LOGINVERA’S POVA lump formed in my throat as the men approached the car. At that moment, every instinct screamed at me to run, to find a way out of this goddamn situation. But I failed to move even a muscle.“Sarah..” I turned to her again, but before I could say a word, the men yanked out of the car aggressively and dragged towards the warehouse.“Help!” I screamed, desperately trying to wriggle myself from their grip. “Somebody help me!” “Shut your hole.” Sarah snapped behind me.I didn't listen to her, I had no intentions to. I kept screaming my lungs out, even though I observed that the area was isolated.The men hurled me into a dark room. I ran behind them as soon as they did, and because I had a slim figure, I was able to slip out and past them.“Hey!” The men pursued me from behind while I ran with every ounce of energy in my body.I had mapped the area when they first dragged me past, even though I had been screaming.There was an open exit at the fence area, if I could get o
Vera's POVI woke up that morning with no idea the word had already gone out to begin."Where's Marta?"The maid who usually brought my tea at ten sharp was nowhere in the kitchen, and neither was the second girl who normally trailed behind her. I stood in the doorway with my robe still tied loose at the waist, looking at an empty counter where a tray should have been sitting."She was let go, ma'am." One of the newer guards, a man I didn't recognize, answered without quite meeting my eyes. "Reassignment, I believe.""Reassigned where?"He didn't answer that one. He just gave a small nod and walked off toward the east hallway, leaving me standing there with a question I couldn't shake loose.I told myself it didn't mean anything. Staff came and went, especially with Sylas tightening security every other week since Cassian showed his face again. But Marta had been with the estate longer than I had. She wasn't the kind of person you reassigned without warning.I tried Sylas's phone for
Cassian's POVWord of the raid reached me before Sylas had even finished counting the guns he'd found."Have they found the factory yet?"I asked it without looking up from the whiskey I was pouring, that was because I already knew the answer. My phone buzzed against the counter, a single text from a man I paid too well to ever be late with an update popped up."They're inside, nothing is there."I smiled and took a sip.Sylas was a lot of things. Ruthless and smart, in the way rich men are smart when other people do the actual thinking for them. But predictable, that was the word for it. Predictable in a way that made all of this almost too easy to carry out.He'd spent weeks chasing a building I hadn't set foot in since I bled a hole through it on purpose. Torn wiring, forged shipping logs, and a laptop left open with just enough on it to send him into a panic. I built that factory to be found. I built it to be believed.My father used to say I never finished anything. Funny, consid
Sylas' POV"Vault 7 is locked down," Lance said through the radio, his voice sharp against the static. "But boss, whoever got in has already got out."I didn't answer him right away, my eyes were fixed on the laptop which was still glowing on the desk in front of me, the email about the vault burning itself into my memory. Cassian hadn't just walked into my company, he had walked into the one place I had never told him existed before."Keep the sweep going," I finally said. "I want every room in this building checked before we leave.""Copy that."I left the office and moved down the corridor with Marcus and two others behind me, my flashlight cutting through the dark in sharp, restless arcs. The deeper we went, the more the place started to feel less like an abandoned building and more like a nest someone had only just crawled out of.We found the first room behind a stack of rusted shelving that didn't match the rest of the factory. Marcus noticed it before I did, the way the shelf
Sylas' POVThe gate went down before I even gave the order.Lance's men hit it with a battering ram and the metal folded like paper, the sound cracking through the quiet industrial yard which was loud enough to make my ears ring. I stepped over the wreckage with my gun drawn, my chest tight with hope."Move in formation," I said into the radio which is strapped to my chest. "Nobody breaks off alone.""Copy that, boss," Lance answered, he was already fanning his team left toward the loading bay.We had spent weeks building toward this moment, tracking scraps of information, bribing informants, and watching camera feeds until our eyes burned. And now we were finally here, standing in front of the factory where my brother had been hiding like a rat in the walls of his own mess.I should have felt satisfied. Instead, my gut twisted the second I stepped through the door.It was quite unlike what we expected.A factory this size should have had movement, noise, or something ongoing. Instead,
Sylas' POV:"Boss, we found him."The words echoed through the phone. And for a moment, I didn't move, breathe or think.Beside me, Vera must have heard him through the phone, because she had gone completely still.“What did you say?” I asked, as I felt my pulse begin to hammer hard against my ribs.It had taken months of chasing shadows, of dodging attacks and kidnappings. Months of watching Cassian smiling as he tried to take me down, and now, I had finally got him."Boss?" The commander's voice pulled me back. “I said, we have found him.”I sat up in bed immediately, and every single trace of exhaustion in my body vanished completely."Listen to me carefully." I started, my mind already spinning as I thought about what next I needed to do. “You are not to engage,” I ordered, my voice colder than I intended."Sir?" the commander’s tone was confused,"Do not engage," I repeated, “And do not let Cassian or any of his men know that they have been found.”The moment I said that, the com
I stopped walking the moment I entered the restaurant. For a brief moment, I debated turning around and immediately walking out.The place was... intimidating. It was huge, had glowing crystal chandeliers, and the marble floors were so polished, it looked like glass.The air of the restaurant smell
The cold, icy night air bit into my skin the moment the door shut behind me.For a while, I did nothing else but stand there on the porch with my suitcase held tightly in my hands. My body trembled violently, whether from the pain in my cheek, or the sheer adrenaline rushing through my body, I didn
The pain from his betrayal was already wrecking me apart before the sound of the slap reached me,A sharp and completely brutal crack split the air apart, and for a full heartbeat, I stood there in confusion, not understanding what had just happened.My head snapped to the side, my vision blurred,
The next few minutes were a blur.I don’t remember driving home, nor do I remember how my trembling hands were able to clench the steering wheel, or how my legs even managed to reach the pedal.The only thing I could recall was Evan calling Lyra’s voice, but not mine.By the time I drove into the p







