All Chapters of Call it love,Call it war: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The champagne was still fizzing in Riven’s veins when he slid his keycard into the hotel door, lips still slick with someone else's gloss from the lounge downstairs. He didn’t know whose. He didn’t care.The party had been chaos dressed in couture, a networking retreat in name only. Really it was Hollywood at its worst—messy, indulgent, insatiable. He danced until his knees ached, flirted with anything in a suit, smiled until his jaw burned.Now, back in the hush of his suite, he kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto the bed without even bothering with the lights. His phone buzzed once beside him, a soft vibration against the dark. Confirmation of the order.Not food,not room service.A hookup.He didn’t usually do this. But tonight wasn't usual. Tonight was about forgetting.Then came the knock.He rose slowly, shirt open, belt half undone. opened the door and froze upon seeing a tall and built blonde. Eyes wild under the hallway light. The man’s lips parted like he wanted to speak

The sky cracked open before Riven could hurry out to go get groceries.Rain fell like punishment — harsh and unrelenting, loud enough to drown out thought.The truck's light blinked twice and died, and darkness swallowed everything except the sound.He stood by the window, coffee cooling in his hand, watching headlights bob through the trees. The light cut a jagged path through the fog until it hit the clearing. A truck,old and familiar. Kael’s.The engine sputtered, died, then turned over again and failed completely. The door opened and Kael climbed out, soaked from hair to boots, moving fast through the storm like he hadn’t meant to stop . Like something had pulled him off course and dropped him here anyway.Riven cracked the door open and shouted over the rain.“Truck dead?”Kael didn’t look up. “Yeah.”“Well,” Riven called, shrugging, “guess you’re stuck here.”Kael finally turned. His hair clung to sharp cheekbones, shirt plastered to every muscle, rain rolling off him in sheets.

The day was too bright for how wrecked Riven felt inside. His skin buzzed with the weight of last night’s dream, the photo album still burned behind his eyes, and Kael’s name clung to the back of his throat like smoke he couldn’t cough out.He wasn’t ready to confront him..not yet,but the universe didn’t wait for readiness.Because there he was. Kael was standing outside the bar just off Main, laughing with someone.Riven stood still on the sidewalk, breath catching like he’d been slapped. The man next to Kael was tall, tan, and tattooed, with a cocky smile and a backwards hat. He leaned into Kael too easily, touched his shoulder like it meant something. And Kael didn’t pull away.Jealousy wasn’t something Riven liked admitting to. But it bloomed inside him anyway, slow and sour like poison spreading in his chest.He tightened his grip on the envelope in his hands — the one holding all the photos and old evidence he’d found.Before he could take a step, a hand tapped his shoulder fro

Kael stepped forward, keeping Riven behind him as tension rippled through the room. Ari hovered near the wrecked console, Roman’s laptop clutched tight. Harlow stood from where she’d been crouched behind a fallen beam, her face drawn but steady.Mason stood in the doorway, rain dripping from his coat, voice calm and unnerving. “I wondered when you’d all arrive,” he said. “I’ve been expecting you.”Kael didn’t flinch. “We’re not here to talk. Get out of our way.”Mason’s mouth curled. “You think this is victory? You’ve barely peeled back the first layer. You don’t even know what you’re walking into.”Roman stepped forward. “You torched the house. You endangered everyone.”Mason gave a slow nod. “I warned you to stay buried. But no one listens anymore. Not until it’s too late.”Harlow locked eyes with him. “Are you planning to finish what you started?”His gaze held hers for a beat longer, but whatever game he’d come to play, he was done with it. “Not today.” He turned, walking into the

Rain hammered the roof of the safehouse in a rhythm that felt like warning. Pale morning light seeped through the heavy curtains, but it didn’t warm the room. The air buzzed with what hadn’t yet been said.Kael stood at the kitchen’s edge, arms folded, jaw locked, staring at the cracked tile beneath his boots. Riven sat stiffly on the couch, pistol resting loose in his hand, every nerve wound tight. Ari slouched in the corner, shotgun propped across his lap. Roman leaned by the window, muscles drawn tight beneath his coat. Harlow hovered near the door, her tablet screen dark, untouched.Roman broke the silence.“Concord almost killed us,” he said flatly, voice like steel under pressure. “You have any idea how close that was?”Riven’s head snapped up. He stood, soaked through, jacket dripping on the floor. “I was in it. What were you doing—hiding behind a screen?”Ari blinked awake, lifting his head. “Hey, I jammed the motion sensors—”“Not all of them,” Riven shot back.Harlow slammed