LOGINVivienne's POV “What do you mean, war?” The question left me before I could stop it.Maverick looked uncomfortable immediately, and somehow that made everything worse.“I'm listening.” Ronan didn’t take his eyes off him. “Explain.”Maverick exhaled slowly before stepping further into the room. He held a folded stack of papers in one hand now, worn from being opened too many times already.“There were names inside,” he said carefully. “Locations, shipment schedules, literally everything you can think of.”“I don’t understand,” A cold feeling spread slowly through my stomach as I whispered.“You weren’t supposed to,” Ronan muttered. The words weren’t loud, but they landed hard anyway.Maverick on the other hand, continued carefully, like he was choosing what to say in front of me.“There were forged signatures too,” he said. “Markings tied to us.”“What?” Ronan went completely still beside the bed. “What kind of markings?”“The kind that makes it look like we authorized something we
Vivienne's POV Pain woke me before consciousness fully did. A sharp, burning ache tore through my side every time I breathed, dragging me upward slowly and unwillingly. For a few seconds, I didn’t know where I was and everything felt heavy, blurred around the edges and muffled like I was underwater.Then memory slammed into me all at once. I recalled Brick, the gun grazing my side, Ronan and the package.My eyes snapped open and panic hit so fast it nearly made me choke..I jerked upright instinctively, only for pain to explode through my side hard enough to rip a cry from my throat.“Easy.” The voice came immediately from a corner in the room. It was low, controlled and dangerously calm, but worse? I recognized its owner immediately.My head whipped toward the direction of the room, and Ronan stood near the door, one hand still resting against the handle like he’d just walked back in. For one horrible second, I couldn’t process what I was seeing.There was blood on him and not a l
Ronan's POV I hadn’t stopped walking since I carried her out of that place. Not once, and honestly, I wasn't even dreaming of it My boots slammed against the pavement hard enough to jar up my spine, but it still didn’t feel fast enough, nothing felt fast enough. I hated to admit it, but it felt like I was running out of time faster than I would like. If anything were to happen to Vivienne….No. I pushed the thoughts aside immediately. I didn't need things like that crowding my mind right now. Vivienne lay against my chest, limp and trembling, blood soaking through both her clothes and mine while every second stretched into something unbearable.“Where the fuck is the car?” I roared.The sound ripped through the night so violently that three of my men nearly tripped over themselves scrambling forward.“It’s coming!” someone shouted back.“Then make it move faster!” I yelled into the night, while my grip tightened around Vivienne instinctively as another weak sound slipped from her
Ronan's POV The gunshot cracked through the room, and for one split second, nobody moved. It seemed like the world had come to a painful stop, and nothing actually mattered, until Vivienne gasped that is. The sound ripped through me harder than the bullet itself.Her body jerked violently, fingers flying to her side as blood bloomed between them, and suddenly the entire room narrowed into one brutal, unbearable point.Her.Everything else disappeared. The noise, the men, Brick and even the music. None of it mattered to me anymore. Vivienne stumbled, her knees buckling beneath her, and something inside me snapped so hard I felt it in my teeth.I moved before she hit the ground.I caught her against my chest just as her legs gave out completely, her body trembling in my arms as a weak cry slipped past her lips.“Vivienne.” Her name tore out of me rough and sharp.Blood soaked through my fingers almost immediately when I pressed my hand against her side. The sound wasn't deep nor w
Vivienne's POV Everything inside me went still immediately. It wasn't quiet, nor was it calm,but still. Like my body had forgotten how to function the second he walked in.Ronan stood at the entrance, framed by the dim light spilling in from outside, his presence cutting through the noise like it didn’t belong in the same world as everything else in this room, and for a second, just a second, I couldn’t breathe.His eyes found me immediately. Not the room, not the men, not Brick, but me. They dropped to where Brick’s hand was still wrapped around my wrist, then to my outfit, then back to my face, and something in him shifted.He didn’t move right away, didn’t rush forward, didn’t explode. He just walked in, his steps slow and measured, and each step heavy enough to make the room adjust around him.The noise died down without anyone saying a word. Conversations faded, laughter cut off, and even the music felt quieter somehow, like the air itself had decided to listen.Ronan stoppe
Vivienne's POV “Bring her here.” The words landed heavy and final, but I didn’t move. I couldn't.My body locked up as the two men at the door shifted, ready to follow through, but something in me snapped before they could take a step.“No.” It came out sharper than I expected, louder too, and cutting through the noise just enough to draw attention.I quickly realized, that that was a mistake.Every head didn’t turn, but enough did,enough to make me feel it and enough to make him notice.Brick didn’t even look at his men.Instead, he pushed back his chair slowly, like he had all the time in the world, and stood to his full height.Another big mistake, and it was still mine, because the moment he started walking toward me instead?Every instinct I had screamed at me to run, but there was nowhere to go. My back hit the edge of a table as he closed the distance, and just like that, the space between us disappeared.He was close, way too close that his presence sent goosebumps racing
Vivienne's POV The noise had softened into something almost pleasant by the time it started to go wrong. I should have known better than to think that whatever pleasant atmosphere would last for the rest of the night, or till whenever this hanging exit was meant to last. I knew I shouldn't hav
Vivienne's POV I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving, and whether or not I was going to regret it, we were just going to have to find out later. I wouldn't exactly say I was the queen of impulsive decisions, but right now, I didn't care. I just slipped away while the noise was still high and t
Vivienne's POV By the time I was standing beside the bike, I already knew my body was betraying me. A small part of me had thought that waiting the race out would do me some good, but apparently, I was wrong. I had hours, basically the whole day to get it out of my system and prepare my mind fo
Vivienne's POV I found him before he found me, and I couldn't help to not comment on how that was rare these days.Ronan stood in the open space near the bikes, his shoulders squared, and voice low but commanding as he spoke to a small group of men clustered around him. He wasn’t loud, because







