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CHAPTER 10

Author: Zeenoh
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-16 06:55:00

That night, I waited until the house was asleep. Then I slipped out of my new room and down the back staircase. My heart was pounding like it wanted out of my chest. The halls were dark and quiet. But it did nothing to ease my nerves.

I found Dean waiting in the lowest level of the house, a second basement above the worker’s quarters. It was completely dark, and he stood in the dark, dressed down in black, with a flashlight in hand.

“You’re late,” he said.

“I had to avoid two guards and a camera loop.”

“You missed one.”

My stomach dropped.

He smirked. “I'm just joking.”

“How many times have you done this?”

Dean didn’t respond.He keyed in a code on an unmarked panel. A soft click echoed, then the wall shifted open — revealing a narrow stone tunnel behind it.

“You’ve got secret passages?” I asked in bewilderment.

“The tunnels were by my grandfather. Used for evacuations during union riots.”

“How historical of you.”

He started down the tunnel and I followed.

It was cold and narrow, lit o
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  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 25

    LaniIt was late at night, and I was starting to wonder if this was what madness felt like.The folder was burning against my skin like it had a pulse, like it was alive. I had shoved it under my mattress earlier, then yanked it out again, then stuffed it back. Every time I tried to sit still, it was like the leather called out to me, whispering what was inside. The contracts. The boardroom votes. The photographs of my family that the Caldwells had been keeping in neat, damning rows.I paced my room barefoot, feeling the cool floor beneath me as the late hour pressed against my window. A storm was moving in; I could smell the rain and hear the low rumble of thunder far off in the hills.‘Tell him,’ a voice in me said.‘Don’t,’ another hissed back.My hand touched the folder again. It was my family’s history, carved up and gutted by Richard and Evelyn Caldwell. Grey Industries, stripped and consumed, my father blackballed into ruin, my mother reduced to a lifetime of suffering. And me

  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 24

    I was sneaking back into Evelyn’s office.This time, I didn’t need Mason to lead me. I knew the path. I knew the weight of the door handle to Evelyn’s office, the creak in the floorboard just past the carpet runner. I knew the way my pulse climbed when I pushed the door open and stepped inside.The room looked the same as before— orderly, immaculate, smug in its silence. But I wasn’t here to marvel. I was here for one thing.The folder sat on the bottom shelf where I had slid it back, the letters almost glowing in the dim light. Grey Industries. My name. My blood.My fingers trembled as I pulled it free and slipped it into the crook of my arm. I didn’t linger. I didn’t give the office a chance to swallow me whole. I left and returned to my room, closing the door softly, locking it twice.Only then did I breathe.I laid the folder on the bed. It looked so ordinary. Leather cracked at the edges, the kind of wear that came from years of hands touching it. My hands hovered, then I opened

  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 23

    he hall outside Evelyn’s office smelled faintly of lemon polish and something sharper like bleach, maybe. Everything in this wing was quiet, the carpets thick enough to swallow sound, the light softened to a constant dusk by the tall windows and heavy curtains. It felt like a place where secrets were supposed to live.Mason walked ahead of me with one hand in his pocket, and his stride unhurried. He wasn’t even trying to mask what we were doing. That was Mason’s way; move with the confidence of someone who belongs, and people rarely stop to ask questions.“Are you sure no one will be here?” I asked. My voice was low, more of a breath than a whisper.“My mother’s out at her board luncheon,” Mason said. “She won’t be back until late afternoon.”“And the staff?”“They know better than to come in here.” He gave me a quick smile, the kind that was meant to reassure me. “You worry too much.”Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one sneaking around someone else’s house, trying to carve a hole

  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 22

    CALDWELL HOLDINGS FACES SCRUTINY OVER QUESTIONABLE TRANSFERSThe headline was staring back at me in fine black print as Evelyn held it to her face at the dinner table.This was the third leak from the Crimson Circle since our meeting. The entire country knew about us now— this secret organization that was committed to exposing the one percent of the one percent. And it didn’t look like the Circle was backing down any time soon.The Caldwell household maintained its structure and routine. I still had to wake up and have all my classes. Evelyn still had her little parties with her friends. Lynette and I were still being trained to be the perfect Caldwell wives. And Dean and Mason did whatever they both did. To the untrained eye, it was like nothing had changed. Everyone was putting on a show and acting like the Crimson Circle would eventually get tired and disappear, like they weren’t affected at all. But I knew better.Even now, as Evelyn tossed the paper to the side, I caught the way

  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 21

    “I can give you information,” Mason replied steadily. “My family trusts me. I can tell you everything that goes down in the parties and what the charities really—”Raye shook her head. “We don’t care about their luncheons or their public charities. What we need are leverage points. Names of their allies. Proof of what they’ve buried. Where they keep it and who they use to hide it. Can you give me that?”Mason shifted, obviously uncomfortable. “Don’t you think we should tone it down a bit? Take a cleaner path? Your… confrontational methods aren’t winning you any friends.”Raye let out a short laugh, bitter at the edges. “You think this is confrontational? The Elite have ruined families, bankrupted dynasties, and rewrote history itself. They’ve built their fortune on the backs of people like us. You can’t dismantle people like that by smiling pretty at dinner parties. The truth has to be dragged into the light, clawing and screaming.”Mason’s jaw tightened, but he didn't argue. He just

  • Ruthless Hearts   CHAPTER 20

    Despite his assuring words, he didn’t smile. His hand was twitching at his side like he was nervous. Raye scared him.And I could see why.She stepped toward us, gun in hand. But she was just as nervous as he was. Still, her voice did not shake. “I want to hear it from your lips, little prince. Tell me what you told him,” she said, tipping her head toward Jules.Mason scowled at “little prince”, his lips curled in distaste, but he didn’t snap at her like I expected. “I want to join the Circle,” he said, full of conviction.Raye moved quickly, cocking the pistol and taking aim in the same motion. My heart stopped when she pressed the barrel to his forehead, but Mason didn’t flinch. “Why?” She hissed.“Because this world is all wrong. What my parents have done… what my brother will do, is wrong.”Even with a gun to his head, he still managed to speak calmly, but a bead of sweat trickled down his neck. Raye didn’t pull away, waiting for a better answer, and I found myself doing the same.

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