LOGINThird person's POV NightThe plane touched down at Benito Juárez International Airport with a jolt that made Eve Dove's laptop bag slide off her lap. She caught it before it hit the floor, her reflexes sharp despite the exhaustion weighing down every muscle in her body. The flight from the States had been brutal—delays, turbulence, and a screaming baby three rows back that had made sleep impossible.The devastated fucking situation was written all over her face as she deplaned. Dark circles under her eyes. Hair pulled back in a messy bun that had started nearly twelve hours ago. Her shirt wrinkled from being pressed against an airplane seat for too long. This was different from her usual composed, professional appearance. This was a woman running on coffee and determination and very little else.She'd come to Mexico City to meet with international police officers, to coordinate with their commissioner, to help stop the drug rings and money laundering operations that connected back to
Two Days LaterThe Hospital General de México smelled like antiseptic and the particular anxiety that came with waiting rooms full of people hoping for good news. Avery Maddox shifted in the plastic chair, her hand resting on her belly where the baby had been kicking up a storm all morning. Eight months pregnant and every part of her body ached in ways she hadn't known were possible.The antenatal clinic was busy today. Women in various stages of pregnancy sat around her, some with partners holding their hands, others alone like Avery. A television mounted in the corner played a telenovela nobody was really watching. The volume was low enough that it was just colorful noise, a distraction from the waiting."Avery Maddox?" A nurse appeared in the doorway, clipboard in hand, her scrubs decorated with cartoon storks.Avery pushed herself up from the chair with effort, one hand braced against the armrest. Her back protested immediately, that constant low ache that had become her companion
Third person's POV Officer Eve Dove sat in the waiting room, her laptop bag resting against her leg, watching corrections officers move through their routines with the kind of bored efficiency that came from years of seeing the same walls, the same faces, the same cycles of human failure playing out on repeat.She'd driven three hours to get here, leaving before dawn while the city was still dark and quiet. Mackenzie had made the call personally, pulling strings to get her this meeting on short notice. Astor Sinclair didn't take visitors anymore. Hadn't since his son Liam had walked out of the last visitation six weeks ago and never looked back.But Dove had leverage now. Richard Maddox's confession had opened doors that had been sealed shut. And she needed answers from the man who had built West Ark, who had orchestrated murders and money laundering on a scale that made her head spin, who was now sitting in a cage waiting to die.The door buzzed and clicked open. A corrections offic
Third person's POV Richard stood up, his face flushing. "You don't understand what it was like. The pressure. The constant need to maintain appearances. To keep the money flowing. To keep all the plates spinning.""I understand perfectly. You're a coward and a murderer who sacrificed everyone around you to protect your precious empire." Jackson pulled out his phone. "The police know I'm here. They're watching this building right now. And I'm going to walk out of here and tell them everything you just told me.""Jackson, wait—" Richard took a step forward, and Jackson instinctively stepped back."Don't come near me. Don't call me. Don't text me. As of right now, you don't have a son." Jackson moved toward the door, his hand on the knob. "And when they come to arrest you, I hope you remember this conversation. I hope you remember choosing money over family. Choosing lies over the truth. I thought you are better than Astor, Liam's father. But it turns out you both are the same.""You ca
Third person's POV Richard Maddox opened the door before Jackson's finger left the buzzer, like he'd been standing there waiting, counting down the seconds. He looked older than Jackson remembered from just a few months ago. The lines around his eyes had deepened into crevices. His hair had gone almost completely gray at the temples. The expensive suit he wore hung slightly loose, like he'd lost weight he couldn't afford to lose."Jackson." Richard's voice cracked on the name, and he cleared his throat. "Come in. Please."Jackson stepped into the apartment and immediately felt the weight of downward mobility pressing down on him. This wasn't the sprawling mansion where he'd grown up, with its marble floors and spiral staircases and rooms they'd never even used. This was four walls and expensive furniture that looked wrong in the smaller space, like artifacts from a life that no longer existed.The living room held a leather couch that had cost fifteen thousand dollars when it was new
Third person's POV The city slid past the car windows in a blur of glass and concrete, the afternoon sun turning everything into a washed-out photograph. Liam kept his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, his focus supposedly on the traffic but really on the man sitting beside him. Jackson stared out the passenger window, his reflection ghostly in the glass, and Liam could see the tension in every line of his body.They were heading to Richard Maddox's apartment, to a conversation neither of them wanted to have but couldn't avoid. The address was programmed into the GPS, counting down the minutes and miles until they arrived at a reckoning that had been building since Astor Sinclair went to prison two months ago.Liam had wanted Jackson to stay home. Had argued that morning that Jackson needed rest, that the stress of confronting his father could wait another day. But Jackson had shut that down fast, his voice sharp with frustration."I'm not staying locked up in the apartment







