FAZER LOGINJax’s POV:The warehouse smelled like rust and old rain. I'd been here a hundred times—whenever I had a score to settle. Whenever I had something to eliminate.I stood by the window, watching the street below. Empty. Dark. Just a row of tired streetlights hanging their stretched neck over the vacant road, cars packed beside them like sleeping animals. Everywhere was quiet. The kind of quiet that made you feel alone even when you weren't.The door creaked open behind me.I knew it was him."You're late," I said. Didn't turn around."Traffic."I looked at the mirror before me—the one that cast a fragment of my shirt and the view behind me.Jules. Walking in like he owned the place. Hands in his pockets. That smile already on his face. The one that made me want to hit him. I guessed everyone else would want to too."You don't drive.""I walked." His voice was as calm as his appearance—like I was capable of doing nothing to him. I hated that feeling.I turned. "Then you're not late. You'r
Damon’s POV:The walk to my father's office was routine now. Not what I’d imagined I’d be doing a year ago. Not everyone had imagined, but here I am. Stuck in Jax’s throat.The hallway stretched before me, same as always. My father's face hung at the end of the corridor. Same cold eyes. Same half-smile. Watching. Always watching.I knew the creak of the third floorboard from the left. I knew the way the air changed when you got close to his door—colder, stiller, like the building itself held its breath. I knew that knocking was optional. He said come. So I came. But I had to.I knocked. “Come in.” I touched the door handle. Something stopped me. The realization that how I handle things in there would determine how my race began in the empire. I couldn’t afford to lose to Jax right from the beginning. So I wasn’t losing for sure.I opened the door.The office was just as always. Just as it always was.Vast. Cold. The kind of cold that didn't come from the air—it came from him. From
Damon’s POV:The morning light was gray and soft. Lightly snowy and the view of the cloud was cool.I sat on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Her breathing was slow. Even. Her hand was stretched toward the empty side of the mattress—the side where I should have been.I didn't sleep there. Not last night. Not any night.The chair by the window had become my bed. My reminder that this marriage wasn't real.But watching her now—her lips parted, her hair spread across the pillow—something in my chest tightened. Something I didn't have a name for.She's not yours, I told myself. She's Evan's. She'll always be Evan's. Always.I stood up. Walked to the window. The garden below was still. The roses were red against the gray morning.I thought about last night. The rough drive home. The coldness between us. The way she'd looked at me. The fear in her eyes. The way she'd pulled away when I reached for her. The feeling that I was losing.I did that. I made her afraid.My mind ran back to
Damon’s POV:The morning light was gray and soft. Lightly snowy and the view of the cloud was cool.I sat on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Her breathing was slow. Even. Her hand was stretched toward the empty side of the mattress—the side where I should have been.I didn't sleep there. Not last night. Not any night.The chair by the window had become my bed. My reminder that this marriage wasn't real.But watching her now—her lips parted, her hair spread across the pillow—something in my chest tightened. Something I didn't have a name for.She's not yours, I told myself. She's Evan's. She'll always be Evan's. Always.I stood up. Walked to the window. The garden below was still. The roses were red against the gray morning.I thought about last night. The rough drive home. The coldness between us. The way she'd looked at me. The fear in her eyes. The way she'd pulled away when I reached for her. The feeling that I was losing.I did that. I made her afraid.My mind ran back to
Gina’s POV:I thought I'd imagined hearing those words. Maybe hallucinating. The stress from the day playing tricks on my mind.The coldness from the wall ran down my spine. I wanted to leave. To run. To disappear into the shadows and pretend I'd never been caught."Hello," he said again. The voice louder than before. Making it realistic.I stepped back. My heel hit the floor harder than I intended.Kelvin?It was Kelvin. The old man. Damon's butler. The one with the walking stick and the quiet eyes that had seen too much."Think we've got company here." He walked toward the shelf I was hiding behind, his footsteps slow, deliberate. Not threatening. Just... certain. Like he already knew who I was before he turned the corner.I held my breath.The dust on the shelves. The smell of old paper. The ticking of a clock somewhere deeper in the room. Everything felt too loud. Too still."Sure." I cleared my throat and lifted my back from the wall. I walked around the shelves and stood before
Damon’s POV:For a second, I felt like I was overreacting. Like I was doing more than the contract required. More than I'd promised myself. More than she could've thought I'd do.I looked into her eyes again. Those gentle eyes—so easy to crush with my anger, my frustration. But I needed to control everything. Maybe I was being too mean. Maybe everything I was thinking about was the contract. The terms. The win.I wanted to ask what the real problem was. Why she'd passed out. What my father had said to her in that office. But too much had already passed between us lately. I was sure she'd barely trust me anymore.But it was clearly a misunderstanding, and I didn't want to question it. Not because I didn't care—because I didn't want to disturb her peace anymore. Maybe me being around was like a threat to her.I stood there. The silence between us was heavy. Suffocating.Say something, I told myself. Apologize. Explain. Anything.But the words didn't come. They never did when I needed th







