Chapter 31 — Web of Lies

****Kai’s POV****I wasn’t exactly proud of the way I slipped out of Megan’s question earlier.A half smile and a soft touch to her cheek.Distraction has always been my strongest weapon. I’d used it in interrogations, negotiations, executions—moments where hesitation meant death.But using it on Megan?That felt wrong beyond words.Still, it worked.For now.She’d studied my face closely when I told her I was only worried about her safety, the way I always was. Her eyes searched mine, sharp and suspicious.I almost failed her then.Almost let the truth slip out with my breath.But then she smiled.And that smile destroyed me more than the guilt of the piling truths It was the only excuse I could come up with after my expression betrayed me. Megan wasn’t naive—not anymore. She didn’t believe things easily. She questioned everything.But she trusted me.So she chose to believe me.If Megan knew—If she truly knew…I wouldn’t just lose her.I’d deserve it.There was one thing Megan hat

Last Updated : 2025-12-14

Chapter 32 — Faulty Lines

****Megan’s POV****Something still felt off.Kai showing up at my place unannounced wasn’t strange. He did that all the time. What unsettled me was the way he did it. The way he looked so serious and pissed. The way his eyes scanned my surroundings like he was calculating exits instead of admiring the view.And then the way he spoke.Not a suggestion but an order—That I resumed intense training.It wasn’t that I disagreed with him. Training was long overdue. Hell, I’d been thinking about it myself. But the way it came off his lips—wasn’t like the Kai I knew.This wasn’t the man who teased me during drills.This wasn’t the man who laughed when I knocked him flat during sparring.This wasn’t the man who usually softened his commands with humor or concern.This Kai was… different.He noticed my stare almost immediately.That’s what unsettled me even more.He flashed a bright smile, sudden and forced, like he’d remembered to put it on. His fingers reached out and pinched my cheek lightl

Last Updated : 2025-12-14

Chapter 33 — Blood Before Truths

****Joe’s POV*****There were only two ways to get rid of a man like Kai.One was to stain his image so badly that even the inferior men would reject him.The other was to erase him completely from the surface of the earth.And I was going to try both.The steering wheel groaned under my grip as I made a sharp U-turn, tires screeching slightly against the asphalt. My phone vibrated again on the passenger seat, the screen lighting up the dark interior of the car.I hadn’t even read the full message before my foot slammed harder on the accelerator.“I followed and tracked him as you ordered,” the text read.“And I found out he has a camp somewhere in Foxglove valley where his gang members operate.”I scoffed, a humorless sound tearing out of my lungs.A camp.Of course he did.Kai never did anything halfway. He built nests before wars, networks before moves, escape routes before attacks. He didn’t just exist — he planned his existence.“What about his personal address, idiot?” I thunder

Last Updated : 2025-12-15

Chapter 34 — The Godfather

****Kai’s POV****The last time I stood in Don Julian’s presence, I was still learning how to survive him.Back then, survival didn’t mean strength. It didn’t mean power or confidence. Survival meant obedience. It meant knowing when to lower your eyes, when to keep quiet, when to accept orders without asking questions. It meant swallowing pride.Back then, I was his weapon and now I was no longer that.Today, I was his rival.That truth weighed me down as I drove toward his estate, not like fear, but like restraint. Meeting Don Julian was never something one did lightly.Every step, every word, every silence mattered. One wrong move could cost more than your life—it could cost everything you’d built.That was why I avoided him after returning to the state.I laid low.Moved quietly.Not because I was afraid of him—but because I understood him too well.Don Julian was not a man you rushed. He was a fox. Cunning. Patient. He let men destroy themselves while he waited comfortably in the

Last Updated : 2025-12-16

Chapter 35 — The Meeting

****Megan’s POV****I had been in the bathtub for more than an hour, letting the cold water hit my skin while the bath itself did the rinsing, as if that alone could wash away doubt, anger, and memories I no longer wanted clinging to me.The water had gone cold long ago, but I stayed there anyway, curled in on myself, staring at nothing, thinking of everything.Truth was, from the very moment my mother called and asked to meet, I already knew the truth.He sent her.He always did.Still, I wanted to hope. I wanted—just once—to believe my mother had chosen me on her own. I wanted to feel wanted, needed, loved without conditions. I wanted to believe the woman who carried me for nine months had finally remembered she had a daughter.But hope was a dangerous thing.It made you soft.It made you foolish.It made the fall hurt worse.And sometimes, you had to reopen wounds just to make sure they were really healed.Last night, everything I had been suppressing spilled out. The disappointmen