LOGINDanielle's POV "So you're telling me that you're nothing but a stupid spy working for your own mother." Anger sliced through my voice, each word deliberate, clipped, barely restrained. Vivienne bowed her head, shame radiating off her in waves I didn't have the patience to care about anymore. My hands were still trembling from everything that had happened tonight — the receipt, the diary, the assassin, and now this. "I'm so sorry, Danielle." Her voice cracked, and I hated that some part of me almost believed it was remorse. "She's threatening me now. I need your help." I wanted to lunge at her in that moment, wanted to rip out her throat with my bare hands and worry about the consequences later. My fingers curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms hard enough to leave crescent marks. Every ounce of trust I'd built with her over the last several months curdled into something ugly and hot in my chest. "You traitor." Before I could finish tearing into her, Mary bur
Danielle's POV "So you're telling me that you're nothing but a stupid spy working for your own mother." Anger sliced through my voice, each word deliberate, clipped, barely restrained. Vivienne bowed her head, shame radiating off her in waves I didn't have the patience to care about anymore. My hands were still trembling from everything that had happened tonight — the receipt, the diary, the assassin, and now this. "I'm so sorry, Danielle." Her voice cracked, and I hated that some part of me almost believed it was remorse. "She's threatening me now. I need your help." I wanted to lunge at her in that moment, wanted to rip out her throat with my bare hands and worry about the consequences later. My fingers curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms hard enough to leave crescent marks. Every ounce of trust I'd built with her over the last several months curdled into something ugly and hot in my chest. "You traitor." Before I could finish tearing into her, Mary bur
Danielle's POV "So you're telling me that you're nothing but a stupid spy working for your own mother." Anger sliced through my voice, each word deliberate, clipped, barely restrained. Vivienne bowed her head, shame radiating off her in waves I didn't have the patience to care about anymore. My hands were still trembling from everything that had happened tonight — the receipt, the diary, the assassin, and now this. "I'm so sorry, Danielle." Her voice cracked, and I hated that some part of me almost believed it was remorse. "She's threatening me now. I need your help." I wanted to lunge at her in that moment, wanted to rip out her throat with my bare hands and worry about the consequences later. My fingers curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms hard enough to leave crescent marks. Every ounce of trust I'd built with her over the last several months curdled into something ugly and hot in my chest. "You traitor." Before I could finish tearing into her, Mary bur
Elias's POV "Danielle, where are you?" I kept yelling into the chaos, my voice swallowed whole by the noise of the crowd. She'd been standing right there moments ago, right in the middle of the stage, microphone still smoking in everyone's memory. Now there was nothing but bodies and flashing light where she should have been. This couldn't be happening. Not tonight. Not after everything I'd rigged, everything I'd promised her would go exactly to plan. I keyed my earpiece, static crackling in my ear before Bruce's voice cut through, breathless and panicked. "She's not backstage. I checked every exit. Elias, if she's out there alone with Jacob still—" "She's not with Jacob." I cut him off, my voice harder than I meant it to sound. "Keep the exits sealed. No one leaves until I find her." I didn't wait for a response. I couldn't afford to. Anger surged through me, hot and immediate, as I shoved past cameramen and journalists who clogged every inch of the aisle, their lenses swi
Danielle's POV "Are you sure you want to do this, Danielle?" Elias asked, after I let out a heavy sigh I hadn't meant to give away. "It's okay, Elias." My voice came out steadier than I felt as I reached up and touched his face, my fingers lingering a moment too long against his jaw. "It's all going to be fine." A tear slipped free before I could stop it, and I wiped it away quickly, though it wasn't the kind that came from fear or performance. It wasn't forced. It was something quieter than that — nostalgia, maybe, or the strange ache of being cared for by someone who wanted nothing from me in return. Someone had finally cared about me. About Rachel. Not the way a father once had, forcing me into his seat as mayor because it suited his legacy more than it ever suited me. Not the way a man once had, taking everything I sacrificed; my health, my body, the child I bore him and repaying it with his bare hands wrapped around my throat until there was nothing left of me to give. No
Lucy's POV I paced across the room, my mind replaying it over and over, Jacob's hand around my throat, the way he'd looked at me as though I were nothing more than a nuisance to be silenced. He held me. Me. Lucy Lisva. By the neck. The audacity of it made my claws itch beneath my skin, threatening to split through before I could stop them. Fury climbed up my spine in waves, hot and disorienting, until I had to press my palm flat against the wall just to steady myself. "What is going on," I whispered, my voice barely above breath, my mind already scrambling for a way out of the mess he'd shoved me into. There had to be a way to turn this. There was always a way. My phone rang, cutting through the spiral before it could pull me under completely. Leslie. "Hello. Not now, Leslie." My voice cracked with more panic than I meant to show. "Wait." Worry sharpened every syllable on his end of the line. "He's found out." I wasn't ready for more bad news. I didn't think I could t