All Chapters of DANGEROUS LOVE : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Midnight had come and gone, but the kitchen light was still on when the doorbell rang. Lance startled, glancing at the clock, then at the mess of ingredients he hadn't finished putting away."OH SHIT, I forgot to make the breakfast," he muttered, already ducking behind the kitchen counter to start on the food before anyone could notice he'd forgotten. Elison, seated at the table with his arm still bandaged from the night before, only smiled faintly at the sight of him scrambling.*He got relaxed while watching his husband cook.*Lance grabbed a knife and began cutting vegetables with more determination than skill."I'm not hungry," Elison said, though his eyes never left him."You are injured, you need food," Lance shot back, glancing at him mid-cut, chin tilted with a stubbornness that had become familiar over the past few weeks.Elison studied him for a long moment, something unreadable passing behind his eyes. *Did I see what I saw?*"You know how to use a knife?" he asked instead,

"I don't let him be close to you just so you don't get uncomfortable," Elison said, leaning back in his chair with the easy authority of a man who never had to raise his voice to be obeyed, "but I know my brother very well."Azhael said nothing, arms crossed, gaze fixed somewhere in the middle distance, the same guarded stillness he always wore whenever Heinz's name came anywhere near this conversation."He never thinks, talks, wants anyone else but you," Elison went on. "I never saw him like this to anyone else but you." His voice softened. "You know how much a cold person he can be. But he has never been like this to you since we were children.""Just a small scratch you get…" Elison pressed on, undeterred by the silence, "and he comes running to me, and asks — not asks, but *begs* me to take care of you." He leaned forward slightly. "What happened has happened already. We can't change the past, but we can change the future. Don't let your past be the reason for the death of your be

Azhael pulled his hand away for the second time that morning, glaring at Heinz with the particular exasperation of a man who had run out of patience roughly ten minutes ago. "What... are you doing?""Loving my soon-to-be husband," Heinz said simply, entirely unrepentant."....." Azhael didn't dignify that with a response. He straightened his jacket instead and got straight to business. "Where is the file?""Why are you so in a hurry, darling~" Heinz drawled, unhurried, strolling over to his desk and pulling open a drawer to retrieve the requested file."Elison is waiting," Azhael said flatly."Then take it," Heinz said, holding the folder out with an infuriatingly pleasant smile.Azhael reached for it. Heinz didn't let go."Heinz." Azhael's voice took on a warning edge. "I'm not in the mood.""Then I will just sit," Heinz said, dropping unbothered into the nearest chair, folder still clutched loosely in his hand, watching Azhael with the calm patience of someone entirely willing to wa

Azhael sat alone in the car long after the engine had gone quiet, arms wrapped around himself, crying in a way he never allowed anyone to see. There was no one there to witness it — no one to pull him close, press a kiss to his forehead, and tell him everything would be all right. He'd wanted that for as long as he could remember. Since he was a child, that particular kind of love had simply never come, no matter how quietly or how desperately he'd wished for it.He was still lost in it — in the ache of wanting something he couldn't name, in the loneliness that had followed him his entire life — when a soft tap sounded against his window.He wiped his face quickly, composed himself out of habit, and opened the door."Mr. Fl—"Lance didn't let him finish. He simply reached out and pulled him into a hug before Azhael could put his mask fully back into place."It's okay," Lance murmured, patting his head gently, the way someone might comfort a child who'd fallen and scraped their knee. "

The office was dim, lit only by the pale glow of a single desk lamp, the kind of low light Azhael always kept when the day had gone sideways. He sat across from Elison, glass in hand, his red hair catching what little light there was, watching his best friend with the careful attention of someone piecing together a puzzle he didn't yet trust."Who did you talk to before the attack?" Azhael asked, his voice quiet but pointed, the kind of question that demanded precision rather than comfort.Elison leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, replaying the hours before chaos had found him. "No one except Lance. And that conversation didn't even last a minute."Azhael's eyes narrowed slightly, filing the detail away. "And when you were being attacked—when did Shadow show up?""An hour later. Give or take."Azhael went quiet, his thumb tapping against the rim of his glass, the silence stretching just long enough to feel deliberate. Then he set the glass down with a soft click against the desk.