로그인"Grab him!" The driver sprinted blindly toward the back of the building, panic making his vision blur. His breaths tore painfully from his throat. He almost made it around the corner... Before someone crashed into him from behind. The impact sent him slamming face-first into the dirt. Pain exploded through his ribs and he screamed. “LET GO OF ME! WHO ARE YOU? I SAID LET ME GO, FUCK IT!” Strong hands grabbed him instantly. Well, too many hands. One pinned his shoulders and another twisted his arm behind his back. “GET OFF—” A brutal punch slammed into his ribs. Agony burst through him so violently that he nearly blacked out. His scream broke apart into a choking gasp. Several men held him down effortlessly while he thrashed wildly beneath them like a trapped animal. “Who are you?!” he shouted frantically. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” No one answered and that terrified him even more. Rough hands yanked both his arms behind his back before a tape wrapped viciously around his wris
He then booked a driver quickly to go to the location given to him. The taxi ride felt endless. Every minute stretched tighter around his throat. The farther they drove from the city, the emptier everything became. Buildings slowly disappeared behind them. Traffic faded. Crowded streets turned into long isolated roads lined with dry land and abandoned industrial structures. Silence filled the car. But his anxiety never dissipated. He sat rigidly in the back seat, knee bouncing uncontrollably while sweat soaked through his shirt despite the air conditioner blasting cold air directly at him. His eyes kept darting to the rearview mirror. Every car behind them looked suspicious. Every passing headlight made his chest tighten. What if they already knew? What if Lucian Moretti was already dead? What if this was a trap? His breathing grew uneven again. “Hey,” the taxi driver muttered cautiously, glancing at him through the mirror. “You alright back there?” The man forced a nod im
The man couldn’t stop shaking. Not even a little. His fingers trembled so violently around the cigarette that ash kept spilling down the front of his wrinkled shirt and onto the oil-stained concrete beneath his boots. The nicotine did nothing anymore. Usually, it calmed him, usually one drag was enough to steady his nerves after a long shift or another screaming match with creditors. But now his lungs felt too tight to even inhale properly. Smoke caught in his throat. His chest burned. Sweat soaked the back of his neck despite the cool afternoon wind sweeping through the nearly empty convenience store parking lot. His heartbeat wouldn’t slow down. It only kept getting worse. Thud. Thud.. Thud... It was beating too loudly and too fast. Like his body already knew something his mind was still trying desperately to deny. He stood near the side of the building beside a flickering vending machine, staring blankly through the dusty glass windows of the tiny store while his
The tension in the room grew thicker with Lucian’s last statement. Well... for the Vaughns. Because Elara couldn't stop grinning as she stared at Lucian with a loving gaze. For the Vaughns... The air felt wrong, too still, and too sharp, as if even the smallest movement might shatter whatever fragile restraint was barely holding everything together for them. No one breathed normally. Every inhale dragged, slow and heavy, scraping against the silence. Every exhale sounded too loud, like a mistake they didn't want to commit. And then... The door slammed open suddenly. There was no knock. It was a violent, bone-rattling crack that tore through the room so suddenly and so forcefully, it felt like the walls themselves shuddered under the impact. Every head snapped toward the entrance. Just who the hell opened the door like that? There stood... Nathan, Seraphina, Lisa, and Felix. They didn’t rush in despite the fire burning in their hearts. They walked in with a kind of quiet au
But then... “You were part of this family!” he barked, his composure cracking over and over as he tried to rein in his impulse. “You lived under our roof—” “As what?” she fired back instantly. That question hung in the air like a blade, making Aaron falter. She was right. How was she under their roof? Elara’s lips curved into something bitter. “Say it,” she challenged. “Go on, don't keep me in suspense.” Aaron said nothing. Because he couldn’t. There was no true answer to her question. “Exactly,” Elara said. Her gaze shifted briefly, sweeping over the others... the so-called family she once belonged to. “I was never your daughter,” she continued, her voice quieter now but filled with something far more cutting than anger. “I was the adopted one. The extra. The one you tolerated until your real daughter came back.” Evelyn stiffened and her eyes instantly shifted towards Lucian. Marjorie’s lips parted. “Elara, that’s not...” “Don’t,” Elara snapped, her eyes flashing. “Don’t
Aaron’s jaw tightened, the muscles ticking visibly as he took a step forward, his eyes locked on Lucian like a man itching for a fight he wasn’t sure he could win, but too prideful to walk away from. “You think you can just sit there and...” Lucian didn’t even look at him. Not even once. He was done talking to a wall. Heck! The reason he allowed them into the room was so that he could warn them to stay away from us inve and for all. He remained seated on the edge of the hospital bed, his posture relaxed, one hand gently wrapped around Elara’s, his thumb brushing slow, soothing circles over her skin like the Vaughns and Aaron’s presence didn’t exist, like his voice was nothing more than background noise. It wasn’t just dismissive. It was humiliating. And they deserved it. Naahh... they deserved more than that. Aaron’s voice rose, sharper this time, laced with frustration. “I’m talking to you!” Still nothing. Lucian’s attention never shifted. If anything, his grip on Elara’s hand
In the end, the family came to a unanimous conclusion, though not without resistance, and more than one heated glare was exchanged across the living room. Lisa and Felix would go with Elara. There was no negotiating that part. Lucian had crossed his arms, leaning against the wall like a silent
The Vaughn family did not know how to let go of control. They never had. Control was the language they spoke, the air they breathed, the invisible leash they believed every person tied to their name should wear without question. It was how they loved, if it could even be called love. Ownership d
The First Incident... Age Seventeen Lucian didn’t speak right away. His jaw tightened, his muscles jumping as another memory surfaced, one that predated his uncle, one that had been quietly erased from family conversations as though pretending it never happened might somehow make it true. “I w
Lucian’s step backward was instinctive. Not rejection. But out of shock. Pure, visceral disbelief. His eyes traced the marks on Elara’s skin like his mind was trying, and failing, to turn them into something else. Shadows. Tricks of the light. Anything but what they were. Bruises didn’t lie. The







