Alle Kapitel von Vows of convenience Hearts in Collision : Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

The penthouse air was charged with something that had no name. Not anger, not peace something darker, hungrier.I stood by the balcony doors, the glittering skyline behind me, while Caelum leaned against the grand piano, his eyes burning like liquid ice. We hadn’t spoken for an hour since returning from the board meeting that nearly ended in blood.Lucien’s voice still echoed in my mind. “Do you even know who you married, Saphira? Or has The Phantom already buried the truth with all the others?”I hadn’t asked Caelum. Not yet. Because the silence between us was war itself.“You haven’t touched your wine,” he said at last, his voice sharp enough to slice through the glass.“Maybe I’m waiting for you to explain why Lucien thinks you’ve got skeletons bigger than his.” I crossed my arms, chin lifted in defiance. “Or should I just get used to finding out about my husband through my enemies?”His jaw flexed, dangerous, unreadable. He pushed off the piano and stalked closer, slow, deliberate

The silence was suffocating.Not the kind of silence you find in peaceful places, but the kind that crushes the air from your lungs, heavy and alive with menace.The elevator had jolted to a dead stop, throwing me against Caelum’s chest. Now, suspended somewhere between the fortieth floor and oblivion, we were trapped inside a steel coffin.“Lucien,” I whispered, tasting his name like poison.Caelum’s jaw flexed, muscles tight as stone. He pressed the emergency button, again and again, but the console remained dark, mocking us with its uselessness.Red light flickered above, painting his features in shadows. He looked like a man forged in fire shirt torn, blood on his knuckles, veins taut with restrained fury.“They cut the power,” he muttered. “This isn’t an accident. He planned it.”My heart stuttered. “You think he’s coming?”“He already came,” Caelum growled. “This is just phase two.”The words chilled me, but they were steady. Grounded. Like him. Even now, caged and hunted, he ca

The walls hummed with a metallic growl as I stepped into the corridor. My palms were slick, my heartbeat ragged, but my eyes my eyes burned steady. This was no longer a hunt in the shadows. It was war, and I was done running.He was here. I could feel it.The stench of iron and smoke hung in the air. The lights above flickered, bathing the hall in alternating shadows and harsh glares, as though even the building knew something irreversible was about to happen.The doors behind me slammed shut, sealing me inside. No turning back.“Show yourself,” I called out, my voice sharp, cold.A laugh answered low, drawn out, slicing through the silence like a blade across skin.“I wondered when the wolf-girl would finally find her teeth.”The shadows shifted. He emerged.Tall. Broad. Wrapped in black, with eyes that burned like coals in a dying fire. His smile was a predator’s mockery. My heart lurched, but I stood firm, forcing my legs to remain still even as my instincts screamed at me to move.

Her claws cut the air, slicing toward my throat with the precision of someone who had been waiting for this moment.I moved on instinct, twisting my body sideways. Pain ripped across my shoulder as her strike grazed me, blood hot and sharp against my skin. The sting only fueled my rage.“Callista!” I roared, my voice echoing through the metal corridor. “You don’t have to do this!”Her laugh was cruel, mocking. “Don’t I?” She spun, claws arcing again, faster than I could blink. “I told you, Saphira this is who I am now. And if you can’t accept it, then you’re already dead.”Our claws clashed again, the sound like steel scraping steel. Sparks lit the dim hallway, each strike a violent reminder that this wasn’t some sparring match in our childhood forest. This was war.And my sister was trying to kill me.I pushed back with everything I had, fury making my wolf rise. My claws slashed across her side, tearing through fabric and flesh. For a moment, her eyes flickered surprise, maybe pain.

The taste of iron coated my tongue as I pushed myself up from the rubble-strewn floor. My head throbbed, ears ringing, and for a moment I couldn’t tell if the rumble I felt beneath me was the aftermath of the explosion or the pounding of my own heartbeat.The air was thick with smoke dense, acrid, clawing down my throat with every breath. Sparks hissed from fractured wires above, illuminating the chamber in bursts of red and white. What had been an underground stronghold moments ago was now nothing but a broken carcass of concrete and steel.“Caelum!” My voice was hoarse, shredded by smoke and panic.Silence.My heart seized.I stumbled forward, boots crunching over broken glass and debris. My palms bled where jagged stone cut into them, but I barely registered the sting. My eyes darted wildly through the wreckage, desperate to find him.Then, a sound a low, guttural groan.Relief shot through me like a jolt of lightning.I sprinted toward it, scrambling over collapsed beams until I s