FAZER LOGINAvelin POVThree days pass, then four, then seven. I stop measuring time by hours because hours are too cruel, each one a promise broken, each one another stretch of space Shen should have crossed to get back to me.The search does not stop, but it changes. The first day is panic. The second is fear. By the third, it becomes routine, and that hurts differently. People ask before leaving their homes if there is any news. They search areas already searched. They bring me food I forget to eat and repeat the same soft lies because none of us know what else to say. Maybe someone picked him up and took him to another town. Maybe he hit his head and forgot where he was. Maybe he's hurt but alive. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I am beginning to hate that word too.Father comes home before the week is over, pale and thinner but alive. That should matter more than it does, and the guilt of that thought cuts through me daily. I sit by his bed, bring his medicine, and help him walk to the window, but part
Avelin POVThe morning comes whether I want it to or not.I don't sleep. Not really. I lie on his side of the bed this time because my own side feels too empty, and I stare at the ceiling and listen to the silence where he should be. The bond mark burns low and steady at my neck. Constant. Unanswered.Alive, I tell myself. He has to be alive.I get up before the light breaks.I don't eat. I only move because moving is the only word left in me. Boots laced, jacket on, and outside before anyone else stirs.Find him first. Everything else after.I go back to the pharmacy.I have already been here. Already seen the blood on the wall, already pressed trembling fingers to the dried stain and felt the bottom fall out of the world. But something pulls me back this morning, some instinct I don't have a name for yet.Daylight changes everything.Yesterday I saw blood. Today I see more. Scuff marks on the cobblestones near the entrance, the kind left by heels dragging across stone. Mud is distur
Avelin POVThe first thing I feel is relief.Father is alive, barely, but alive.Dr. Len's hands were steady through the chaos, his voice never shaking even when mine did. He worked without stopping until Father's breathing stabilized and the pain eased just enough for him to survive. By the time the ambulance finally arrived, the storm had already weakened — too late to save us from everything else.I ride with Father to the regional hospital. I sit beside him and hold his hand, but my mind is somewhere else entirely."Shen," I whisper under my breath.No answer.Hours pass. Machines beep steadily. Nurses move in and out, and doctors speak in low voices near the doorway. Father is alive. Stable. But Shen — Shen is gone. I check my phone again and again, each time finding the same empty screen. No missed calls. No messages. Nothing.Six hours since he ran into the storm."He should be here," I say quietly.A nurse looks at me with a gentle expression. "Someone is coming?""My husband,
Leander POVThe beeping reaches me first. Steady, precise, rhythmic, a sound I know before I can place it. Then the smell hits: clean, sharp, antiseptic. Hospital. I know it before I open my eyes.My body feels heavy, like it has been still for too long. I take a slow breath to steady myself, then open my eyes to a white ceiling, bright lights, and machines humming beside me. A private room. High-end. Of course.I blink once, then again, and everything settles into place.I know where I am. More importantly, I know who I am.Leander Voss.The name anchors me instantly. CEO of Voss Corporation. The world floods back in sharp fragments, boardrooms, contracts, power, control. My empire. My life. My identity.And then something darker follows.A van. Restraints cutting into my wrists. Voices, rough, careless. A knife pressed against my throat. And a face I recognize immediately.Conrad.My brother-in-law. Smiling, not with warmth, not with kindness, but with cold, calculated satisfaction
Shen POVThe rain hits hard the moment I start running, cold, sharp, relentless. My shoes slam against the wet ground, slipping slightly with every step, but I don't slow down. I told him five minutes, and Avelin is waiting. Father needs the medicine. Nothing else matters right now.The world has turned into a blurred landscape of grey and black. The familiar paths of Cliffhaven, which usually feel so welcoming, are now treacherous under the weight of the storm. My breath tears out of my throat in ragged bursts, nearly swallowed by the howling gale. Every muscle in my legs screams from the effort, but the image of Father collapsed on the floor, and the look of sheer terror frozen on Avelin's face acts like a lash across my back, driving me forward. Salt from the sea spray mixes with the rain and stings my eyes, but I push through. The small bottle of pills sits heavy in my pocket, a tiny object carrying the full weight of a man's life.The storm grows louder around me. Thunder cracks
Avelin POVEverything becomes noise. Then nothing. Then chaos.“Father!” My voice breaks as I drop to my knees beside him. He’s on the floor, not sitting, not resting, collapsed. His hand claws at his chest as if something inside him is trying to tear its way out. His breathing feels wrong, too fast, too shallow, like he’s drowning without water.The sound of his struggle fills the small room, a wet, jagged rasp that tears through the inn's silence. I can see the frantic pulse in his neck, the skin there grey and slick with cold sweat. It feels as if the very air has been sucked out of the hallway, leaving me lightheaded and trembling. I reach for him, my hands hovering for a second because he looks so fragile, so unlike the man who raised me. The strength that once defined his every move has vanished, replaced by a terrifying, animalistic fight for air.“Stay with me,” I whisper, gripping his hand. It’s cold.“No, no, no—this isn’t happening.” I try to remember. First aid, breathing







