All Chapters of Vows of convenience Hearts in Collision : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Darkness pressed in on me like a suffocating blanket. The power outage plunged Adrian’s study into pitch black, and all I had was the sound of my ragged breathing and Leo’s too-close presence.His grip on my wrist was iron, bruising. I jerked back with all the force I could muster, twisting my arm like Adrian had once taught me, but Leo only laughed under his breath.“You’ve learned some tricks,” he whispered, his voice low, taunting. “But not enough to stop me.”I slammed my knee upward, aiming for his stomach, and for a second his grip loosened. I ripped my arm free and stumbled back, hands fumbling for anything to use as a weapon. My fingers brushed against the sharp edge of a shattered vase fragment. I grabbed it, my palm nicking against the glass, pain hot and immediate.“Stay away from me!” My voice shook, but the shard was steady in my hand.The silence after my shout was worse than his mocking tone. It stretched too long, filling the room with tension thick enough to choke on.

Cold water licked at my calves, rising inch by inch, each wave dragging me closer to panic. The tunnel was pitch black, the kind of black that swallowed light and reason whole. Adrian’s hand was a vise around mine, his grip the only thing tethering me to sanity.“We’re not dying here,” he growled, though his voice was rougher than usual, laced with urgency.The water swirled faster, pulling at my legs as though invisible hands wanted me to sink. My breath came too quickly, fogging the cold air.“How do you know that?” I rasped. My teeth chatted from more than the chill. “We’re trapped, Adrian. The stairs he sealed them. There’s nowhere to go.”“There’s always a way.” He yanked me closer, his chest hard against mine in the suffocating dark. “I won’t let him win. Not like this. Not with you.”The intensity in his voice cut through my spiraling fear. Still, water slapped against my thighs now, rushing faster, filling the chamber as if the earth itself wanted to bury us.I tried to focus

My hands shook so violently the gun felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. The rushing water screamed in my ears, my chest heaving with ragged breaths as I aimed it at the shadow of my brother.Leo’s knife pressed harder against Adrian’s throat. A single movement, and I’d lose him.“Shoot, Saphira!” Adrian’s voice was hoarse but commanding. “Do it now!”But my whole body locked up.This was Leo. The boy who had once held my hand when nightmares clawed me from sleep. The brother who had promised me forever when our parents’ world shattered around us. The boy who had carried me on his shoulders, laughing, before all of this rot poisoned him.Now his eyes were wild, empty of warmth, filled only with a rage that had hollowed him out.And Adrian bleeding, straining against him was the man who had risked everything for me. The man who had sworn to protect me, even if it cost him his empire.The man I loved.My finger curled tighter around the trigger. My pulse screamed.Leo sneered, bloodi

The night pressed in like a predator, suffocating in its silence. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath as I slipped through the alley, my heart drumming so loudly I feared it would give me away.The city had changed since the fire. Every corner smelled of ash and metal, every shadow felt alive, crawling with the whispers of the dead. I told myself I was ready. That I had no choice but to be ready. But readiness doesn’t silence fear it only masks it, a thin veil stretched over the trembling truth.I tightened my grip on the small blade hidden in my sleeve. It was a pathetic weapon compared to the monsters hunting me, but holding it made me feel less helpless.“Keep moving,” I muttered to myself. “Keep moving, Saphira.”The contact I was supposed to meet an informant who claimed to have answers about the experiments had chosen this part of the city deliberately. Neutral ground, he’d said. Safer.Safer? Nothing felt safe anymore.When I finally spotted him at the end of the alley, lea

They call me dead.But the dead don’t bleed.And I bleed every night, in silence, for the life I lost. For the boy I was. For the sister who still looks at me as if I should have stayed in the fire that burned our world to ash.Saphira.Even thinking her name cut deeper than any blade.I stood in the command room of the abandoned textile mill, the dim light from cracked bulbs flickering over maps, weapons, and my men sprawled in shadows like wolves waiting for my word. The mask covered the ruin the fire left behind half my face, a scarred testament to survival but the eyes, she recognized those instantly.Of course she did.Because no matter how far I’ve fallen, no matter how deep I’ve sunk into the abyss, I’ll always be her brother.And tonight, I spoke to her. Not just with words, but through the tether that binds blood thicker than flame.Her shock had been a weapon. Her disbelief, a weakness. And when I touched her mind, when I whispered her name across the void between us, I had