LOGIN~ Avelyn ~Dominic didn’t step inside.Somehow, that made everything worse.He remained where he was, just beyond the threshold, as though crossing into my space wasn’t necessary to take control of it. The air between us felt tight, stretched thin by everything unsaid, everything already understood.I didn’t invite him in.He didn’t ask again.Instead, he slipped one hand into his coat and pulled out a small card, holding it between his fingers for a moment before extending it toward me. I hesitated, my eyes flickering from the object to his face, searching for something—anything—that might give me room to breathe in this situation.There was none.Slowly, I reached out and took it.It was an address.A time.Three days from now.My fingers tightened slightly around the card as the meaning settled in.Dominic watched me take it in, his expression unchanged, as if this was nothing more than a simple exchange.“Three days,” he said, his voice calm, measured in a way that made it harder
~ Avelyn ~The man standing in front of me didn’t look surprised to see me. If anything, there was a quiet certainty in his expression, as though this moment had already played out in his mind long before I opened the door. He stood there with an ease that didn’t belong to ordinary men, dressed too neatly, too composed for someone tied to the kind of world I had tried so desperately to escape.And yet, I knew exactly who he was.I hadn’t spent enough time around him to claim familiarity, but it didn’t take familiarity to recognize danger. It lived in the way he held himself, in the stillness that wasn’t empty but controlled, deliberate. The kind of stillness that made your instincts rise before your thoughts could catch up.Dominic.My fingers tightened around the edge of the door, every instinct screaming at me to shut it, to lock it, to pretend this wasn’t happening—but my body refused to cooperate. I couldn’t move, not when his gaze had already slipped past me, uninvited, scanning
~ Avelyn ~Kyle didn’t say anything when he handed it to me.He didn’t look at me either.It was such a small thing, the way his fingers brushed mine for the briefest second before letting go, but it felt heavier than anything he had ever said to me. There was no anger in his face this time, no sharp edge to his voice like in the car, no accusation hanging between us. Just… absence.And somehow, that hurt more.I stood there, watching his retreating back, waiting—foolishly—for him to turn around, to say something, anything, even if it was harsh. Even if it was cruel. I would have taken that over this silence.But he didn’t stop.He didn’t turn.He just walked away like there was nothing left to hold on to.My fingers tightened around the small box in my hand, and for a moment, I didn’t open it. I just stood there, staring at it like it might burn me if I looked too closely. Like I already knew what it was, and opening it would only make it real.When I finally did, my breath caught in
~ Veronica ~Failure had a sound.It wasn’t loud and it wasn’t dramatic.It was quiet… suffocating… the kind that sat in your chest long after everything had gone still.And right now, it was all I could hear.The teacup in my hand trembled ever so slightly before I set it down with controlled precision against the saucer. Anyone looking at me would think I was calm. Composed. Untouched.But beneath the surface, something vicious clawed its way up my throat.Last night had been perfect.Every detail accounted for. Every movement calculated. I had waited, endured, tolerated his distance for over a year, playing the role expected of me while he looked through me like I was nothing more than a decorative piece placed at his side.A wife in name.An afterthought in truth.And yet… I had still been patient. Because patience, I had learned, always paid off.Except last night—My fingers curled slightly on the table as the memory replayed itself whether I wanted it to or not.The tray had
— Xander —Waking up felt… wrong.Not in the way one would expect after a long night or too little sleep, but in a way that sat deeper than the body, something that lingered beneath the skin like a memory refusing to fully surface.My eyes opened to the ceiling, unmoving for a moment as I let the silence settle.The room was too still, too quiet.And yet—Not untouched.A faint crease formed between my brows as I pushed myself up slowly, the sheets shifting against my skin. The first thing I registered was the dull heaviness in my limbs, not exhaustion, not quite pain either, but something in between. My body felt used, strained in a way that didn’t align with rest.That alone was enough to make me pause.I sat there for a moment longer, letting my gaze drift across the room.Nothing appeared out of place at first glance.The furniture stood exactly where it should. The lighting was unchanged. The structure of the room remained intact, familiar.But the longer I looked…The more the
~ Avelyn ~The hospital lights felt too bright, too clean and unforgiving.By the time we got there, my body had started to shut down in ways I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t sleep. It wasn’t relief either. It felt like something in me had simply reached its limit and decided to stop responding.But my mind…My mind refused to stop.Ciara.That was the only thing keeping me upright.Kyle didn’t waste a second. The moment we stepped through those doors, he was already moving ahead of me, his voice sharp, controlled, authoritative in a way I had only seen a few times before.“Clear a room. Now.”People moved.Fast.Not because they understood everything, but because something in his tone didn’t allow hesitation.I followed behind him, clutching the small storage pack that held the blood. I retrieved it from Kyle just before we stepped out of the car. My fingers had gone numb around it, but I didn’t loosen my grip. I couldn’t.It felt like the only thing tethering me to reality.Ciara was
~ Avelyn ~My body fell unnaturally still but I managed to turn around. The seriousness in his gaze dried all saliva from my throat. “What?” I breathed, it came out like a whisper or maybe a silent cry for help because I knew he wasn’t a man to make jokes. And sure enough, he didn’t waver. Only
~ Xander ~The city was a smear of lights behind the tinted glass of the car, a glittering stretch of the night sliding past like oil on water. I sat back, tie loosened, one hand on my phone, the other swirling a drink I hadn’t tasted. Dominic’s voice cut through the hum of the engine.“Boss, tonig
~ Avelyn ~Kyle froze first. Then his arms slipped from me like they’d burned him. I turned slowly, and there he was.Xander.The shadows of the garden seemed to bend toward him. His expression was cold as ice, carved from stone and fury. The lantern light flickered along the sharp line of his jaw,
~ Avelyn ~Veronica blinked in what might have been surprise. The room quieted like the air before a storm. She allowed a slow smile to sculpt her face, like someone appreciating a rare flavor. “Oh?” she said, faintly amused. “Did you just refuse me?”“I— I’m not changing,” I said. My voice tremble







