로그인A salty, metallic sea breeze whipped through the pier, carrying the bite of late autumn.Avery stood at Dominic's side. He was wearing tea gray lenses that masked his sightless eyes. The deck lights hit the glass, reflecting a thin, silver sheen that made it impossible to tell where his gaze truly landed. This strategic veil only added to his aura of inscrutable, dark malice."Time," he whispered."Ten to six."His jaw was set in a rigid line. Avery noticed his fingers twitch against the seam of his trousers, a microscopic tell. He was tense. This primal instinct was something only she, standing a mere half step away, could perceive."Are the glasses uncomfortable?" she murmured, leaning in under the guise of adjusting his collar."It's not the glasses.""Then wha""From this moment on," Dominic cut her off, his tone bone chilling, "do not move more than thirty centimeters from my left side."The arm she was holding tightened imperceptibly, reeling her closer until she was practically
Avery watched Dominic through the dull ache in her shoulder.His head weighed heavy against her. Though his breathing had leveled out, his face remained deathly pale—almost translucent in the dim morning light filtering through the curtains.“Dominic?” She shifted tentatively.He let out a low groan, reaching blindly for his phone. His hand swept through empty air before hitting the lamp with a jarring clatter. Avery's breath hitched. His eyes were wide open, but he was frozen in a strange, petrified rigidity.“Are you awake?” she whispered.Dominic didn't speak. His Adam's apple bobbed violently as he turned his head mechanically. His gaze—unfocused, lost—landed on the empty air beside her shoulder.“Where are you?” His voice was hoarse, stripped of its usual authority.A chill crawled up Avery's spine. “...I'm right in front of you.”He lunged, his hand clawing at the air until it slammed against her arm. He gripped her instantly, nails digging deep into her skin as if she were his
As the car pulled away from the rehabilitation center, Avery kept her head turned, staring out the window. Her mind was a whirlwind, echoing the lead physician’s stunned parting words:“The recovery rate is three times faster than projected. This level of precision in micro-dosing top-tier targeted drugs... it’s as if there’s a dedicated laboratory providing real-time data support just for him.”She pulled her gaze back and looked at the man beside her. Dominic was leaning against the seat with his eyes closed. Under her care, the swelling in his left eye had receded, leaving only a faint, dark red shadow. Avery watched his eyelashes tremble fitfully in the shifting light and shadows, and the corners of her mouth tilted up despite herself."Dominic," she called softly."Mm.""Thank you."He finally opened his eyes. "For what?""Julian. His recovery is staggering. The doctor said it’s because of the targeted drugs." Avery met his gaze, observing his expression closely. "Those drugs are
5:45 AM. The sky was still dark, but Avery was already dressed.She wore a dark, slim-fit overcoat to blend into the twilight. She slipped the bronze key Wenger had given her and her burner phone into her pocket. Her heartbeat thundered against her eardrums.She cracked the bedroom door open with painstaking caution and peered out. At the end of the hallway, a guard in black was leaning against the wall, stifling a yawn. She ducked back into the room and held her breath for thirty seconds. When she looked again, the guard was heading toward the restroom.Now.Avery moved like a shadow against the wall, gliding past the stairs and the security room. Just as Drake had once let slip, Dominic was in the basement fighting pits at this hour.Reaching the corner of the hallway, the side exit was within reach. Avery pulled out the black card Drake had slipped her in private. When he'd given it to her, his expression had been complicated. He'd said only one thing: "He doesn't know about this."
The heavy light-blocking curtains in the study swallowed the morning sun.Avery jerked into full consciousness with a maddening sense of stiffness. Her back was pressed against a chest—searingly hot and solid—while her senses were filled with the scent of cold pine and the stale, lingering tobacco of a hangover.She hadn't gone back to her room. She hadn't even managed to leave this armchair.At the climax of last night’s confrontation, she simply couldn’t bring herself to slam the door on a man who was curled in the shadows, nearly collapsing under the weight of his own agony.Insanity.Avery stared into the void, a flicker of self-annoyance sparking in her eyes.He had humiliated her at the auction, used his power to buy out her right to the truth, and was likely hiding a blood debt deeper than she could imagine.Yet, as soon as she remembered him clutching his temples, rasping “I couldn’t save them,” or recalled the fact that he was the one who pulled Julian from the furnace seven
"Twenty million! From Mr. Devereux in the second-floor box!"The auctioneer's voice cracked, fueled by pure, unadulterated adrenaline. He flourished his gavel, eyes darting across the room like a bookie whipping a coliseum crowd into a frenzy."Twenty million once! Do I hear any more? This is a landmark in Obsidian City's medical research history—the final legacy of the Claire Laboratory...""Thirty million."Dominic spoke. He raised his paddle slightly, his jaw set in a hard line. His voice wasn't loud, yet it hit the room like a boulder dropped into a still pond, triggering a wave of hushed gasps.His right hand remained clamped around Dr. Claire's fingers. His signet ring felt like a brand of ice—so cold it burned—threatening to embed itself into her flesh."Thirty-five million!"Behind the floor-to-ceiling curtains of the private box, Victor lazily raised his paddle again. He was half-shrouded in shadow, swirling a glass of red wine, his posture as casual as a man poking a trapped







