Semua Bab CRAVING THE BAD BOY: Bab 291 - Bab 300

The old pier sat at the edge of the city like a forgotten secret.Fog rolled in thick from the water, swallowing the wooden planks and the single rusted lamp that still flickered at the far end. The air smelled of salt and damp wood. Distant waves slapped against the pilings in a slow, steady rhythm that somehow made the silence feel louder.Nick parked two streets away. They walked the rest of the distance in the dark, hands linked, neither of them speaking. Every few steps Ariana felt his thumb brush across her knuckles, a quiet reminder that he was still there. Still choosing her over caution. The memory of his body against hers only hours earlier lingered like heat under her skin, making the cold night feel sharper by comparison.At the entrance to the pier, Nick stopped her.“Stay close,” he said, voice low. “No matter what happens.”She nodded. Her pulse was already racing, but the solid warmth of his body beside her kept the worst of the fear from swallowing her whole.They mov

The safe house felt smaller once Evelyn began to speak.Ariana sat on the edge of the couch, Nick’s solid presence at her back, one of his hands resting on her shoulder like an anchor. Daniel stood near the window, watching the street. Evelyn’s voice was quiet but steady, the kind of calm that only came after surviving too much.“Your father knew they would eventually come for the research,” she said. “He spent years building layers of protection. The journal was only the first. The files in the hidden room were the second. But the real core—the part that makes the rest of it usable—he never wrote down.”Ariana’s fingers tightened around Nick’s.“You said it was a person.”Evelyn nodded.“In a way. He encoded the final activation sequence into a living key. Something that could not be stolen, copied, or forced without destroying it. He chose you.”The words landed like a physical blow.Nick’s hand flexed on her shoulder.“Explain,” he said, voice low.Evelyn met his eyes, then looked

Morning light filtered through the pines in thin silver blades.Ariana woke to the solid warmth of Nick’s body curved around hers. One of his arms lay heavy across her waist, his palm open against her stomach as if even in sleep he needed to keep her close. For a few quiet minutes she simply listened to his breathing and let herself believe the world outside the cabin could not reach them.Then the weight of the black case on the dresser settled back into her mind.The interface.Her blood.The lullaby.Nick stirred behind her. His lips brushed the curve of her shoulder.“You’re thinking too hard already.”She turned in his arms. His eyes were still heavy with sleep, but the intensity that always lived beneath the surface was already awake.“I keep hearing the song in my head,” she admitted. “The one he used to sing.”Nick’s hand slid up her back, slow and warm. “You don’t have to use it. We can destroy the case. Walk away from all of it.”“And spend the rest of our lives looking over

The car slammed through underbrush, headlights cutting wild arcs between the trunks.Nick’s hands were iron on the wheel. Every muscle in his arms stood out as he forced the vehicle deeper into the trees, away from the road and the SUV that had tried to cut them off. Branches screamed against the metal. The chassis shuddered over roots and rocks. In the back of her mind Ariana registered the second set of headlights—Daniel still following, refusing to lose them.Another gunshot cracked somewhere behind. The rear window spider-webbed but held.“Down,” Nick ordered again, voice raw.Ariana stayed low, one hand braced on the dashboard, the other locked around the door handle. Her pulse roared in her ears. The case that had once held the interface sat empty at her feet. The research was gone. The only thing left to hunt was her.Nick risked a glance at her. “You hit?”“No.”“Good.” His jaw flexed. “Because I’m not losing you in these trees.”The words were almost lost under the engine’s s

The twelve miles to the ranger station stretched longer than any map could show.They walked in single file through the pre-dawn dark, Nick in front despite the wound on his arm, Ariana close enough behind him that she could reach out and touch his back if the need arose. Daniel took the rear. Evelyn moved carefully but without complaint, her earlier injuries still present but no longer slowing her to the point of danger.Every hour Nick stopped just long enough for Ariana to check the makeshift bandage. The bleeding had slowed, but the fabric was stiff with dried blood and the skin around the graze looked angry. He never flinched when she touched him. He only watched her face, eyes dark and steady, as if the pain mattered far less than the fact that she was still beside him.“You’re stubborn,” she murmured during one of the brief pauses.“You’re one to talk.” His free hand rose to brush a leaf from her hair. The touch lingered. “Keep walking. I want walls around you before the sun is