LOGIN~ 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.âIâm sorry,â he murmured.His voice was no longer sharp. It carried something heavier. Regret or the performance of it. After spending such time in Xanderâs world my trust in men was as frail as a feather.âI shouldnât have grabbed you like that.âHe gently massaged the spot, his touch warm and rhythmic, as if trying to erase what had happened between us.âI was a jerk,â
~ 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 didnât move. Just waited as the memories came back in fractured pieces.Snow outside the balcony.Kyleâs 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 Xanderâs world.This wasnât the safehouse.This wasnât 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
â Xander âBy 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.âMove.âWe 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.âLet
â Xander âThe fire had been extinguished by the time I returned.Smoke still coiled upward into the night, thick and bitter, staining the snowfall gray. The wreckage sat in the middle of the east road like a carcass picked clean by violence.The metal had collapsed, the windshield was gone and the frame was unrecognizable.My men stood back, forming a perimeter. No one spoke when I approached.Dominic walked beside me.âThey pulled what they could,â he said quietly. âThere wasnât much left.âThere rarely was.I stepped closer.The smell lingered, burned fuel, charred rubber and something heavier beneath it.Human.One of the men swallowed. âWe found remains in the driverâs side.âDriverâs side.Not the back, not hidden or restrained.My gaze lowered to the blackened interior.The body was slumped forward, fused into what remained of the seat. Fire had erased identity. Flesh and fabric had become indistinguishable.There was nothing recognizable.Nothing that screamed her name.For a
â Xander âWar did not frighten me.It steadied me.Gunfire cracked through the estate like splitting wood. Glass shattered somewhere along the east wing. Men shouted over one another, radios screeching with half-formed updates.Chaos was loud.But inside my headâSilence.I stepped over a body without looking down.âChiudi lâingresso ovest,â I said calmly. âBloccate il cancello secondario. Nessuno entra, nessuno esce.âClose the west entrance. Lock the secondary gate. No one in. No one out.My voice did not rise.It never needed to.Dominic appeared at my side, blood staining the cuff of his sleeve â not his own.âThey knew the blind spots,â he said low enough for only me to hear. âLower perimeter. North fence.ââThey didnât know,â I replied evenly. âThey were told.âThere was a difference.Information was not guessed.It was given.Another burst of gunfire echoed. A chandelier crashed somewhere in the foyer.Snow drifted through the open doors where one of the panels had been blown
~ Avelyn ~Snow swirled in behind him, melting into the carpet like evidence that didnât belong.Kyleâs face was tense and surprising as it may sound. It wasnât from panic.He looked focused.âHow did you even get up here?â I whispered.âThereâs no time,â he said, glancing toward the hallway door as if he could see through it. Distant shouting echoed faintly through the estate. A thud. Something breaking. Gunfire, muted but unmistakable.My stomach dropped.âThatâs not security,â I breathed.âNo,â Kyle said quietly. âIt isnât.âThe projector light flickered across his face, casting pieces of me over him. Pieces of my frozen body suspended mid-spin on the screen behind us.His jaw tightened when he noticed it.âHe keeps recordings of you?â he asked.I didnât answer and I heard him curse under his breath, âThat sick bastard.ââWe have to go. Now.âThe urgency in his voice snapped me back to the present.âGo?â My heart began to race for a different reason. âKyle, this is Xanderâs private







