INICIAR SESIĂNEILANAiden didnât pick up the call.. Again.I had called more than I could count and he hadnt picked up even one of the calls and dear heavens I found this all so strange.Stranger than I wanted to admit, if I was being honest with my self.. which I was.I stared at my phone until the call finally disconnected, the screen fading to black in my hand.For a few seconds, I stood in the elevator confused for a while then I exhaled sharply. âUnbelievable.âI pressed his name again the call rang again and my jaw tightened. âPick up the damn phone, Aiden.âI ended the call harder than necessary and stepped out of the elevator, the moment I got to my car and sat inside, I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat.It bounced once before settling against the leather and I stared at it then I picked it up and called him again.Voicemail⊠How dare he.Something hot and frustrated curled in my chest.Aiden knew I was worried.He knew I had been injured two nights ago.He knew I could barely walk p
EILANI tried my best to act normal but Mrs. Delgadoâs words refused to leave me.âHe wasnât alone.. The SUV had stayed.âThe moment I stepped back into my apartment, I quickly locked the door behind me and rested my forehead against the wood.My breathing came out unevenly as though I had just finished a marathon race and my brain.. Trust me when I say my brain was overheating with different thoughts.Aiden hadnât simply gone for a drive.. Someone had met him.. Someone had been waiting outside before dawn.Someone who hadnât left immediately after Aiden did.I pushed myself away from the door and walked straight to the living room window.Carefully, I eased one corner of the curtain aside.The street below looked painfully ordinary.A jogger passed by with headphones tucked beneath a baseball cap. A young mother struggled to convince her toddler to hold her hand instead of chasing pigeons. Across the street, the owner of the corner bakery flipped the sign from Closed to Open.Norma
EILANMy thumb hovered over the unfamiliar contact for several seconds.Emile Knight.I had never imagined I would voluntarily call him.The man intimidated me almost as much as Aiden did when weâd first met. Everything about him was measured, calculated, impossible to read.StillâŠIf anyone knew where Aiden had gone, it would be his brother.The phone rang twice before someone answered.âMr. Moore.âNot Elian.Not even a greeting.Just my surname.It sounded strangely formal coming from him.âMr. Knight.âSilence settled between us.âI apologize for disturbing you this early.ââYou wouldnât have called without a reason.âHis voice remained even, betraying nothing.I swallowed.âI⊠was wondering if youâve heard from Aiden.âAnother pause.Long enough for my heartbeat to become painfully loud in my ears.âNo.âThe answer came cleanly.Too cleanly.I frowned.âHeâs gone.ââI know.âThe words slipped out before he corrected himself.âI mean⊠you said he wasnât there.âI tightened my grip
EILAN I woke to cold sheets.Not the familiar coolness from the air conditioner humming softly in the corner of the apartment. This was different. It was the kind of cold that only came from an empty space beside me, one that had been vacant long enough for the warmth to disappear completely.For a few blissfully ignorant seconds, I let myself believe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation.Aiden was probably in the kitchen.He was likely attempting breakfast again despite proving, on multiple occasions, that cooking was a talent he simply did not possess. I could almost picture him glaring at a frying pan while smoke curled toward the ceiling, setting off the alarm before he started laughing at himself. He would insist the eggs were edible, I would tell him they looked like charcoal, and somehow he would still convince me to eat the least burnt piece of toast.The image was so vivid that the corners of my mouth almost lifted.Then I listened.Nothing.No footsteps crossed the
AIDENSleep refused to come.I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling while darkness swallowed every corner of Elianâs apartment. Beside me, his breathing remained slow and even, the rise and fall of his chest steady enough to convince anyone that the world outside these walls was still ordinary.It wasnât.. Not anymore.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw twisted metal.Glass exploding.. That pickup truck accelerating instead of braking.Someone had wanted us dead.. Eilan and I.Or was it just me?The realization settled beneath my skin like a splinter that refused to come out.I quietly pushed the blanket aside.The mattress barely moved but Elian murmured something unintelligible before turning onto his side, his fingers searching instinctively for the warmth Iâd left behind.For a dangerous second, I almost climbed back into bed. Instead, I leaned down and brushed a strand of dark hair away from his forehead.âYouâll hate me for leaving,â I whispered.âBut youâll hate me even more
EmileThere were only three things my father had ever asked me never to touch.His private ledger.. The Vulturis archives and.. Brooklyn.Yet I was the one who cleaned up the mess without knowing what the truth really was all I knew was something had happened there that traumatized Aiden..The first two I had ignored years ago.The third had remained buried.Until now.Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, washing Manhattan into little more than blurred lights and gray silhouettes. The city looked distant tonight, as though someone had pulled a veil over it.A knock sounded. âCome in.âVictor stepped inside carrying a weathered manila envelope. Unlike the neatly printed reports my investigators usually delivered, this one bore no company logo, no return address, only a faded government seal that had been crossed through with black ink.âIt arrived twenty minutes ago.âI looked at it without touching it. âSo they finally found it.ââThey almost didnât.ââWhat d
ELIANI looked like I was attacked by a rabid animal, the litter of hickeys and bruises on my skin looking red and angry.By the time I had woken up this morning, the stranger was gone, disappeared into thin air like he never existed in the first place.I let out a sigh that sounded more disappoint
ELIANMy hands trembled slightly as an alert came in saying I had a match on the app. I tapped on it, curious and still not sure of my decision.Stranger: Come to Hilltop hotel, room 27.Me: Sure, no lights. I am on my way.I downed the remnant of my drink, stumbling to my feet. The hotel the man h
ELIANâThank you, Dr. Mooreâ The patient in front of me wiped at his eyes with a handkerchief.âOh, itâs fine. I am glad I was able to contribute to your healing, congratulations on completing your therapy planâ I said to the man as he nodded at me, too emotional to answer me as he walked out of my
ELIANAiden rested his jaw on a hand as he watched me eat the pizza he had brought with him.He had demanded I ate something before I said anything else to him.His request threw me off, his behaviour deviating from blackmail toâŠcare.I shook the thought off as I dropped the piece of pizza I was ni







