LOGINAce's Pov
The live broadcast started at nine in the morning and Rem walked into the main room with the tablet already playing and set it on the table without saying a single word first and that silence told me everything before I even looked at the screen.
Nikolai looked up from his phone. "What is this."
"Castro went live," Rem said. "Forty minutes ago. Every major criminal network in the city received it and
Ace's PovI had been quiet for most of the evening and both of them had noticed and neither of them had said anything about it yet and that patience was starting to feel worse than if they had just asked.We were in the main room and Nikolai was at the desk and Ivan was on the couch and I was sitting on the floor with my back against the couch and my knees pulled up and I was thinking about everything I had learned in the past several weeks and trying to figure out what any of it actually meant for the three of us."Say it," Ivan said from above me."Say what.""Whatever you have been sitting with for the past three hours."I looked at the wall across the room for a moment and then said, "Is this real."Nikolai turned from the desk. "Clarify.""This." I gestured at the space between all thr
Nikolai's PovThe video of us killing Ace's parents had been playing on every news channel for three days.The underworld was in chaos, our enemies emboldened, our allies questioning us. But my only concern was Ace.He hadn't left the penthouse, barely ate, and when he did sleep, it was plagued with nightmares. I watched him pace the living room, his movements restless, his face a mask of pain and fear.I tightened security, doubling the guards, implementing new protocols. No one got in or out without my explicit approval. But it wasn't enough. The fear of losing him was eating me alive, making me more possessive, more controlling than ever."Ace," I said, my voice breaking the silence. "We need to talk."He stopped pacing, turning to face me. "What's there to talk about? Everyone knows. Everyone has seen it."
Ivan's PovWe had David back in the building within four hours and those four hours were the most direct and violent four hours I had experienced in months.The planning took forty minutes. Rem had a location from a south side contact within twenty and Nikolai built the approach in the remaining time and I read it twice and then we moved. Moving fast was the entire strategy. The Morettis were expecting a negotiation. They had built a whole timeline around us trying to talk first and buy ourselves time. That assumption was going to cost them.The warehouse was a secondary facility they had been using for six months and they had four men inside and two covering the exterior. Nikolai took the south entry and I came through the main approach and Rem's people sealed the two side exits and we went in at the same time. The whole thing was finished in eleven minutes.David was in a back room wi
Ace's PovThe live broadcast started at nine in the morning and Rem walked into the main room with the tablet already playing and set it on the table without saying a single word first and that silence told me everything before I even looked at the screen.Nikolai looked up from his phone. "What is this.""Castro went live," Rem said. "Forty minutes ago. Every major criminal network in the city received it and it has been shared through private channels since."Nikolai took the tablet and pressed play and I moved closer and Ivan came around the table and stood on my other side and we watched it together.Castro was in a clean room with good lighting and he was dressed well and looking directly into the camera with the kind of calm that only came from a man who had been planning something for a very long time and was finally delivering it.
Nikolai's PovI was walking past Ace's bedroom when I heard his hushed voice through the door.He was on a call, trying to be quiet, but I caught enough. "I know it's dangerous but I have to know the truth... Yes, meet me tomorrow."My blood turned to ice. After everything, the leaked photos, the lieutenant feeding information to the Morettis. He was still keeping secrets. Still planning secret meetings. The rage that hit me was blinding, a possessive fury that demanded to be unleashed.I pushed the door open without knocking. Ace jumped, ending the call quickly, his face pale when he saw me."Who was that?" I asked, my voice dangerously low."No one," he stammered. "Just a wrong number."I crossed the room in three strides, grabbing his arm. "Don't lie to me, Ace. Not after everything.""I wasn't&
Ace's PovThe self-defense training started two days after the photo leak, I had demanded it because waiting around while the Morettis dismantled my life piece by piece was not something I was willing to keep doing.Nikolai was against it. He stood in the gym doorway with his arms crossed, he told me my body was not ready. My head was not ready and that training while emotionally compromised was dangerous and stupid."I disagree." I walked past him into the gym."Ace.""I disagree." I picked up the hand wraps from the bench. "So either help me or leave."Ivan was already inside. He looked at Nikolai and Nikolai looked at him and something passed between them in the silence."Fine." Nikolai came in and let the door close behind him. "We start from the basics and we do not rush anything.""Agreed."We started with defensive positioning. Nikolai had gone over the basics with me months ago but I had not taken it seriously then because I had not understood yet what serious looked like. I
Nikolai's PovAce was smarter than I had initially given him credit for and that was fine. Smart people were easier to manage than stupid ones because they understood consequences clearly. The stupid ones needed reminders.Ivan was still in bed. Ivan was never awake before ten unless someone was on
(Ivan’s POV)A surprised, strangled gasp falls out from his lips. He glanced at us, afraid again. I could see the battle in his eyes, against his own body’s desire.“I…”To be ours, Ace had to learn some things.First, we wouldn't hurt what was ours for speaking up. In fact I wanted him to speak u
Ace's PovMy room locked from the outside.I found that out at quarter past eleven that night when I tried the handle and it did not move.There was no click of a key turning and no sound of a guard on the other side. Just a lock built into the frame that had engaged on its own, quiet and clean and
Sergei's PovThe fifth contact happened on a Tuesday.Ace was on a supervised walk with one guard when I fell into step near him going the same direction. The guard was a few feet ahead, dealing with a call on his earpiece, which gave me abo







