LOGINElara’s POVThe pain in my side woke me before the light did. It was not sharp anymore; it had settled into something deeper and something constant. I lay still for a moment, staring at the cracked ceiling above me, listening to the quiet of the safe location. Axel had moved us during the night. Everything felt slowed down and muted, but my mind was already moving, calculating, and planning.Then my hand moved instinctively. It rested against my lower abdomen.I froze.The memory hit me all at once. The signs, the nausea, the fatigue I had ignored, and the quiet suspicion I had pushed aside because everything else had felt more urgent and because everything else had been more dangerous.But now… Now there was no ignoring it. My chest tightened as a different kind of fear settled in. Not the fear of being hunted or the fear of losing control, but this was something else entirely. Something fragile and something that changed everything.I closed my eyes briefly. “You are still here,” I
Elara’s POVThe first shot came before I could finish thinking. The sound cracked through the room, sharp and immediate, and the men rising from the floor moved in a coordinated wave. This was not chaos; this was planned.“Cover!” Axel shouted.I moved without hesitation. My body reacted faster than my thoughts; I dropped behind a metal divider as bullets tore through the space where I had been standing seconds before. The team responded instantly, met gunfire with controlled bursts, and executed strategic movement, but we were surrounded.“They boxed us in,” someone yelled.“They did more than that,” Axel replied. “They timed it.”I leaned out just enough to fire, then pulled back again. My heart pounded, but my hands stayed steady. I did not feel panic anymore; I felt something colder, something focused.“We need an exit,” I said.Axel fired twice before answering. “The main door is sealed.”“Then we make another one.”“With what?”I glanced around the room, the walls, the floor pan
Elara’s POVBy the time the sun began to rise, I had already made my decision. There would be no hesitation, there would be no second-guessing, and there would be no mercy. I stood in the control room, staring at the map that displayed Viktor’s network.The markers that once felt overwhelming now looked like targets.Axel stepped in quietly. “The team is ready,” he said.I did not turn immediately. “Good.”“They are waiting for your orders.”I nodded once. “They will get them.”Axel watched me for a moment. “You have not slept.”“I do not need sleep.”“You do.”“I need results.”Axel did not argue because he knew better.He stepped closer. “We have confirmed three active sites tied to his operations.”I finally turned toward him. “Show me.”He tapped the screen, and three locations lit up brighter than the rest. “Supply hub,” he said, pointing to the first. “Communication relay,” he added, indicating the second.“And this one,” he continued, pausing briefly, “is a holding facility.”M
Elara’s POVI stared at the image until my eyes began to burn. Ruin’s face was unmistakable; even through the blood and the shadows, I knew every line of it. His head was slightly tilted forward, and his hands were bound. There was a bruise forming along his jaw and a cut near his brow that had already dried.He looked too still, but he was alive. That truth anchored me, even as everything else tried to unravel.“He is breathing,” I said quietly.Axel stood beside me, watching carefully. “Yes,” he replied. “He is alive.”I nodded slowly. I repeated the words in my head, trying to make them solid and trying to make them enough. “He is alive,” I said again.The relief should have been overwhelming; it should have eased the tightness in my chest, but it did not, because now I knew where he was, and I knew who had him. And that changed everything; I lowered the tablet slightly, but I did not let go of it.My fingers tightened around the edges. “He planned this,” I said.“Yes,” Axel answer
Elara’s POVThe moment I saw Viktor standing where Ruin should have been, something inside me went completely still. It was not fear or shock, but something colder, something that felt like understanding before my mind could fully process it. He stepped forward from the shadows, brushing dust from his coat as if he had just walked out of a casual meeting instead of an explosion.“You look disappointed,” Viktor said calmly.My throat tightened. “Where is he?” I asked.Viktor tilted his head slightly. “That is not how this works.”I took a step forward before Axel’s arm stopped me.“Elara, do not,” he warned.I did not take my eyes off Viktor. “Where is he?” I repeated.Viktor’s faint smile did not waver. “You should be asking yourself a different question.”“I asked you something.”“And I heard you.”“Then answer it.”Viktor glanced briefly at the collapsing structure behind him. “Explosions are unpredictable,” he said.My chest tightened. “Do not do that.”“Do not do what?”“Do not sp
Elara’s POVThe darkness inside the building felt alive; it did not just surround us; it pressed in, and every step forward felt like stepping deeper into something that had been waiting. Ruin moved ahead of me, his presence steady and unyielding.I stayed close to him, exactly as he had asked. The team spread out behind us in a controlled formation, weapons raised, eyes alert, and no one spoke. Everywhere was so quiet.Viktor’s voice echoed again, smooth and calm. “You came faster than I expected."Ruin did not slow down. “Show yourself.”A low chuckle followed. “That would spoil the moment.”I felt my pulse quicken. “This is not a game,” I said.Viktor’s voice shifted slightly. “No,” he replied. “It is not.”We moved deeper into the structure. The air smelled faintly of dust and metal, and I sensed danger ahead.“Careful,” Axel muttered behind us.Ruin raised a hand slightly, signaling everyone to stay sharp. The corridor opened into a larger space, dim lights flickered overhead, sh
Elara’s POVThe sharp echo of gunfire still rang in my ears as the intruder collapsed to the ground. My chest heaved, my pulse drumming violently against my ribs. For a moment, I thought we were safe but the shadow at the far end of the corridor told me otherwise. Someone had been lying in wait, ca
Elara’s POVWar does not always begin with gunfire, sometimes it begins with silence.The estate was too quiet after Axel’s announcement. Multiple armored convoys were advancing from three highways, and Nightfall had less than an hour before contact, orders had already been issued, defensive units
Elara’s POVThe alarms did not stop. They went through the underground hallway in sharp, mechanical waves that made my nerves feel tense and uncomfortable. Red emergency lights flashed along the reinforced walls, turning every face into something harsher and more suspicious. Dante was gone. The det
Elara’s POVThe word choose still echoed in my mind when the first explosion lit up the sky behind us.The live satellite feed flickered violently as flames erupted along the eastern perimeter of our estate. The blast tore through the outer security gate, and fire climbed into the night like a sign







