LOGINKyrian seemed a bit slight compared to Derek's battle-hardened physique. But his baby fat had long since vanished, replaced by firm, lean muscles forged through relentless field training.With a frown, he instinctively tried to pull away.Just then, a voice he hadn't heard in over three years—a voice so achingly familiar—sounded next to his ear, soft as a sigh. "Congratulations."He froze in place, his eyes widening as he thought, "I must've misheard. Totally. How could this masked stranger possibly be—"Tabitha slowly released him. Her gaze fell on the blood seeping from his forearm, and her expression immediately darkened. "You're hurt?"Still too stunned to process what was happening, Kyrian answered mechanically, "It's nothing serious.""Even a small wound can get infected if you ignore it. Come with me. I'll bandage it." Without giving him a chance to refuse, Tabitha grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the infirmary
Listening to the cold, automated notice that the phone had been turned off, Austin stood frozen in the empty hallway, his fingers tightening around his cell.Outside the window, the wind whipped freezing flurries against the glass, giving off a faint, rhythmic rattling.The storm in his heart had broken loose, and there was absolutely no going back to normal now.The next morning.Tabitha slowly blinked her eyes open inside a warm embrace, running straight into a pair of dark gold pupils.There was no telling how long Derek had been awake. He was propped up on one elbow, quietly staring down at her, his predatory eyes swimming with a rare, heavy tenderness."You're not busy today?" Tabitha asked lazily, rolling over with a voice still husky from sleep."I knew you had the day off, so I cleared my schedule early," Derek said, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on her brow, his nose brushing against her messy hair. "You awake?""M
The heavy snow that had been weighing down the branches finally gave way, coming down with a soft swoosh and dumping freezing chunks of slush all over his shoulders and hair.Austin snapped out of it, only to realize he had been standing frozen on the curb for God knows how long.He couldn't even remember how he walked back inside.The lights in the hallway were a blinding, clinical white. Looking into the elevator's mirror, the reflection of his eyes swam with a chaotic storm of emotions that even he couldn't begin to unpack.Meanwhile, the exact second Tabitha stepped through her front door, she was pulled into a burning embrace.Derek wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hot breath brushing against the shell of her ear, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly whisper. "Out playing with your food again?"Tabitha reached up to unclip her earrings, turning around in his arms to loop them around his neck. She tipped up on her toes to
Tabitha watched the crushing disappointment flash across her face, the corner of her mouth twitching imperceptibly.After a beat, she spoke in a measured, casual tone. "But then again... I've been traveling the world for years. A while back, I got hurt while passing through a remote area and stumbled upon a custom scar-removal ointment. The results were honestly unreal.""Really?!" Rosemary snapped her head back around, a manic light reigniting in her dull eyes.Tabitha didn't rush to answer. She smoothly rolled up her left sleeve, exposing her inner wrist. Under the light, the skin looked smooth, porcelain, and completely flawless. "Look. I used to have a pretty nasty scar from a bullet wound right here."She lightly tapped a spot on her wrist. "Take a close look. Can you even tell it was there now?"Rosemary squinted, leaning in close. She had to strain her eyes under the light just to catch a glimpse of a faint, microscopic trace.The heart that had been dead for years instantly st
She knew that down in his core, Austin loved his mother.It was a love buried deep under layers of frozen hatred, like a seed locked beneath the permafrost—never quite able to break through the soil, yet never truly dying.As for Rosemary's clockwork routine, Tabitha had tracked it down to the exact minute. Every single evening, rain or shine, the older woman would walk alone to the coffee shop on the corner to buy two cups of Americano.One was for herself; the other was placed right across from her at the empty seat, as if someone who had walked out of her life a lifetime ago were still sitting right there.Making her "take a fall" was child's play.Back when Austin had used Joanna to pull his dirty tricks on her, he probably never imagined in his wildest dreams that the exact same tactics would one day bounce right back onto his own mother.Karma really was a mirror.The elevator made a steady, mechanical hum as it climbed. Tabitha followed Austin into the luxury apartment, which s
"My mom just took a fall in the snow. She has a heart condition, I need to get her to the hospital right now." Austin's voice shook with an anxiety he couldn't keep down."I'm a doctor. I'm coming with you." Tabitha stood up without a split second of hesitation, grabbing her coat to follow him out.Her movements were clean and decisive, striking every single vulnerable chord in Austin's chest—she was gentle, reliable, and completely defenseless.Meanwhile, on the other side of the restaurant.Cyrus was systematically cutting into his steak, his silver fork and knife gleaming like ice under the warm lighting.He suddenly broke the silence, his tone as casual as if he were checking the weather. "The perfume you women wear... what kind of scents do they usually come in?"Tamara's eyes lit up across the table. She assumed the usually detached Holmes heir was finally pulling his head out of his ass to buy her a gift.She immediately
Derek's POVShe even tried m
Third person's POVAs Tabitha searched online, her mind was filled with Derek's affectionate gaze.However, the moment she hit the search button, her body instinctively shuddered.Subconsciously, she was afraid.Tabitha wasn't sure what she was afraid of. Was it the fear that the search results would co
Third person's POVTabitha w
Tabitha's POVI wasn't clear







