All Chapters of Marked By Two: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Maeve never liked silence because silence meant thinking. And thinking usually led to ugly things she spent years trying not to feel.Regret. Jealousy. Humiliation.The luxury apartment overlooking the city should have felt calming. Expensive marble floors. Soft music drifting through hidden speakers. Rain tapping lightly against the windows.Instead, Maeve stood near the balcony with a cigarette between her fingers watching dawn slowly bleed across the skyline while her stomach twisted harder with every passing hour.Max was dead.That wasn’t supposed to happen.Behind her, Ryan paced the living room restlessly.“You said nobody was supposed to die.”Maeve closed her eyes briefly.God.Ryan was becoming exhausting.“You need to calm down.”“How the hell am I supposed to calm down?” he snapped. “They said Max got shot trying to protect her!”Maeve turned slowly toward him.Ryan looked terrible. Pale. Panicked. Angry in the pathetic kind of way men became when reality finally stopped

Maeve knew something was wrong the second her phone started vibrating against the marble countertop.Three calls. Then five. Then eight. One after another, the screen lit up in the dim apartment, a relentless, buzzing intrusion that made the air in the room feel instantly thin. By the time she finally snapped the phone to her ear, her patience had already died.“What?” she demanded, her voice cutting through the quiet.The voice on the other end sounded absolutely terrified, the breathing shallow and erratic. “Ma'am... they found the archive.”For a long moment, Maeve said nothing. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, the city skyline stretched out in a blur of gray and black, rain sliding down the glass in heavy, distorted sheets.“They found what?” she asked, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.“The Blackthorne Archive.”The room seemed to tilt slightly beneath her feet. Maeve stood up slowly from the sofa, her knuckles turning white around the phone. “No. Th

Aria's pov The tires of Noah’s black SUV screeched to a halt in front of the estate. The rain was still coming down, slapping against the hood of the car. My heart was pounding against my ribs. We were back, and everything felt different. The familiar stone walls of the mansion did not look like a home anymore. They looked like a fortress full of lies.Noah killed the engine and turned to look at me. His amber eyes had settled back to his dark color, but the tension in his jaw was tight. He reached over, his large hand wrapping around the back of my neck. He pulled me close, pressing his hot forehead against mine."Stay behind me when we walk inside," Noah growled softly, his thumb rubbing the sensitive skin just under my ear. "I mean it, Aria. Until I know exactly what Cassian is doing, you do not leave my side.""I won't," I whispered, my lips brushing his cheek. The heat of his skin was the only thing keeping me grounded.We stepped out of the car and rushed through the heavy down

Aria's pov"Give me the bracelet, Aria," Damon commanded. He extended his hand toward me, his fingers twitching with greed. "Hand it over, and maybe I will let your little Alpha boyfriends live. If you refuse, I will let my men tear this room apart, and I will take it from your dead body.""You'll have to kill me first," Noah growled, his voice deep and beastly. His claws were fully out now, sharp and dripping with thick Alpha tension."You want this?" I asked. I raised my wrist, shaking the silver bracelet. The metal caught the dim light of the monitors. "You think you can just scare me and take it? You killed my mother. You burned my village. You are a monster, Damon. If you want this bracelet, you are going to have to fight for it."Damon laughed, a dark, dry sound that made my skin crawl. "You have spirit, little girl. Just like your mother. But spirit does not win wars against true Alphas."Before his guards could lunge at us, an explosive roar ripped through the room. It was Ca

Aria's pov "Shut the door, Livia!" Noah roared, his voice booming through the ruined suite.Livia did not ask questions. She saw Max’s still, white face on the table, and her own eyes flashed a bright, furious yellow. She slammed the heavy wooden door shut behind her, locking it with a loud click. She stood there like a wall, her fists clenching until her knuckles turned white.But the room was not empty yet.A loud, bloody gasp came from the corner. Damon wasn't dead. The deep cut across his throat was healing at a terrifying speed, thick black veins popping out along his neck. He pushed himself up from the shattered glass, his crimson eyes glowing with an animal madness. "You think you can keep me here?" Damon wheezed, blood spitting from his lips as he lunged toward the balcony door."You aren't going anywhere," Livia snarled.She did not wait for Noah. She threw her entire body weight into Damon, her shoulder slamming into his ribs. The impact sounded like a car crash. Damon gru