LOGINMELISSA I’d gotten used to sneaking in through doors, used to shadows and whispers and soft bedsheets I shouldn’t have been tangled in. For three years, that was my reality with Jaden and Jasson — secret, sacred, sinful. It had always been just us, our private bubble that no one could burst yet I always prepared myself for the day we got caught; the boys had insisted we went public after my dad caught us but I wasn't ready neither was I sure that they took us seriously and I thought I had time until she walked in.Sin.The woman who raised them, the woman who had unknowingly been sharing me with them, their mother, my godmother, my idol whom I adored with my whole heart and the one person I wanted to come clean to before she caught us in this compromising position. The red of her coat seemed to blaze in the dim apartment light, her eyes sharper than any blade, her silence louder than thunder. My lungs forgot how to work properly, Jaden’s hand dropped mine like it was burning coal. J
MELISSAThree years. That was the amount of time I'd been sneaking around behind the secrets of my own choices. Three years of stolen moments, of whispers behind closed doors, of bodies pressed together where nobody could see us. Three years of still pursuing this affair that I swore a thousand times that I would end… but never did.I told myself it was wrong. That it had to be over and yet whenever Jaden called, whenever his voice dropped just low enough to envelop me like a drunken haze, I fell. I always fell.This night was no different. His voice had been softer on the phone, softer, tinged with sadness beneath the sternness. "Melissa," he'd said, and it wasn't his usual teasing drawl. "Please, can you come?"I hadn't even asked why. I just came.I rapped tentatively on his apartment door, my knuckles skimming the wood as if half of me hoped he wouldn't answer. But he did.As soon as Jaden pushed open the door, the first thing I saw was his eyes. Those eyes that always gave him aw
ADRIAN MOREL I never thought I’d find myself nervous about meeting a woman. I’ve stared down men with guns at my throat, I’ve signed death warrants without blinking, I’ve ruled men who’ve slit their throats at my nod—yet as Boyce led me toward her, my stomach twisted like I was a boy waiting to confess to a schoolmaster.“She’s not like anyone you’ve met,” Boyce warned, his tone light but his eyes sharp. “And for the record, Adrian, don’t underestimate her. Everyone else already made that mistake. Steel. You. Even me.”I scoffed, because what else was I supposed to do? “Boyce, you talk about her like she’s some… apparition.”He smirked. “No. Worse. She’s real. That’s why it hurts more.”The sound of gun bullets snapped my attention. She is at a shooting range. It wasn’t a movie—fashion, modeling but she was dressed down to the nines, in a beautiful body and even more attractive than what she looked like on screen so I'm beginning to understand why they're all obsessed with her. All I
KEITHIt’s a strange thing, being the shadow in the room always.Everyone sees the men, the power, the bloodlines. Nobody ever really notices me until they need a bullet caught or a secret buried. That’s my role—Boyce’s bodyguard, his right hand, the one who says little and remembers everything.Tonight, I was doing exactly that—standing two paces behind him in Adrian Morel’s private study. The air smelled of fancy strawberry and faint fragrance—old money rotting from the inside out.Adrian sat back in his chair, swirling a glass of brandy like it was the key to his thoughts. Boyce stood across from him, still in his suit from earlier, jacket unbuttoned, tie loosened but not undone—because Boyce never really undid anything. He only pretended like he did but he is infact never casual about his decisions. Adrian’s eyes cut toward me, sharp, calculating. Then he leaned back, lips curling.“So,” he said, voice gravel and arrogance, “I finally understand why all the men lose their heads o
JASSONThe first thing you need to know about shooting a music video is that it’s chaos. Lights everywhere, cameras moving like they’re on caffeine, people yelling directions over blasting speakers. But that day? Everything stopped. Dead silent. You could hear the air conditioning silently hum like it was part of the soundtrack.And why? Because on the big screen someone dragged into the set, my mother—Sin, Liza, the Liza Boyce—was live on TV, dismantling Sinclair Marquese like she’d been born for combat instead of catwalks.I swear even the director forgot his own name for a second.“Is that… your mom?” one of the backup dancers whispered.I glanced at the screen, then back at her, then back at the screen again. My mother was leaning against a podium, smiling like she had a knife tucked in her heel, words rolling out smooth and lethal.“Yeah,” I said flatly. “That’s her.”The room collectively gasped when Mom delivered the “stay away from the bottle” line. You’d think she’d just drop
SINThe lights were too bright, even for me. They ircked my skin, dragged every tiny flaw into the spotlight, and forced my lungs to remember what nerves felt like. Cameras hovered from every angle, and I could already imagine half the country streaming this live debate with popcorn in one hand and wine in the other but nerves weren’t allowed. Not here. Not with Sinclair Marquese sitting across from me, smirking like a woman about to gut a rival for the sport of it.The producer whispered the countdown.“Three, two, one—”And just like that, the host smiled into the camera. “Welcome back to tonight’s political special. With us, Mrs. Liza Boyce and Mrs. Sinclair Marquese, here to discuss the role of women in politics, family, and public life.”Sinclair’s painted mouth curved, a predator scenting blood. “Or, in Mrs. Boyce’s case,” she purred, “the failure of all three.”A hush slipped through the studio. Even the host stiffened.Inside, my chest gave one hard thud. Outwardly? I crossed







