Mag-log inThe gunshot rang through the room, twice.Amelia’s eyes squeezed shut, her body bracing for the impact, waiting for the bullets to tear through her….But nothing came.No pain. No fire. Nothing.Her heart slammed wildly against her ribs as she sucked in a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Slowly, she opened her eyes.They went wide.Standing a few feet away was Kieran.The hitman staggered, a broken gasp tearing from his throat as blood poured from his mouth. He collapsed in a heap, the phone slipping from his hand and clattering against the floor. Kieran watched him with bored, almost detached eyes before calmly sliding the gun into his slacks.Hospital staff burst into the room moments later, skidding to a halt at the sight of the blood-soaked scene.Kieran stepped forward just as the hitman twitched, trying to lift his head. He bent down, plucked the fallen phone from the floor, and brought it to his ear.He caught the voice mid-breath.“Your turn.”Kieran’s lips twitched
“...He’s going to kill us. He’s going to kill me,” Amanda muttered, pacing the room like a frantic, cornered animal. Sweat poured down her face and soaked through her armpits as she circled the room. The tech guys kept their eyes glued to their screens, fingers hammering keys, pretending she wasn’t unraveling right in front of them.Bishop didn’t even look up at first. “Will you shut the fuck up.”Amanda froze. The fingernail she’d been nervously chewing slipped from her lips and rubbed down her white trousers, streaking a thin line of blood. Bishop’s face twisted with disgust before his gaze snapped back to hers.“YOU…” She jabbed a shaking finger at him and stormed forward. In a flash of anger, she pressed the half-chewed nail against his chest. “This is on you. If you hadn’t come sniffing around asking for dirt on Knight’s little mute wife, we wouldn’t be hiding like rats while that psycho hunts us down.”Bishop looked down at the nail touching his shirt. His voice dropped into a c
KNIGHT“…The video has been wiped off the dark web, s-sir,” Eddie said, his voice shaking as he stood in front of Knight. Knight had already called in his tech guys the moment he heard Eddie’s claim.Eddie’s heart thudded painfully as the tech team checked the screens. His face was a wreck—both eyes swollen, one completely shut, dried blood and dirt smeared across his clothes—but he didn’t care. None of it mattered. All he wanted was to get out of this underground hole that had been his “home” for weeks while he tried to erase every trace of the video.One of the tech guys finally turned to Knight.“It’s confirmed. The video is gone. Every mirror. Every private board. Every paid copy. The hashes are dead. The wallets are wiped and blacklisted. It’s buried so deep it’ll never resurface.”He closed the laptop with a soft click that sounded, to Eddie, exactly like a coffin lid slamming shut.Eddie almost dropped to his knees. Relief slammed into him so hard his swollen eyes stung with fr
“Will you stop crying? You’re going to make me ugly-cry too, and trust me, you do not want to see that,” Revelation muttered, snatching the tenth soggy tissue from Genesis’s trembling fingers (literally the tenth) and tossing it into the plastic bag already bulging with the evidence. She cupped Genesis’s flushed, tear-streaked cheeks between her palms, thumbs swiping uselessly at the fresh tears. “Look at what you’ve done. You’re a bloated tomato now.” Genesis let out a watery laugh that instantly dissolved back into sobs. The driver glanced at them in the rear-view mirror and quickly hid his grin. “I can’t stop, Rev. I just… I can’t believe it,” Genesis whispered, eyes dropping to the pregnancy test in her lap. The word PREGNANT stared back in bold, impossible letters. “You have to believe it,” Revelation said softly, squeezing her hand. “It’s real.” Genesis pressed her palm to her still-flat stomach, half-expecting to feel warmth blooming beneath her fingers. “Liam,”
I sat in the vinyl chair beside Amelia’s hospital bed, the monitors beeping their slow, steady lullaby. Whatever they’d pushed through her IV had finally won; her lashes fluttered once, twice, then settled. She’d fought sleep like a soldier, terrified that if she closed her eyes the video of her baby would vanish. Thirty minutes straight she’d watched it on loop (tiny fists waving, rosebud mouth yawning), tears sliding sideways into her hair.Revelation had bullied the NICU staff into letting us record the infant. I’d only had to soften the request with a please and a tremble in my voice. They’d caved. Revelation filmed from the doorway (Amelia was too weak to be wheeled down), and we’d carried the baby to her on a glowing screen.Now Amelia slept, cheeks still wet. I eased the phone from her slack fingers and tucked the thin blanket higher around her shoulders. She looked impossibly young with the fight drained out of her.I turned to hand Revelation her phone. She wasn’t looking at
GENESIS“You look pale, princess. Are you sure you’re fine?”Kieran’s deep voice broke through the morning quiet as he stood beside the open passenger door of the car that would take Genesis to the hospital.Genesis let out a small laugh. “I always look pale.”But Kieran didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smile. Instead, he stepped closer, closing the car door with one hand and pressing her gently against it, his tall frame caging her in. His nearness made the air feel heavier, charged.“I know every part of your body like they were carved into mine,” he said softly. “I know your skin…”His fingers trailed along her cheek, and her eyes fluttered shut at his touch. His hand drifted down—over her neck, toward her chest, and lower, resting on her stomach. Her eyes snapped open, meeting his. He was watching her so closely it almost felt like obsession, but it wasn’t—it was love that bordered on worship.“I know my wife, Genesis Blackwood,” he murmured, his thumb brushing slow circles against he







