#dream #betrayal #news #headlines #rivals
Ayra woke to the scent of citrus and sunlight.It took her a moment to register the difference. The sheets were softer. The bed was wider. The room—too still, too quiet—was not the one she’d fallen asleep in.Her eyes darted across unfamiliar surroundings: pale cream walls trimmed in gold, long velvet curtains fluttering in the morning breeze, and an open balcony that revealed an expansive sea view. A single vase of white orchids sat on a marble-topped table nearby. No machines. No flickering monitors. No hum of a generator or distant yelling of soldiers.This was not the medical tent.She sat up too quickly, her head pounding in response. A nurse—young, silent, efficient—appeared almost instantly from the side door and offered her water."You are safe," the girl said softly, as if trying not to spook her. "Mr. Lucian brought you here last night. This is his private coastal villa. You’re under his protection now."His villa?Ayra drank, the cool water soothing her throat but not her t
Boris stepped into the office, expecting the usual dim lighting and quiet hum of screens—but stopped short when he saw Lucian seated behind the desk.Lucian rarely used this particular room, tucked deep in the east wing of the estate. It was a relic space, lined with books instead of monitors, maps instead of touchscreens. It had once belonged to their grandfather. A place for reflection, not war.Yet Lucian sat there now, back ramrod straight, fingers steepled, and his eyes—those glacial gray eyes—were fixed squarely on Boris."Close the door," Lucian said.The chill in his voice cut through the late afternoon warmth. Boris hesitated, then obeyed, the heavy oak clicking shut behind him. He straightened, adjusting his jacket. "You’re back early. I wasn’t informed—""You lied to me."Three words. Quiet. Deadly. Lucian didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to.Boris didn’t flinch. He spread his hands in a show of calm. "Lucian, if this is about Ayra—""It is."Silence bloomed between t
The Wendell agents must have parked it for extraction—either for the handler or for Eleanor. It didn’t matter. Luck, finally, had dealt him a single card.He half-carried Ayra to the car, every step jarring his stabbed arm. When he got to the door, he yanked it open with one hand and slumped her into the backseat, her limp body settling with a thud that made him wince. He climbed into the front, hotwired the engine in seconds, and the vehicle snarled awake.Dust exploded beneath the tires as Lucian pulled away, the SUV tearing across the cracked remnants of a forgotten service road. The sun was already melting into the horizon, casting long shadows that danced with their flight.Ayra stirred in the backseat. Her head shifted, her lips moved."Lucian…?"His hands tightened on the wheel. He glanced into the rearview mirror and saw her eyes, half-lidded, barely tracking movement."You’re safe now," he said quietly. "Just breathe.""Where…" she whispered, "where are we...?""Far from them.
The desert wind had shifted.Lucian’s vehicle skidded to a stop just outside the rusted gates of the derelict train station, its tires grinding against sand-coated gravel. He stepped out into a world tense with silence, every instinct on edge. His boots hit the cracked concrete platform in hard, deliberate strides. He didn’t wait for backup.The air was thick with the ghost of engine exhaust. Something had moved here—recently. And fast.Lucian stepped through the archway into the main station hall just in time to hear the faintest echo of movement.Then came the unmistakable *click* of a gun safety being disengaged.He dove sideways, just as the first shot rang out. Plaster exploded from the wall behind him.“Ambush!” he shouted into his comm, though the signal was already being jammed.From behind crates and broken turnstiles, Wendell agents opened fire. Tactical, swift, silent. Lucian moved like a predator uncaged. His pistol barked once—twice—and a shadow dropped. Another lunged a
An hour later Lucian and Lisbeth pulled up beside a large van parked beneath a rocky outcropping. It was Lisbeth's and was obviously a mobile tech unit. How exactly she had managed to get something like that out here in such short notice was anyone's guess but then again she was a Russo. She had learnt from the best. The desert heat radiated off the sand like a second sun, burning through tires and patience. Lisbeth leaned over the control terminal inside her mobile unit, fingers flying across the keyboard. Lucian stood nearby, silent but tense. His sharp eyes tracked her every move as she requested access to a military-grade satellite system through a hidden backdoor."You have five minutes before they notice this breach," he warned her tightly."I'll only need three," she replied, jaw set, focus narrowed.Lisbeth had never been this involved in a live operation before, not since the academy, but desperation sharpened her intuition. Lines of encrypted code scrolled past. Her algori
The desert stretched like a parched tongue across the horizon, its grains catching fire beneath the punishing sun. Lucian's car tore down the asphalt with blistering urgency, its wheels devouring the road like predators locked onto a scent. He barely noticed the ache in his knuckles from gripping the steering wheel or the sharp hum of the radio static as Nico's voice crackled in and out. Every mile mattered. Every second was a heartbeat he couldn't spare.Then, a shimmer ahead. A flash of silver in the middle of the highway.Lucian's eyes narrowed. His foot eased off the gas.A black luxury sedan slid into the center of the road with a graceful aggression. It stopped clean, perpendicular, forming a blockade. The doors flew open, and Lisbeth Russo stepped out, crisp suit blowing in the wind, one hand raised as if to halt a war.Lucian's tires screeched as he stopped.He stepped out, boots crunching on gravel. "Lisbeth. Move the car.""You don't give the orders today, Lucian," she said