Reina’s POVThe hand dragged me up by my hair like I was nothing more than a rag doll. A high-pitched scream ripped through my throat before I could stop it.It was her.The same woman I’d seen hanging off Roman’s arm that first time we met — runway-model tall, legs for days, cheekbones sculpted by Greek gods, and dressed in some ridiculous couture that didn’t belong anywhere outside of a magazine. She was the one who showed up at the hospital, all fake smiles and crocodile sympathy, acting like she had any business being there.And now she had a fistful of my hair and murder in her eyes.“YOU PATHETIC LITTLE GOLD DIGGER!” she screeched, nails like daggers as she yanked me down again. “HOW DARE YOU?!”I clawed at her wrist, vision swimming, rage boiling hot and thick in my chest. “Get your hands off me, psycho!”But she was relentless, face twisted in unhinged fury. “He’s mine! He’s always been mine! You think putting a ring on your finger means anything?! You think this is real?! You
Reina’s POVI told him everything.About Lucy and Andrew manipulating the will. About the unexpected conversation with my father’s best friend — the one man who never had a reason to lie to me. How he told me about the original content of the will, untouched by my stepmother’s manipulations. How my father never intended to leave her anything more than a fond farewell and enough to keep her quiet. Not the estate. Not the shares. Not me.Roman listened, his eyes flickering in that slow, brooding way he did when he was trying to process a thousand things at once. When I finally finished, he exhaled a long, low sigh and leaned back against the café chair, gaze drifting out the window like he was waiting for a storm to pass.But his silence lasted too long.“Are you not happy for me?” I asked, careful with my words, but still a little breathless from everything I’d just unloaded.He blinked, finally turning to look at me. “No, no — God, Reina, I’m happy. You found out the truth, you final
Cassian’s POVI sat on the edge of the bed, still as death. The kind of stillness that comes with certainty. I already knew what was coming — how it would unfold — like a well-rehearsed play, and I was the only one with the script.Then came the knock.Soft. Timid. Like the air held its breath for her.The door creaked open, and the maid stepped inside, her eyes darting around the room like a rabbit sniffing for wolves.“The nurse is not in the mansion, sir. We checked everywhere,” she whispered, voice thin as thread.I didn’t look at her. Just waved my hand.She disappeared like a ghost chased by fire.I stood slowly, hands sliding into my pockets as a cruel laugh climbed from my chest. A deep, guttural sound that echoed off the walls like a war drum.“Now this,” I muttered, lips stretching into a grin, “is going to be real fun.”The request had been fulfilled. No stutters. No excuses. I did what she asked — how noble of me. And now?Now it’s time for my reward.I knew she’d run. Tha
By sunrise, the story had exploded.“Dozens of Young Girls Rescued in Late Night Operation—Unidentified Vigilante Force Behind Raid”“Unmarked Vans Drop Missing Victims at Police Station, Perpetrators Nowhere to Be Found”“Families Flock to ID Their Missing Loved Ones—Tears, Chaos, Hope” The reunion scenes were soul-wrenching. Screams as mothers spotted their daughters. Fathers collapsing to their knees. Girls who hadn’t spoken in years whispering their names through cracked lips.They called it a miracle.A reckoning.But not everyone celebrated.Amid the crowd, unnoticed, a figure stood.Motionless.Hooded. Cloaked in shadow, even in daylight.They watched the news trucks swarm. The cameras flashing. The laughter. The hugs.Their breath was steady. Too steady.Then, a hand clenched.Their lips peeled back in a slow, silent snarl.A whisper only the wind heard:“Whoever ordered this godly rescue… will bleed.”And then they turned.And vanished.****The bell above the door rang.Din
Ezra stood alone in the underground chamber—no windows, just stone walls and silence thick as smoke. The air carried the faint scent of gun oil and sweat. Red light bathed the room in a low ominous glow, the single bulb above him swaying slightly as if the building itself sensed the shift that was about to occur.He pressed a button on the table and leaned forward. A mechanical groan echoed through the room as hidden doors slid open on either side. One by one, they came in—Morelli’s ghosts. Men cloaked in black, faces hidden behind charcoal masks. None of them spoke. They didn’t have to. When Cassian Morelli summoned them, it was never for anything simple.He spoke.“The boss’s orders came through. We have less than an hour.”No one flinched. No one breathed wrong.“Don Marcello’s farm. It's the heart of his trafficking ring. We got intel. There are girls inside. Women. Some are barely old enough to be called either. We get them out. Burn everything else.”“I’ve already made contact
Cassian’s POVThe door clicked shut behind her. Silence surged back like a riptide.I sat there for a while. Still. Breathing.The taste of her was still on my tongue. Her pain still under my fingernails.Then I laughed.Quietly. Coldly. The kind of laugh that meant the dam was about to burst.She thinks I’m doing this for her.She’s wrong.Organizations like ours need a code to function without chaos.A brutal, unbreakable one.One that crucifies traitors. Drowns backstabbers in their own blood.But what use is a code when you've already been betrayed more times than you can count — and you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that one of those bastards at your table did it?Maybe it’s time to give them a taste of their own poison. One by one.Starting with Marcello.I stared at my hands. They didn’t shake. They never did. But my breath… my breath hitched.I told myself over and over again that it wasn’t because of her.It wasn’t because Reina asked me.This wasn’t for her.This was fo