LOGINJEREMY'S POV I didn’t think it’d be this easy to like him.That was the problem.I kept telling myself he wasn’t Zenya, but he looked like him. He moved like him. Talked with that same deep, deliberate voice. Same tilt of the head when he asked a question, same half-lidded gaze that always made my pulse tick faster. But Viktor smiled more. He let me talk. He listened. He didn’t crowd me like Zenya did, didn’t hold the silence like a noose, didn’t make me earn every crumb of affection.I knew I was supposed to be careful, supposed to draw some line in the sand, but I didn’t. I listened. I laughed. I even fucking encouraged him. I told him Miguel would love him once he stopped flinching at the idea. Told him family finds its way. Told him it wasn’t his fault, that Miguel just didn’t know what to do with someone new yet. Told him everything I shouldn’t have, because the whole time I was thinking—what the fuck am I doing? And still, I kept talking.We ended up walking through the
SETH'S POV I stared down at the phone like it’d grown fangs. The video was still paused, black screen taunting me with everything I couldn’t unsee, couldn’t unhear. My grip tightened around the beer bottle in my other hand, the glass slick with condensation. Miguel didn’t say anything, just leaned back against the counter like he hadn’t just set a fucking nuclear bomb off in Zenya’s chest with that little digital delivery. I handed him the phone silently, still reeling.Jeremy’s laugh drifted in from the porch—light, stupidly sweet. Like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn’t just cracked reality open with a kiss that wasn’t meant for Zenya but felt like it still was . Viktor was out there with him now, "catching up." That was what Jeremy had called it, like they were old friends, not two pieces of the same fucked-up puzzle suddenly fitting way too well.I rubbed the back of my neck, nerves prickling under my skin. “You sure that was… not a bit much?” My voice came out too soft. Careful
ZENYA’S POV. Steam clung to my skin as I stepped out of the bathroom, bare feet sinking into the cold marble like it owed me comfort. It didn’t. Nothing fucking did. I wiped a hand down my face, over my jaw, through my hair. The silence of the room was deafening, the kind of silence that made you want to scream just to prove you weren’t dead yet. I didn’t scream. I’d done enough of that today—with bullets, not words. Christ, it was past two in the goddamn morning. I hadn’t even had time to think, not really. They’d sworn me in hours ago—Pakhan. Official. Locked in. A title that had been looming since I could form a fist and make someone bleed with it. And today, I used it. Used it like a goddamn guillotine. Blood on the rugs. Blood on my shirt. Eyes wide. Mouths begging. Betrayers buried. Benito should’ve been there.Benito should’ve lived.But he hadn’t. Grade one tumor. Slow kill. A death I saw coming for months and still—still—it fucking broke me. And yet, it wasn’t his de
JEREMY’S POV What?No—no, what?I blinked hard, staring at the man in front of me, then back at Miguel, hoping like hell someone would laugh, slap me on the back and say just kidding . But no one did. Because no one was kidding.Zenya’s twin.The words hit me like a shovel to the back of the head, except there was no pain. Just white noise. Thick, oppressive confusion slamming through my skull like a migraine I didn’t see coming. I felt the blood drain from my face. My hands hung limp at my sides. And my dick—God help me—my dick didn’t get the memo, still half-hard, twitching like some stupid animal that couldn’t tell the difference between danger and desire.“What—” I started, voice raw, cracking. “What the fuck?”Miguel didn’t speak either. He just stood there, eyes locked on the man in the doorway, shoulders tense, jaw clenching harder with every breath.The man—adjusted the cuff of his sleeve, like none of this was new to him. Like barging in with a face that could break pe
MIGUEL'S POV I was going to combust.Straight up set the fucking couch on fire from how hard I was gripping the throw pillow like it had personally wronged me. My leg bounced like I was jacked up on coke, and my thumb kept dragging down my phone screen, refreshing the damn tracking app I swore I wasn’t going to check. Again.Still at Byron’s.Still.That same fucking house on that same quiet street where Seth used to go just for “training.” Now he was probably curled up under some too-expensive throw blanket with that clean-cut fucker, giggling like some Disney Channel couple while I sat here dry-mouthed and losing my fucking mind.I knew I shouldn't have left that tracker in his car.I knew it. But what the hell else was I supposed to do? Sit back like a chump and hope he'd pick me when Byron's already two years ahead in the whole good-boy, stable life race?"You're gonna blow a gasket, papi," Jeremy muttered from the corner of the couch, legs slung over the armrest like he l
SETH’S POVI should’ve known the second the door shut that it wasn’t gonna be a clean goodbye.Zenya hadn’t even been out of the house for more than a minute and already my heart was scraping itself raw in my chest, thudding like it was trying to rip out of my ribs and beat itself to death on the floor. The silence that followed after he left wasn’t peaceful, wasn’t gentle—it was screaming. It was that kind of silence that made everything feel louder.I ran a hand down my face, fingers trembling against my cheek. I hadn’t even turned fully before I heard Miguel shift behind me.That bastard had been waiting.Leaning against the wall like a fucking magazine ad, arms folded, expression unreadable, but his mouth already twitching into something bitter and knowing.I didn’t want to start a fight. Not today. Not when my whole body already felt like it had been gutted and hollowed out.But of course Miguel opened his mouth.“So,” he said, voice too casual to be real. “What now, Mallory? Gon
Seth’s POVI was breathing too hard.Was this right?I couldn’t fucking tell. I couldn’t think. My brain was shot, buzzing, torn in two. But my body—my body was on fire. Starved.Miguel.I needed Miguel. I needed something. Anything. Someone who looked like him, moved like him, fucking breathed lik
The air in the rink was cold as hell, but it didn’t matter. Seth's mouth was hot on mine.It started the second I slammed the locker room door shut. No words. Just hands. Teeth. I grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulled him into me like I was starved and he was the last fucking breath I’d ever tak
SETH’S POVI woke up with my face shoved deep into Miguel’s neck, our legs twisted, my cock still half-hard against his thigh, and his arm locked around my waist like a goddamn shackle.And just like always, it was all fucking good… too good.Too easy to fall into.I shut my eyes again, then opened
JEREMY'S POVIt fucking hurts too much, my body had grown stiff, cold to the touch. Whatever painkiller or whatever drug was given to steer off my total numbness was gradually fading away as the doctor stitched me up, and my head was a bloody mess. It banged. Like it had been split open with a fuck







