CHAPTER 5

Nicholas’s POV

The drive to Warehouse 3 felt like an eternity. The rain kept falling in sheets, blurring the streets and making the city look like it had been swallowed whole by the storm. But none of it mattered. Not the weather. Not the mess outside. I had one thing on my mind: Alex.

My thoughts kept drifting, though. They kept pulling me back to Chloe. The way her eyes flickered when I asked about her past, the subtle hesitation in her words when she spoke of Boston. Every instinct in me was telling me something wasn’t right.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Chloe was hiding something. There was a sharpness to her, an edge that made her stand out among the countless faces I encountered every day. Most people tried to hide their vulnerabilities, but Chloe? She wore hers like a cloak. And that made her dangerous in its own way. I had spent years reading people, understanding them at their core, breaking down their facades, and yet with her… I couldn’t get a full read.

As the rain hammered against the windows, my grip tightened on the steering wheel. I could still picture the way she had looked when I drove her home, the tension in her shoulders, the fleeting look of recognition in her eyes when I mentioned Boston. It wasn’t just a hesitation; it was a shift, a crack in her carefully constructed mask.

I tried to push the thoughts aside. There were more pressing matters at hand. Alex was waiting for me, and I had a job to do.

By the time I reached Warehouse 3, the storm had intensified. The wind howled, and the streets were slick with rain, but I barely noticed. I parked my car and stepped out, my boots slapping against the wet concrete as I made my way toward the door. Inside, the air was thick, heavy with the kind of tension that could only come from years of criminal dealings. It was a familiar atmosphere, one I could navigate in my sleep.

Alex was tied to a chair in the center of the room, his face bruised and bloodied from the earlier interrogation. He lifted his head as I entered, but there was no recognition in his eyes, only fear. Good. Fear meant he was still pliable.

“Romanov,” he rasped, his voice barely audible over the storm outside.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to. He knew who I was, and he knew why he was here. The room was silent except for the occasional drip of water falling from the ceiling and the sharp sound of my footsteps as I circled around him.

“You’ve been a problem for too long, Alex,” I said, my voice cold and deliberate. “You were supposed to disappear. But instead, you’ve been running your mouth to the wrong people. Now, it’s time to fix that.”

Alex struggled weakly against the ropes that bound him to the chair, but it was no use. He was already broken. The only thing left to do was finish what I had started. But something, something deep in the back of my mind, gnawed at me. The thought of Chloe and what I had sensed about her… it wouldn’t let me go.

I forced myself to focus back on Alex, reaching for the table where my tools were neatly arranged.

But even as I prepared to carry out the necessary task, I couldn’t stop the lingering thoughts of Chloe from consuming me. The way she had looked at me—fear, uncertainty—there was something deeper there. Something more than the casual distrust I had expected from a stranger. Her reaction had been too visceral.

I pushed the thoughts aside again, this time harder. It didn’t matter. She was just a blip on my radar, someone I would figure out in due time.

Chloe’s POV

I lay in bed, my body tangled in the sheets, my mind still racing. The rain was coming down harder now, a steady rhythm that should have soothed me, but only made my thoughts louder. I had done everything right. I had changed my name. I had run. I had built a life from scratch, far from the people who would remember me, far from the dangers of the past. But Nicholas Romanov had a way of worming his way into my thoughts.

I couldn’t afford to get tangled up in him. I couldn’t afford to let him get too close. If he found out who I really was, everything would be over. My past, the trial, the reason I had to leave everything behind… all of it would come crashing down, and I would be nothing more than a target.

I turned over in bed, the weight of my own fear pressing down on me. I had been so careful. So meticulous. But now? Now that I had met him—now that I had seen the way his eyes lingered on me, the way he seemed to see straight through my carefully constructed façade—I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all for nothing.

What if he knew? What if he was just biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike? He was dangerous. He had to be. No one got as far as he had without being ruthless, without being willing to do anything to protect their secrets.

I sat up in bed, staring at the phone on my nightstand. The message from him still burned in my mind: “Goodnight, Chloe. – N.”

How did he get my number so quickly? He must have had someone on the inside, someone who could find anything with a snap of their fingers. But why the message? It wasn’t like him to be casual, to offer something as… normal as a goodnight.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to stop thinking about it.

But deep down, the fear lingered. The knowledge that my past could catch up with me at any moment, and with someone like Nicholas Romanov on my trail? There was no escape.

Nicholas’s POV

The task was complete. Alex was dealt with. But even as I climbed into the back of my car, the adrenaline of the interrogation still coursing through my veins, my mind refused to quiet. His screams might have echoed in my mind, but they didn’t matter. I had long learned to compartmentalize those moments. It was part of the world I lived in—my world—and in this life, weakness could only be shown in death.

As the car rolled away from the warehouse, I leaned back against the leather seats, my eyes trained on the blurred outlines of the city passing by. The rain had not let up, and its rhythmic drumming against the windows seemed to only amplify the noise in my head. But my thoughts weren’t on the work I had just completed, or even the other matters waiting for my attention back at the estate. No, they were with her.

Chloe.

I had never met someone like her before. Most women who crossed my path were predictable. They were after something—money, status, power—and that was easy to manage. I could control them. I knew the game. But Chloe? She was different. There was an elusive quality about her, something almost intangible that made her stand apart from the rest.

The way she reacted to me had thrown me off guard. It wasn’t fear in the typical sense. No, she wasn’t trembling or fidgeting in a way that screamed intimidation. It was something deeper. More primal. It was as if she knew exactly what I was capable of, and yet there was something else, something buried beneath that guarded exterior that made her… vulnerable. But only just. Her walls were thick, stronger than I had expected.

I’d seen it when I drove her home. When our eyes met, there had been a flicker—an unmistakable flash of recognition in her gaze, followed by a split-second hesitation that told me everything I needed to know. She wasn’t who she said she was. I could sense the lies beneath her words.

And it wasn’t just the way she answered my questions that gave her away. It was the way she tried to distance herself from me, the way her hand trembled ever so slightly when she touched the door handle. The small, almost imperceptible signs that screamed she was hiding something. But from what? From whom?

The questions gnawed at me, each one louder than the last.

What was she running from? Why had she lied about her past? I had spent years studying people, breaking down their defenses, unraveling the truth behind their facades. But Chloe? She was a mystery I couldn’t quite crack. I needed to know more. I needed to know what made her tick.

It wasn’t just curiosity. No, it was something more dangerous—something that had driven me through every corner of my life, keeping me alive, keeping me in control. And that something was a need for answers. For truth.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that getting too close to Chloe could be a double-edged sword. She had already shown she was willing to play a game of lies, but how far was she willing to take it? If she found out who I really was, who I truly was, everything would fall apart. She might be just another pawn in the game, but she could just as easily become the one to ruin it all.

I had worked too hard to get to this point. Too many years of blood, sweat, and manipulation. I had made enemies—yes—but I had made my peace with that. What I wasn’t prepared for was someone like Chloe. Someone who could dismantle the life I’d built with a single move, a single breath of truth. And yet, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting her.

But I couldn’t let her know who I was. Not yet. Not until I had all the pieces in place. Until I understood the full extent of the game she was playing, I had to keep my distance. I had to make sure she stayed unaware of my true identity, of the world I controlled. She was smart, too smart to fall for the usual tricks, and I wasn’t going to risk her uncovering the truth.

But there was something else. A deeper instinct I hadn’t counted on—something that told me that Chloe wasn’t just another distraction. She wasn’t a pawn. She wasn’t a piece to be moved around at my convenience.

No, there was something different about her. Something that called to me in ways I didn’t understand.

And that intrigued me even more.

I had made a habit of playing my cards close to the chest. But with Chloe? With her, I wanted to show my hand. I wanted to reach across the table, pull her closer, and figure her out. The power I held, the control I exerted—none of it seemed to matter when it came to her. And that scared me. Because I never let my guard down. Never.

But with Chloe, I had already let a crack form in that carefully constructed armor. And I wasn’t sure if it could be fixed.

I leaned forward as the car slowed to a stop at the entrance to my estate. The driver looked back, meeting my eyes briefly in the rearview mirror.

“Back to the mansion, sir?” he asked, his voice neutral.

I gave a curt nod and stepped out into the rain, my thoughts still fixated on her. But even as I walked into the mansion, the cold, sterile walls that once felt like home now felt empty. I was used to the quiet, used to the darkness, but tonight, I felt the weight of it differently. I couldn’t help but wonder what Chloe was doing at this very moment. Was she asleep, dreaming of the life she had built? Or was she lying awake, just like I was, consumed by thoughts of things she couldn’t control?

One thing was clear—I wasn’t done with her yet.

And I wouldn’t be until I had the truth.

Whatever it took.

I had spent too long in the shadows, running from my own demons, to let her slip away.

Chloe was mine to figure out.

And when I did?

There would be no turning back.