The night was heavy against the glass walls of my office. Uneven trails rained, almost deliberately how it blurred the city's light. For hours, I was sitting here with the jacket, the tie loose, the shirt sleeve rolled back, yet the desk remained disorganized with the papers that I did not read, the deals I did not sign, the numbers that I did not process. Whatever I have touched, it reminds me of it. Ava His absence had become a second skin, something I had taken to sleep. Or what was passed for it. Every night, his voice would soften, sharp, disregard my dreams. Then I woke up in silence, and the silence was louder than anything. I should have been used to grief till now. My life was a long rehearsal for my father, betrayal, and endless war against men who wore power like another face. But losing the good had made something different outside me. It was not just sorrow. It was guilty, a poisonous type that questioned every decision I made that took us here. And yet, for all my
Liam’s POVThe rain hadn’t stopped since the night they told me.It pounded against the windows, steady and merciless, like it knew what had been taken from me.I sat in my office, but nothing looked the same. The walls felt closer, the air heavier. Her name echoed in every corner. Ava.I’d buried people before. I’d lost things before. But this wasn't a loss. This was a hole carved into my chest with no chance of repair.They said her body was gone. Fire. Explosion. No remains.I didn’t believe it at first. How could I? She wasn’t just someone passing through my life, she was my life. My reason for every ruthless choice I’d ever made.But the more I tried to fight it, the more silence answered me. No call. No voice. No touch. Nothing.I slammed the glass of whiskey on the desk so hard it cracked. Liquid spilled across papers I hadn’t read, contracts that meant nothing anymore.“Get out,” I’d told Thomas when he came in hours ago, trying to talk sense into me. He didn’t listen at first
LIAM’S POV The storm had been brewing for days. We just didn’t realize how fast it would break. The moment we received the coordinates—an abandoned shipping yard on the far edge of the city—Morgan pulled the security footage. Edward King’s convoy had been using the facility for weeks. Three unmarked black trucks, guards rotated on 12-hour shifts, drones overhead. Classic. Too classic. “This is a trap,” I muttered, scanning the layout Morgan displayed on the war table. She nodded. “But it’s our trap now.” Ava stood beside me, silent but steel-spined. She hadn’t flinched since the threat came in—the rooftop photo of her from that hidden angle. Whoever sent it wanted fear. Instead, they went to war. “We go tonight,” Ava said. I turned to her. “You stay here.” She raised a brow. “No. I walk in with you.” “Ava—” “No. This ends tonight.” By 1:22 a.m., we arrived in silence. Four vehicles. Tactical vests. Comms. No sirens. No lights. The yard was vast, cold, and soaked in s
Liam’s POV The worst part wasn’t the bruises. Or the dried blood on Ava’s lip. Or the way her voice trembled the first time she said “I’m fine.” It was the silence. Not absence—but control. Her control. It was the way she sat wrapped in a blanket on our penthouse balcony, staring into the city like it had dared to defy her. Like she was memorizing it. Daring it to try her again. “I’m okay,” she said softly, without looking at me. “You can stop hovering.” I leaned against the doorframe. “I’m not hovering. I’m observing. There’s a difference.” She turned, slowly. “You made Morgan post three guards outside the door, hacked the elevator to voice recognition only, and had Chairman Woof microchipped.” “He ran once. I don’t trust him.” She cracked a tired smile. “There it is,” I said. “I’ve missed that.” “I didn’t think I’d come back at all,” she whispered. I crossed the balcony and crouched in front of her. “You did.” Her fingers brushed my jaw. “They wanted to break m
Liam’s POV I’ve faced down boardrooms of billionaires. Been in rooms where silence was sharper than a knife. I’ve been betrayed by men who once called me brother and rebuilt my empire from ash. But I have never felt fear like this. The kind that doesn’t scream—it whispers. Curls around your spine. Sinks its claws into the back of your throat. Because Ava is missing. And I don’t know where the hell she is. Twelve hours earlier, she kissed me goodbye. It was early morning, her hair in a messy bun, wearing my old T-shirt and sipping black coffee like she was preparing for war. “I’m going to confront Eliot,” she said. I’d paused mid-buttoning my shirt. “Absolutely not.” “I need answers,” she said. “Face-to-face. I want him to see that I’m not afraid of him.” “He’s not just a man, Ava. He’s a weapon. Victoria’s weapon. He manipulated you, forged documents under your name—he won’t just admit it over croissants and espresso.” “I’m not expecting a confession. I’m expecting to wat
Ava’s POV The forged marriage certificate had been shocking. But not this. Not this. Morgan slammed the door behind her, breath ragged, a folded document crushed in her hand. Her eyes were wide—too wide. “Sit,” she ordered. I didn’t argue. My heart was already hammering. Liam turned from the window, his jaw tight. “What is it?” Morgan held out the document. Her hand was shaking. “I pulled Victoria’s travel logs,” she said. “I wanted to trace where she’d been before she showed up at your engagement dinner. Thought I’d find a bribe trail. A shell account. Something easy.” She handed it to Liam. “She was in Geneva last month,” she said. “For exactly three days.” I blinked. “Geneva?” Morgan nodded, slowly, like the words were choking her. “And she met with someone in Ava’s office.” I felt the floor tilt beneath me. “No,” I whispered. Liam’s brow furrowed. “Who?” Morgan swallowed. “Eliot Renner.” My stomach dropped. “Eliot… was my boss in Geneva,” I said slowly. “He r