LOGINThe rest of the day passed in a hazy blur. Kai’s words kept replaying in my head on an endless loop: “At my apartment. 9pm.” The deep timbre of his voice still lingered, sending unwelcome shivers racing down my spine no matter how hard I tried to ignore them.
I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t concentrate on anything. Even when Melissa hovered nearby, a mix of gratitude and fear written all over her face. “Asher, um… what you did was really brave. I’m so, so grateful,” she said, her eyes darting between mine and her fidgeting fingers. “B-but I’m scared for you, Ash. You could lose your job because of me.” I spared her one quick glance. “I won’t get fired.” Then I turned back to my screen, fighting to steady my racing thoughts while adrenaline and cortisol flooded my veins. “And you don’t need to thank me a thousand times,” I added, still facing my monitor. “I did it because I wanted to.” I hoped she’d take the hint and leave. After all, her clingy small talk was what landed me in this mess in the first place. But she didn’t. Her job apparently gave her plenty of free time. “Ummm, Ash—” she started again. I cut her off mid-sentence, curiosity getting the better of me. “How long have you worked for Kai?” “About three years now,” she answered, her eyes lighting up at the chance for conversation. “What’s he like?” I asked even though I already knew the answer. After watching him nearly strangle someone and brutally face-fucking me until I swallowed his cum, of course he was a dick. Still, some foolish part of me hoped for a different answer. Melissa leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. “He once beat an employee to a pulp. When the guy pressed charges, Kai bribed the entire court. The employee ended up in jail instead.” Fuck. I ran a mental image of the scene and felt a chill. Evil. That was the only word that fit. But it was also so absurdly dark that a sharp laugh escaped me. I quickly turned it into a scoff. “That’s wicked,” I muttered. Melissa straightened. “Just don’t get on his nerves and you’ll be fine.” I almost laughed again. Don’t get on his nerves. I was already sitting comfortably on his bad side, waiting for whatever judgment he had planned. Did that make me nervous? Uneasy? Like I needed to piss urgently? Yes. But who gave a fuck? Who really gave a fuck about that bastard anyway? I arrived at the penthouse at 9:30. I did it on purpose. I knew I was pulling on a live wire, but a reckless part of me enjoyed it — wanted to see how brightly it would burn. The building was tall and extravagant, exactly what I had imagined. A monument large enough to house his massive ego. I was stopped and checked by what felt like a million different security personnel. The man must think he’s Napoleon or some 18th-century king. I stepped into the private elevator, heart hammering so violently I could feel the pulse in my feet. When the doors opened, I faced a massive king-sized door. I knocked — two short, sharp raps. Tension coiled tight in my chest. I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my trousers. The door opened. A rush of cool, clean air hit my face. “You’re thirty minutes late.” His voice was low and feral. But it wasn’t the voice that left me awestruck. It was the man standing in front of me. Fuck you, Asher. Fuck you. He was shirtless, tall, and dripping with raw masculinity. Damp black hair fell messily over his forehead. Water glistened across his sculpted chest and abs, with a dark happy trail disappearing into the towel wrapped low around his waist. My brain finally caught up. “I had something urgent to attend to,” I replied, tone unapologetic. He could wait. He was only human. He stayed quiet for a moment, staring at me. “Get on the bed.” The bed? I had expected fists. Maybe being thrown against a wall. Not a bed. I walked toward it — the thing was enormous, almost seeming to move farther away the closer I got. Or maybe the entire penthouse was just that ridiculously huge. When I reached the edge of the bed, my stomach dropped. It was covered in gear: handcuffs, ankle cuffs, spreader bars, coils of rope, blindfolds, hoods, gags, paddles, whips, floggers, leather harnesses, collars, body belts — everything laid out like he had prepared for a full-scale scene. I swallowed hard. Really hard. I glanced behind me. Kai stood there, tall and dark, watching me. “Get. On. The. Bed.” His voice was low, edged with clear warning.The weather was decent. The sun spread its light across the sky, slowly drying the puddles and the damp air. Kai knew exactly what time it was. This was the quiet danger the day carried — the hour he would be summoned.He had not slept since the night before. Every hour had been spent training, every minute sharpening his skills. Every push-up, every streak of sweat, reminded him of one thing: precision.He made his mother breakfast and watched her take her medication.At exactly 12:00 p.m., his phone buzzed — right on time. The van was already waiting outside. Kai wiped the blades he had been sharpening for hours, slipped them into his pocket, and stepped out for the mission.They arrived at a small village not far from where they lived. Kai had been here before. A childhood memory stirred — chasing dandelions with a friend, blowing the white seeds into the air, or following a truck that spilled dirt so they could pick scrap. Or maybe those were only fragments of imagination.The fir
The Mandans gathered under the flickering lights of the abandoned garage. Rain still hammered the corrugated roof, but no one paid it any attention. The leader stood at the center, arms crossed, he laid out the instructions of the mission, why it was to be carried out, where and when. There was a local election happening. One of the chairmanship seats in the district was being contested hard. The current favorite was a dogged man who wouldn't stop talking about the rivers, about the thick, chemical-stained water, the dead fish, the children who got sick from all the industrial pollution. He wanted stricter rules. He wanted the factories held accountable. He wanted the pollution stopped.The other candidate was quieter, better funded, and already in the pocket of the rich and powerful people. He was the one who needed to win.The Mandans’ role was to cause chaos. Break windows. Start fires. Start fights in the streets around the polling stations. Make the day so noisy and dangerous t
The morning light had barely crept in when loud banging erupted from outside.Kai jolted awake on the thin spread mat, a sharp gasp escaping him. The sounds grew louder, sharper, more aggressive. Before he could fully sit up, the flimsy door burst open with a violent crack as a group of able-bodied men stormed inside.“Where’s that hag?!” one of them yelled.Kai scrambled to his feet and stepped in front of them before his mother could emerge from the back room. His small frame was tense, fists clenched at his sides.The leader — a burly man with a cruel face — thrust a folded paper toward them.“It’s over.” He threw the eviction notice at Kai’s mother as she stepped out. She flinched as the paper fluttered to the floor. “You’ve had four months of extensions on accumulated rent. Today is the day.”He signaled to his men with a sharp jerk of his head. “Take this filth out.”The men moved like vultures, grabbing what little furniture and belongings they had. Kai’s mother dropped to her
*****************living in memories***********Rain threatened in the moody grey sky as young Kai sprinted down the pebble streets, heart pounding in his ears. One of his old slippers was coming loose with every desperate stride, threatening to fly off. Lightning flashed, casting bright, jagged sparks across the dark alleys. He clutched the stolen loaf of bread tightly against his chest, the leather wrapping already damp from the humidity.He took a sharp turn behind a crumbling building and pressed his back against the cold wall, trying to quiet his ragged breathing. The men chasing him thundered past the block.“That little thief! He must be hiding somewhere around here!”Their footsteps grew dangerously close. Kai’s small hands tightened around the bread. The second he heard them turning the corner, he bolted — kicking off both slippers without a second thought. Sharp pebbles dug painfully into his bare feet, cutting into his skin, but he didn’t stop. Pain was nothing new.“Little
*******************Étienne Brooks ***************Death wasn’t something I wished on anybody, but not all the dead deserved to be mourned. Jobes Baker was certainly one whose death brought more silence than sorrow. But it was far from over. He was only one of the hundreds of billionaires behind the systematic exploitation of African and East Asian countries — the mines, the bribes, the destroyed communities, the rivers running red with more than just iron.I took a slow drag from my cigarette, staring out at the glittering city lights from my balcony. The night air was cold against my skin. For a moment, I allowed myself to believe I was safe up here.Then I felt it.That shift in the air. The way the silence suddenly felt heavier.I turned around and there he was — a tall man in a black coat standing only a few feet away, watching me like I was already something he owned. His presence was calm on the surface, but underneath it was something far more dangerous. Threatening. Like a bla
*******************Asher’s POV************************ Sunlight bled softly into the room through the half-closed blinds and white silk curtains. Tiny motes of dust danced in the golden beams. Outside, birds chirped cheerfully, completely unaware of the chaos that had chased us here. I lay with my cheek pressed against Kai’s bare chest, listening to the steady, reassuring thud of his heartbeat. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but his arm was wrapped around me tightly — like he was afraid I might disappear if he let go. I shifted slightly, trying to sit up, but his arms tightened immediately, pulling me back down against him. “Stay,” he murmured, voice coarse and sleepy, still heavy with exhaustion. I stayed. My fingers traced lazy patterns across the hard planes of his chest as I nestled deeper into his warmth. It felt safe here. Dangerously right. In this quiet, hidden bungalow, away from the penthouse, the media, the bullets, and the endless noise of his world… I didn’
The hospital doors slid open with that familiar whoosh, and the cold antiseptic air hit me in the face, reminding me why I hated coming here. I took the elevator to the fourth floor, walked the quiet hallway to room 412. Mom was propped up against the pillows, smaller every time I saw her, the oxyge
The next morning felt dull and gray, like the city had forgotten to turn the lights back on. Customers drifted through the bar in sluggish waves—Wall Street guys in rumpled suits grabbing espresso shots, tourists fighting hangovers with Bloody Marys, regulars who treated the stools like their seco
I turned.He was standing ten feet away, half in shadow, half lit by the spinning green light. The black tuxedo looked even more dangerous now, sleeves rolled once, revealing strong forearms. His eyes locked on mine.And this time he didn’t look away.His gaze lingered on me a little longer than ne
The bass thumped through the walls like a second heartbeat, the kind that never let you forget you were alive—even when you wished you could forget. I leaned against the polished black bar, polishing the same glass for the third time, watching the crowd pulse under the spinning disco ball. Neon gre







