None of them are willing to fire.Because one wrong move would turn the hallway into a bloodbath.And Alessio was still bleeding on the floor.The hunter glanced back once.Not worried. Amused.“You see?” he said quietly.“Your presence inspires remarkable restraint.”I didn’t answer.Behind me, I could still hear Dmitri’s voice cutting through the chaos.“Stand down!” he snapped.“No one fires!”Boots pounded across marble floors.Men shouting.Orders clashing with other orders.The entire mansion felt like it was splitting apart.And yet the hunter kept walking calmly through the smoke.Like he owned the building.We reached the end of the ruined co
(Niko’s POV)The corridor was too quiet.Too still.Smoke drifted through the broken lights above us, turning the hallway into a gray haze of shadows and flickering red emergency lamps.Fifteen guns were pointed at the man in the suit.And yet he looked like the only person in the room who wasn’t worried.He stood there calmly, one hand in his pocket, as if he had walked into a dinner party instead of a battlefield.My pulse pounded in my ears.Behind me, the medic pressed harder against Alessio’s wound.Blood soaked through the bandages anyway.Too much. Way too much.“I can't treat him here; we need to get him to a hospital," the medic barked at one of the guards.“I need more gauze!”Alessio’s breathing had become rougher.Slower.His fingers were still curled around the edge of my sleeve.Weak now. But stubborn.Like the man himself.Across the hallway, the hunter watched everything with quiet interest.Like a scientist studying an experiment.Then his eyes returned to me.Sharp a
(Niko’s POV)Alesso left, and the door didn’t open again.I stared at it anyway.Five minutes.Ten.Maybe longer. Maybe for hours. It stayed shut.The spoon he fed me with still lay on the table, untouched. And the empty soup bowl sat in front of me, cold and congealed.My jaw tightened.He forced
(Niko’s POV)I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep again.Not properly.Just… drifted.The kind of sleep that never lets you forget where you are.My body woke before my mind did.Pain came first.Then cold.Then awareness.I was alone.The room felt larger without him in it.And colder.A blanket s
(Niko’s POV)For a week, Alessio De Luca stopped watching me.And somehow that was worse than captivity.Space didn’t make things easier.It made them worse.The corridor felt too wide. Too quiet. Too empty without the constant pressure of his presence.Every step echoed.Every guard watched.But n
(Niko’s POV)I didn’t eat.Not after he left.Not after my body betrayed me in that hallway.Not after I leaned into him like he was something safe.The tray stayed where it was.Untouched.Waiting.Just like he was.Hours passed.Or maybe minutes.Time didn’t work properly here.It bent around him







