All Chapters of The War Between Us: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

111 Chapters

Chapter 1: The Storm I Should've Avoided

*Prologue* My life as I knew it ended the night Alexander walked into my office. Not because I didn’t recognize the type. I did. I’d known men like him before. Fighters. Enforcers. Men who carried violence in their posture and discipline in their silence. Men who learned control not because they were gentle. But because they were dangerous without it. I wasn’t inexperienced. I wasn’t naïve. I wasn’t curious. And I certainly wasn’t looking for trouble. That’s what made this worse…or so I thought, because nothing could’ve prepared me for how he’d turn my world upside down. I knew the moment I agreed to treat him that it would end badly. Because men like Alexander didn’t come to therapy to heal. They came because something was already breaking, and they needed someone to witness it. I should’ve said no. Instead, I stayed. I listened. I told myself I was just doing my job. Now there’s blood on the floor of my office. My blood. Bright against the pale wooden floor. Too much of

Chapter 2: Too Close To The Fire

Milena DragovicI stood, sliding the folder into my bag. “I’ll think about it. I’ll give you my answer by the end of the week.”John nodded, but I could still see worry on his face.The office was tucked away at the very back of the gym, which meant you had to walk past the locker rooms to get out. The hallway was warm, humid, and heavy with the scent of leather, soap, and sweat. Just as I reached one of the locker room doors, it flew open.I jerked back, but not in time, colliding with the man who stepped out and falling straight on my ass. “Watch it!” I snapped, looking up at the culprit. The words caught in my throat, choking on the sight in front of me. Alexander.He hadn’t even seen me yet, a towel covering his face as he rubbed it through damp black hair. Water dripped down the side of his jaw, glistening against skin still flushed from the shower. His hoodie was gone, leaving him in nothing but shorts. His godly body was still damp from the shower, and I couldn’t help but st

Chapter 3: Curiosity Is A Dangerous Thing

Milena DragovicI debated sitting down to drink it but decided to walk to my apartment instead. I still had time before my next client.I told myself I wouldn’t think about him. But by the time I reached my apartment, I was already lying.The hallway encounter replayed in my mind on a loop. The silence, the look in his eyes, the way he’d walked away without a word.My apartment was just across the street. I crossed when there were no cars coming and unlocked the front door. I kicked off my high-heeled black leather boots and walked down the hall into the open floor plan living room.I usually sat at the kitchen island, but today I sank onto the couch instead. I needed the comfort of the soft pillows and a warm blanket.I pulled the file from my bag, set it on the coffee table, placed the latte beside it, and opened my laptop. I had about thirty minutes before my next session, so I opened my browser.The search results stared back at me.Fight records, interviews, and the occasional gl

Chapter 4: When Control Slips

Milena DragovicMy pulse didn’t slow, not even after Alexander moved to the cubbies. He was just a few meters away, towel slung over his shoulder, water bottle in hand. Close enough that every shift of his muscles remained in my peripheral vision, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.He dragged the towel down the length of his throat, wiping away the last trail of sweat before letting the fabric hang loosely in his hand. Then he leaned forward, bracing one arm against the cubbies, resting his forehead lightly against it. For a moment, he looked almost still. His chest rose and fell with slow, even breaths, but the rhythm didn’t seem relaxed. It was deliberate, forced, the kind of breathing people used when they were trying to settle something inside themselves. It was the kind of breathing someone learned to quiet themselves, not recover. A self-soothing technique. A sign. He didn’t look at me again.But I felt the pull of his presence like static.The coach kept talking beside m

Chapter 5: The First Line

Milena DragovicMy heart climbed into my throat.I was always the kind of girl who stood her ground. Not many things shook me, but ever since the incident, confrontation scraped against a raw place inside me in ways it never used to. I’d avoided gyms for a long time. Avoided fighters. Avoided anything that smelled like sweat, adrenaline, or violence. I built an entire life on staying far, far away from the world that had taken so much from me.And now here I was.Drawn. No, pulled right back into everything I fought so hard to avoid.The hallway felt narrower than before, the dim overhead lights buzzing faintly as Alexander uncrossed his arms, rolled his shoulders back, and pushed off the wall with slow, casual ease. The faintest sheen of sweat still clung to his jawline, catching the dim hallway light. He didn’t look surprised to see me. He didn’t look curious either.He looked like a man who had already decided something.About me.About this moment.My pulse still thumped hard in m

Chapter 6: Aftershocks

Milena DragovicI don’t remember leaving the gym.One moment I was staring at Alexander’s retreating back, pulse in my throat, breath caught somewhere between my ribs… and the next, I was outside, the cool night air slapping against my skin like it was trying to wake me up.My legs carried me on autopilot, each step too fast, too uneven.My body still hummed with leftover adrenaline…Princess.He called me princess.The way he said it, low, deliberate, like a touch without touching.It slid under my skin, threaded through my nerves, settled somewhere it absolutely had no business being.My jaw clenched.“What the hell,” I muttered, but it came out weaker than I wanted.Fear had shaken me first.Then anger took its turn, hot and familiar.Anger at him.Anger at myself.Anger at the way my body reacted like it forgot every boundary my mind tried to hold.I didn’t react to fighters.I didn’t react to men like him.Not anymore. So why was I still trembling?But then… I know the answer. I

Chapter 7: The Safer Choice

Milena DragovicIt was Rayven.Tall, slightly tanned, and athletic, with lines of tattoos showing beneath his shirt sleeve and along the side of his neck. Warm, dark eyes. An easy smile.The kind of man who instantly felt safe to be around.The kind of man who should be my type.He raised a brow, taking in my probably tired and disorganized appearance.“You okay?” he asked. “You looked… distracted leaving the gym.”Fantastic.Just what I needed.“Does everyone at the gym pay attention to what I do?” I said, a little too fast, before I could stop myself.Way to keep your thoughts to yourself, Milena.Rayven looked slightly amused by my reaction… and a little surprised.“I’m sorry,” I added quickly. “I’m fine. Just tired.” I mustered a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes.He didn’t buy it.Not fully.He shifted his weight, studying me with quiet concern.“Alex didn’t say something stupid, did he?”My breath caught.Rayven didn’t say it in a teasing way. His tone wasn’t judgmental. Just

Chapter 8: Survival Isn’t a Choice

Alexander Li ChenThis week has been a goddamn mess. I knew it the second Coach slammed the office door behind me yesterday, his face tight, eyes sharp, voice doing that disappointed-father thing that pisses me off more than actual yelling.“Alex, you need help.”“Alex, you’re going to ruin your career.”“Alex, you can’t keep doing this…”Yeah, yeah. Heard it all before.Except this time…He involved her.Milena Dragović.A little doctor.The second I saw her standing in that hallway, I knew she wasn’t just another one of Coach’s “specialists” he dragged in to fix me. She didn’t look scared of me. Didn’t look impressed either. Just… watching. Calm. Sharp. Like she was peeling me open with her eyes without even touching me. And that bothered me more than it should’ve.Coach kept talking about her before she arrived. “Best sports psychologist I’ve worked with.” “Smart as hell.” “Helped her brother recover mentally after…”He didn’t finish the sentence.He never does.But I remember her

Chapter 9: The Things I Don’t Touch

Milena DragovicSaturday mornings were usually my reset days. A bowl of Greek yogurt with some fresh chopped up fruits. A cup of tea. Cleaning my apartment in silence. Cozy leggings and an oversized hoodie. My hair pulled into a messy bun without much thought.Normally, it worked.Today, it didn’t.No matter what I did, my thoughts kept circling back to the same place. Alexander. His voice. The way he stood too close. The look in his eyes when he leaned in like he already knew what I was thinking.And the word he used.Princess.I groaned and dropped onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling. The throw blanket slid off my legs, but I didn’t bother pulling it back up. My tea sat untouched on the coffee table, already cold. I opened my laptop and tried to work, but every sentence blurred together, my focus slipping the second I started typing. I stared at the screen, the cursor blinking patiently, waiting for thoughts that refused to come.Instead, memories of him surfaced.The way his

Chapter 10: Anything to Drown Her Out

Alexander Li ChenThe noise in my head wouldn’t stop. It never does unless I make it. So now I’m here. In the basement of an abandoned factory two districts away, where the air smells like iron and sweat and smoke, and the crowd doesn’t chant names…they bet them.My kind of place.No rules.No cameras.No consequences.Just fists and instincts.I pull my hoodie lower as I walk down the narrow concrete steps. The bass of the music thumps like a heartbeat. Men shout. Metal clangs. Someone laughs too loud. Someone else groans from a hit they couldn’t block.It’s familiar.It’s ugly.It’s home.A voice called out.“Li is here!”Heads turned. A few cheered. Others stepped back.Everyone knew what I came here for.Pain.Release.Silence in my own head.I rolled my neck, ignoring the thrum still beating under my skin from earlier. From her. From the way Milena dragged her teeth over her bottom lip when she was thinking. From the flash of fear in her eyes when I cornered her.Fear I didn’t w

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