LOGIN~ Avelyn ~The moment Kyle walked out of that room to meet Xander, something inside me settled.I can assure you, it wasn’t fear or panic. It was clarity.Men like them did not meet to exchange pleasantries. They met to measure dominance, to wound with words, to decide who would bleed next. And whether that blood would spill quietly… or drown cities.If Xander still believed I was dead, that illusion would not survive the day.One wrong look. One misstep. One flicker of suspicion and everything would collapse.I would become leverage again. A symbol or even a reason for war.No.If I was going to disappear, it had to be now before their pride concluded the conversation.Before someone declared my death official and the systems began freezing my existence.Before the baby inside me became a target.I placed my palm flat against my abdomen and inhaled slowly.You deserve a future that isn’t negotiated in gunfire.But the reality was, that future required money and luckily for me I had m
— Xander —The Roman meeting room smelled of polished wood and old power.Neutral ground.A long table divided the space, though neither of us sat. Kyle entered without hesitation.The moment his eyes landed on me, he crossed the distance in three strides and his fist collided with my jaw.The crack echoed.I didn’t stagger but I tasted blood.Dominic moved instantly, but I lifted a hand slightly.Stand down.Kyle’s chest was heaving. His expression was carved from grief and fury so convincing most men in the room shifted uncomfortably.“You let her die,” he said, voice raw.There it was.The performance.I rolled my jaw once, slow, feeling the ache settle in. Then I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with my thumb and examined it casually.“If that makes you feel better,” I replied evenly, “hit me again.”His eyes flashed and he swung again. This time, I caught his wrist mid-air.The room went still.I leaned closer, my grip tightening just enough for bone to protest.“If yo
— Xander —By the time I returned to the estate, the snow had covered most traces of the night’s chaos.Men were still clearing debris from the courtyard. The marble steps had been scrubbed, though faint stains lingered in the grooves if one looked closely enough.War always left residue.I walked past them without a word and went straight to my study.The door closed behind me with a soft click.Silence.For the first time since the explosion, my pulse was steady.“She’s alive.”The certainty had settled into my bones. Now it was time to prove it.I removed my gloves slowly, flexing my fingers once before sitting at the desk. Blood had dried along the cut of my knuckles. I ignored it.“Bring up internal surveillance,” I ordered when Dominic entered moments later.He didn’t question me. He moved to the console along the wall, pulling up feeds from the previous night, every corridor, every staircase, every exterior angle of the safehouse.We watched.Footage of the lower hallways durin
~ Avelyn ~Kyle stared at me for a long moment after I said I had made my decision.The tension in his shoulders slowly eased, as if he understood that force would not win this battle. Not with me. Not like that.He exhaled, long and quiet, then did something that unsettled me more than his anger had.He softened.He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down beside me. Slowly, deliberately. As if approaching something fragile.Me.His fingers reached for my wrist, the very same one he had gripped too tightly minutes ago. This time, his touch was careful. His thumb brushed over the faint redness he had left behind.“I’m sorry,” he murmured.His voice was no longer sharp. It carried something heavier. Regret or the performance of it. After spending such time in Xander’s world my trust in men was as frail as a feather.“I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.”He gently massaged the spot, his touch warm and rhythmic, as if trying to erase what had happened between us.“I was a jerk,”
~ Avelyn ~My ears rang from the silence.Not the kind that follows chaos. Not the ringing quiet after gunfire or shouting. This was softer. Controlled like it was manufactured.The sheets beneath me were clean. The air smelled faintly of antiseptic and something citrus. My head throbbed in slow, deliberate pulses, like a reminder that my body had been interrupted against its will.For a moment, I didn’t move. Just waited as the memories came back in fractured pieces.Snow outside the balcony.Kyle’s voice asking if I trusted him.My hesitation.His apology.Darkness.My eyes snapped open fully.The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. Smooth. Pale. No chandelier. No carved moldings. No shadowed corners that felt like they belonged to Xander’s world.This wasn’t the safehouse.This wasn’t anywhere I had ever been.I pushed myself upright too quickly and the room tilted. A hand steadied me before I could fall back.Kyle.He was already standing beside the bed, watching me, not with relief
— Xander —By dawn, there were no negotiations left to consider.The snow had not stopped falling through the night. It covered the courtyard, the trees, the burned road where the wreckage still smoldered faintly in the distance. White over ruin. White over blood. White over what remained of restraint.I did not hold council.I did not wait for surveillance confirmations or layered strategies.I gave one order.“Move.”We tracked them beyond the tree line, through the forest paths they thought would conceal their retreat. The snow betrayed them, footprints carved their escape in clear, desperate lines. They had run without formation. Without discipline.Without understanding what they had done.Usually, I commanded from behind the line. I observed and calculated. I allowed my men to execute with precision while I remained untouched by the chaos.Not tonight.Tonight I walked at the front.Dominic noticed immediately. I saw it in the way his gaze followed me, measuring, cautious.“Let







