Se connecterYARA POV Five hours later, I was sitting at a cold steel table inside the FBI field. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Heavy brass handcuffs held my wrists together, metal biting into my skin every time I shifted. Across the observation glass, I knew Kieran was sitting in an identical interrogation room. They had taken him in thirty minutes after arresting me at Talia’s penthouse. The door opened, and Agent Cillian walked inside. He tossed a thick stack of printed documents onto the metal table, pulling out a metal chair across from me. "You're in deep, Miss Quinn," Cillian said, leaning his hands flat on the steel. "An international red notice. Conspiracy to harbor a fugitive. Accomplice to the murder of Mr Romano." I didn't blink. I sat up straight, holding his gaze. "You have the wrong story, Agent Cillian," I said, my voice completely calm. "And if you check right now, you'll see why this entire arrest is a federal mistake." Cillian’s brow furrowed. Before he c
KIERAN POV My grip tightened on my gun as my father looked up at me from the warehouse floor. His expression was calm, condescending, and entirely convinced that he held every card in his hand. "What gift do you actually have to give at this point?" he asked, his voice echoing off the walls. "This one," I rasped. I raised my arm and pulled the trigger. BANG! The bullet tore straight through his right forearm. He let out a sharp gasp, dropping the leather folder as blood sprayed across the white documents on the table. The Orlov representatives scrambled backward in terror, crashing into chairs as my father stumbled against the oak desk, clutching his shattered arm. "Kieran, you bloody bastard!" he snarled, his face twisting in sudden rage. I didn't shoot to kill him. A bullet through his heart would have been too merciful, and dead men couldn't stand trial when the federal storm hit this floor. I needed distraction and time. Right on cue, the heavy skylights above
KIERAN POV "Uncle Sergei," I said into the speaker, my hand tightening on Yara’s wrist, keeping her close to my side as the truck cut through the icy fog ahead. "I need Team Four at the state records office and the safehouses in upstate New York right now." "Okay," Sergei's voice came through the car. "I'll send six men to check those properties. The feds tried to seize your accounts, but my lawyers stopped them with a court order. Your assets are safe, and they haven't done anything." Beside me, I felt the release of tension in Yara’s body. She let out a trembling breath, her forehead resting briefly against my chest. "Don't get comfortable yet, Kieran," Sergei added grimly. "Your father is calling an emergency meeting at the at midnight. He’s officially signing the papers to merge Volkov Sports with the Orlov family assets. If those documents are stamped, you lose all control forever." "He won't sign them," I muttered into the phone, my eyes fixed on the highway stretch
YARA POV My head was spinning. Only hours ago, I was sitting in a quiet café in Kingston, drinking cold tea and trying to memorize my Law books. Now, I was a fugitive. An international red notice had been issued for my arrest. The feds thought I was a co-conspirator to a murder. My career, my reputation, and my clean life were entirely gone. "Stop overthinking everything, Yara " Kieran’s deep voice broke through the silence. He sat down in the leather armchair directly across from me. He had stripped off his wet coat, leaving him in a dark, fitted shirt that showed the massive size of his shoulders. His dark hair was still damp, clinging to his forehead, but those piercing blue eyes of his were fixed entirely on me. "Kieran, did you hear what that voice said?" I asked, my hands trembling as I locked my fingers together. "They said your father didn't leak that footage. They said he was just a pawn. They told us to look at what we left behind in New York." "I heard it too
Snap. A sharp sound echoed from the front of the café. Kieran's posture changed instantly. The look in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a sharp, alert focus. Before I could even process the sound, Kieran grabbed my shoulder, shoving my body down flat against the bench behind the table, shielding me entirely with his broad back. "Kieran!" I gasped, my heart leaping into my throat as panic seized my chest. "Stay down," he ordered softly. Through the narrow gap beneath the table, I saw three pairs of boots step into the café, moving over the shattered floorboards in tight, disciplined formation. These weren't Mikhail’s men, They weren't Finch’s either Standing at the front of the line was a woman in a long, tailored black coat. Her dark hair was styled into a sleek, tight bun, her expression elegant, cold, and entirely merciless. Selene Orlov. Two broad shouldered men stood beside her, their guns pointed at Kieran's chest. "Hello, Kieran," Selene said, her voice sm
YARA POV The phone slid from my numb fingers, falling onto the table as my world narrowed down to the man standing across the street. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. My lungs burned for air… Three months. Ninety days of waking up in a cold, unfamiliar bed in Kingston, telling myself my sacrifice was worth his peace. Ninety days of staring at the empty walls of my apartment, hoping he was playing hockey and building a life far from the darkness that had almost destroyed both of us. And now, here he was. Standing in the rain, looking at me after all this time. I never thought I would see him again. He crossed the pavement with deliberate strides, his hands shoved into the pockets of his dark coat, his piercing blue eyes pinned to mine through the café glass with a terrifying, unyielding intensity. He looked harsher, leaner…dark shadows carved beneath his eyes like bruises, but the fire burning in his gaze was hotter than anything I had ever seen. The bell above the café
Yara's POV I should have known something was wrong when I didn't see my name on the guest list.Jeriah hadn't told me about the press conference. I found out the same way everyone else did. A notification on my phone that morning. Volkov Sports signing ceremony. Jeriah Hart officially joining the
Kieran’s POVThe second the hotel girl disappeared around the corner, I stepped out from behind the wall.Yara Quinn startled so hard she nearly stumbled backward.Interesting.She hadn’t screamed.Most witnesses definitely would have, but she just stood there in that ruined dress, fists clenched a
Yara’s POVThe sound cracked through the night so sharply my entire body jerked.A gunshot? An actual one.My fingers loosened around the trash bag handles. One of the bags slumped sideways against my leg as cold swept through me all at once.No, no, no.This had to be a car backfiring.A firecrack
Yara’s POVI stood there staring at the apartment door like if I looked hard enough, it would unlock itself.It didn’t.The brass knob had been changed.The deadbolt too.I noticed the black trash bags were stuffed with everything I owned.For a second, I just stood there.My ripped gown clung to m







