LOGINSAINT.I stepped out of her room with that small, satisfied grin people only get when they know they’ve won. Even though the day hadn't gone exactly as I planned, I was still happy we got her back.While Kyrie and I had a face-off, my men had hacked into his security systems and broken into the back door, taken Eve, and left without Kyrie even knowing it.That's one beautiful thing about Kyrie. Too impulsive to a fault. He was so focused on fighting me that he didn't know I had carried out a smooth operation behind his back.Pathetic.I had an operation tonight, and guess who isn't leaving Eve at home all by herself? Besides, Karashi took a leave. Heard she left for a long vacation because she had some things she needed to clear up.We both know why she left. And I saw her as weak and pathetic for that.What, she thought I'd call her and apologize for the other day? Well, if it helps her get a life, then I'll be glad to be mentioned in her success speech someday as the asshole who pus
EVE.My eyelids felt so heavy as I struggled to pull them open. My body felt like stone, every limb weighed down, but something didn’t sit right.The smell.It wasn’t Kyrie. Kyrie smelled like cedar and something peaceful and soothing, like the faint edge of his cologne clinging to sheets that had held him for hours. This smell was sharper, darker, deadlier... like smoke and steel.My stomach dropped.I forced my eyes open.I wasn’t on Kyrie’s bed. The sheets weren’t his. The curtains weren’t his. My pulse banged in my ears when I realized this wasn’t even his room.And he wasn't even the one sitting beside the vanity table, looking at me intently.It was Saint.His posture was too calm, and his stare too steady. His eyes pinned me like I was nailed in place.I jerked upright so fast my knees hit the mattress hard, dragging me into a kneeling position. My hands trembled uncontrollably. My heart slammed against my ribs like it wanted out.He looked so terrifying that I thought he'd sna
KYRIE.From the airport to my location was only about an hour or so. And if this email had been truly sent out the moment Derek saw Saint, then it meant I had less than ten minutes before he came barging in.Fuck. How did he know where I was?I dumped my laptop on the sofa and hurried to the kitchen. I had to fix some milk for Eve. She'd be needing it.I hurried back to the room as fast as possible, and when I got in, she wasn't in there.My heart hiccupped for one stupid second, but I remembered there was no way in hell anyone would have come in here to get her."Eve? Baby?" I called as I approached the bathroom."Yeah. A minute..." She said, and I waited impatiently for her to step out.Eve must never know I had tricked her all this time. She should never know this wasn't the house she thought it was. She wouldn't forgive me for lying to her. Because I lied heartlessly while looking her straight in her eyes.The bathroom door opened and she stepped out, "I think I'll just have a sho
KYRIE.The call with Mum ended, and I just stood there against the wall with my chest heaving like I’d sprinted through a warzone. I raked my fingers through my hair until it stood on end, until my scalp burned.Mum could wait. She always could. She’d forgive me. She always did. But keeping Eve hidden and keeping her alive, that couldn’t wait. That was the only damn priority I had right now.I started for the door, thumb swiping my phone screen to clear notifications. Then I remembered… the text that had buzzed before Mum’s call.I opened it.It was from Bellamy. A photo.What. The. Fuck?My stomach dropped.The screen lit up with hellfire — my warehouse, the one I’d poured every drop of sweat and blood into for Project 210, engulfed in flames. The roof collapsed. Black smoke clawing for the sky. It brought back old, ugly, sour memories.Under the photo was a text.Bellamy: The fire just started. No trace at all. Everything is being razed to the ground.Fucking Saint!There wasn’t a u
KYRIE.My cock almost felt sore. Couldn’t believe the number of times I’d fucked her since yesterday. And the sick part? I still wanted more. My body wasn’t finished with her. Not even close.I had to slow down, though; she wasn’t built like me. She needed air. She needed rest. And fuck if I didn’t like the way she looked now, curled in my arms, small and soft, snoring like she didn’t have the weight of a war hanging over her head.It was safe to call her my girlfriend now. She admitted to being mine. Not Saint Rollins’. Not anyone else’s. Mine. Bound to me in ways the damn contract never even touched.I pressed my lips to the crown of her head, breathed her in, and she stirred, mumbling something against my chest before going quiet again. Her fingers twitched on my stomach like she didn’t want me to move. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.My phone beeped from the nightstand. I reached for it, careful not to jolt her. It was a text. But before I could open the text, a call c
EVE.Silence settled between us. I felt every second like a coin being counted.My mouth went dry. I wanted to tell him a dozen things: that I hated what he did, that I hated how safe I felt here, that I was terrified and furious and grateful all at once. Instead, I breathed slowly, the way he had been teaching me to breathe when panic rose. I closed my fingers around his, the same hand that held my face, and somewhere in the dark place where fear and longing crossed, something soft loosened.He leaned in again. My pulse banged at my throat in time with the heat of his breath.My head told me this was danger; my body, the traitor, answered with need. I pressed forward half an inch, and his mouth closed on mine.The kiss was careful at first, like two people learning how to breathe around one another. It wasn’t greedy. It was patient; it was reverent. Kyrie tasted like garlic and the metal tang of pain and something softer, like warm milk. His hands came down to my hips, steadying me.T







