ทะลุมิติมาเป็นฮูหยินของกังฉินผู้เย็นชา

The twins always woke up before the sun. Selene heard them through the baby monitor…Luca’s careful whispers first, then Luna’s quick, sharp laugh. She just lay there for a minute, eyes open in the dark, listening. They were here. Right now, that was enough.

She got out of bed.

The sunlight hadn’t even touched the tips of the jasmine outside. From where she stood, the villa watched over Florence, all faded walls and tangled vines. Two years ago she bought this place after Vasquez Global landed its third big deal. She finally stopped pretending she’d ever move back to the city. This was home now. She’d made sure of it.

“Mama.”

Luca stood in the doorway, dragging his battered stuffed bear behind him. His dinosaur pajamas were all twisted around his ankle. He had her warm brown skin, her nose. But his eyes…icy gray, steady, too old…those were no one’s but his own.

For four years, she told herself it didn’t matter. These days, she doesn't even try to believe it.

“Morning, baby.” She opened her arms and Luca trudged across the cold tile toward her, always so serious, leaning in like the world was heavy already. She kissed his head but avoided those searching, wintry eyes.

Then Luna came crashing down the hallway, hair flying wild, all energy and pounced right onto Selene’s back. “Mama! The birds are SO LOUD”

“You’re louder.”

“I’m not a bird.”

“No,” Selene said, heaving her onto the counter. “You’re a whole different animal.”

Luna grinned back, her eyes bright amber…just like Selene’s.

Selene let out a breath. Breakfast happened on muscle memory. Her phone buzzed, ignored on the table. The twins circled, filling the kitchen with kid-chaos.

Today’s date didn’t need a reminder from her calendar. Five years ago, on this night, she’d stood in the Blackthorn Pack’s drafty old hall and listened while the only man she’d ever loved told her to go.

I reject you, Selene Vasquez, as my mate.

You are not what this pack needs.

Those words still sat under her ribs. They’d healed, in a way, but if she pressed on the bruise the ache was still there.

She left it alone.

She made eggs.

“Mama.” Luna was watching her, serious, like she saw right through every shield Selene put up.

“What, love?”

“You’re doing the quiet thing again.”

Selene set down the spatula. “What quiet thing?”

“When you’re loud on the outside but quiet inside.”

Luca peeked out from behind his bear.

“I’m fine,” Selene said.

Luna tilted her head, not convinced…then shrugged. “Okay.”

The kids let it go.

After breakfast, Selene headed to her office…sleek furniture, three monitors, a simple sign on the wall: Vasquez Global Acquisitions. Est. Year One.

Her uncle Marco had left her nothing but a sinking import business and a pile of debt. She flipped that debt into leverage, built it all up until the company sprawled across seventeen countries.

No pack. No mate. None of the things she’d once thought you needed just to make it.

When she finally glanced at her phone, one notification jumped out.

Selene. The Volkov Holdings account triggered the default clause under Section 12(b). The thirty-day negotiation window starts today. Call me.

She read it again. Leaned back, stared at the ceiling.

She’d bought that debt on purpose a year and a half ago, after spending three years tracking every crack in Volkov’s empire. She found the weak spot…a $2.3 billion hole, barely covered and waited. She could be patient.

Whatever grief she had burned out years ago in the backseat of a taxi to the airport. All that was left now was a thin edge of fear and the rawness underneath.

This was something else. This was clarity.

Nikolai Volkov had always acted untouchable. Not this time. Selene held the leverage now.

Her phone rang, her finance director.

“I saw it,” she said. No small talk.

“So. What’s the plan?”

Through the window she heard Camille laughing with the twins, chasing them through the roses. Something deep in her stirred. Not pain. Recognition.

“Book the meeting.”

A pause on the line.

“Selene. Are you sure?”

“I’m going to New York.” Selene looked at the garden, thought about Luca’s stormy eyes and Luna’s wild heart…everything she built from nothing. “Set it for forty-eight hours from now. Their building, their boardroom. I’ll be there at ten sharp.”

She hung up. Put her hand flat on the desk. Breathed in, breathed out.

She wasn’t going back because of regret or old wounds. Those gray eyes didn’t haunt her mornings anymore. She was going back because she’d won. Nikolai Volkov needed to see that with his own eyes.

Her phone buzzed again…a text, no name.

We know about the children.

Outside, the garden was still full of laughter. The twins kept running, wild and free, no idea at all. Selene’s hand went cold.