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Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Do you ever walk into a room and feel like every single pair of eyes is on you, sizing you up, waiting for you to make a mistake? Like the walls themselves are whispering behind your back? That’s how it felt today at the office. Every whisper, every sideways glance, it all felt like it was about me. When someone leaned in close to speak to someone else, my stomach knotted. Were they talking about me? Talking about Stella? Questioning how I still had a job after everything that went down? Every time someone adjusted their holster or touched their weapon, I swore they were about to pull it, like they had made up their mind about whose fault this mess was. I kept looking around, searching for a friendly face, anyone who might give me a shred of reassurance but there was nothing. Not a single one of them felt like a friend, like someone I could trust. And I realized then, I was alone in all of this. The one person who might’ve understood, who might’ve cared enough to
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Lesson number 1: Gloves. Lesson number 2: No one is innocent, Not in this world. Lesson number 3: Never, ever trust anyone. And most important of all: I’ve got your back, and you’ve got mine. That was the deal, wasn’t it? He said he’d protect what was his and he meant it. And against every ounce of reason, against instincts screaming at me to walk away, I loved him for it. Because if Alessandro taught me anything, it’s that protecting what’s yours isn’t just a promise. It’s a purpose. And when I have a purpose, I don’t hesitate, I get to work. The security cameras were easy. I wrote a custom loop override script last week. It froze the feed leading to the records room, cycling the same static image to make everything look normal. The timestamps matched perfectly. Carl in the security room? He wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Probably had his feet up, sipping his third vending machine coffee of the night. He’d see the footage, glance at the clock
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ The room was cold and too quiet, the kind of quiet that crawled under your skin and makes you shiver. The only sounds were the soft tapping of keys as the polygraph operator prepped the machine. My pulse thrummed in my ears, loud enough that I wondered if they could hear it too. The chair they had me in was straight-backed and uncomfortable, positioned dead center in the room like a bullseye. Wires and straps were secured to me: one around my chest, another on my arm, sensors on my fingertips. I felt like a lab rat, stripped of any dignity, every breath I took measured and recorded. Across from me, Special Agent Hanson sat, clipboard in hand. Fitz stood in the corner, arms crossed, his face a mask of disappointment and scrutiny. “You know how this works, Kane,” Hanson said, his voice clipped, “Answer with a simple yes or no. Any deviations will be noted. Understood?” “Yes,” I said, my voice was steady despite the storm brewing inside me. “Good.” He glance
Alessandro ☩══♛══☩ The morning felt colder than it should have been for late spring. Or maybe it was just me, a lingering frost settling deep in my chest since I opened my eyes. The suit jacket rested across the back of the chair in my room, its dark fabric catching the faint light from the window. Black-on-black. Not tie. A tie said I was here to play by the rules, and I wasn’t. The trial wasn’t about proving anything, not guilt, not innocence, not morality. It was about breaking us. I adjusted my cuffs in the mirror, letting my reflection stare back. Dead eyes that don’t blink enough to look human. I’d scare myself if I didn’t already know the things I’m capable of. Viviane. The name sits heavy in my mind, like an ache I can’t quite shake. I shouldn’t think about her now, not when everything is riding on today but she’s there, always there at the back of my mind, refusing to leave. She’s not here now. She’s probably somewhere safe, out of sight, out of reach. Smart. If sh
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Do you know what it feels like to be surrounded by people and still feel like you’re stranded in the middle of the ocean with no lifeline? That’s what it felt like sitting at the defense table today. Fitz, Logan, and Warren were right there, close enough to touch, close enough to remind me of all the bridges I’ve burned but no one spoke to me. They didn’t have to. Their silence said it all: I was disposable, and if I weren’t crucial to this case, I’d already be a footnote in someone else’s report. My stomach churned, but my face stayed neutral. Years of training couldn’t prepare you for this. My eyes betrayed me, flicking to him against my better judgment. Alessandro. He was sitting there with that smug confidence he always had. He leaned toward Goldstein, listening intently, but then, for the briefest second, his gaze shifted. And it landed on me. My heart stopped. His eyes narrowed, not with warmth or familiarity, but with something colder, harsher.
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ I had a checklist. A short, brutal little plan to tie up every loose end before midnight. The first item? Another piece of proof. Ethel Harrington’s testimony was a disaster. It reeked of theater, every stutter and hesitation felt staged, she was probably paid by the Costellos or maybe threatened to change her testimony. But Jonathan Cross didn’t lose control of a witness like that unless he wanted to. He’s a shark, and sharks don’t flail. He did it on purpose, they were throwing me under the bus purposely... I sat at the desk, staring at the thick transcript in front of me. The Bureau’s official seal glared up at me. I flipped through the pages, my fingers trembling slightly, scanning lines. “…Pursuing prosecution risks destabilizing ongoing operations. The Bureau’s priority is to integrate Costello resources into covert national initiatives…” I flipped to the next page... “…Agent Kane’s current actions jeopardize the Bureau’s objectives. To protect long-t
Alessandro ☩══♛══☩ The dining room in Nikolai’s penthouse wasn’t designed for comfort. The long oak table stretched the length of the room. We sat around the table for hours, picking apart the trial with the lawyers, dissecting every move the prosecution might make. The room reeked of stale coffee and stress. By the time the lawyers finally packed up and left, I was one wrong word away from losing it. Then Grayson walked in. My control was slipping...had been since the moment Francesca’s name came up in the news. Every instinct screamed to get up, to demand answers, to start breaking things until someone gave me what I wanted. But the real fucked-up part was that my first thought wasn’t about whether Francesca was alive. No, my mind went straight to Viviane. To what she might be planning. To whether she’d use... that against me. The thought of her dragging my darkest secrets into the light made my stomach churn. The kind of secrets you don’t even whisper to yourself. The k
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Alessandro stood in the doorway, his broad frame blocking out the faint light spilling in from the foyer. He didn’t bother to turn on the lights; the dim glow from the corner lamp was enough to show his sharp, chiseled features, which were set in an expression so dark it felt like the temperature dropped several degrees. He didn’t speak at first, just stood there, his cold, penetrating gaze slicing through me, making my stomach twist into a knot. When he finally did speak, his voice was deep, and smooth, not rage-filled like I had expected, no, it was like velvet dipped in acid. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here.” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. “I—” “Don’t,” his gaze pinned me to my spot, silencing me with nothing but his eyes, “Don’t insult me by pretending you have a reason I’d want to hear.” He moved further into the room, pulling off his tie like it irritated him. Tossing it onto the back of the armchair, he kept his eyes locked on mine, un
Viviane☩═✦═☩I stood in front of the mirror, staring at the stranger looking back at me. Dark circles clung under my eyes. My lips were cracked. There was dried blood at my temple, a bruise blooming beneath it. I barely recognized myself. I didn’t know how long I walked or how many miles passed beneath my feet before I ended up here—some tiny bed-and-breakfast in the middle of nowhere. The owner didn’t ask questions, didn’t pry, just handed me a key and a warm plate of food like she knew I needed both more than air. She even gave me clothes. They were too big, hanging loose on my frame, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I dropped onto the bed, my limbs aching, my body screaming for rest. But the second I closed my eyes, they were there. Their faces. Their eyes. Their blood. I sucked in a breath and forced them away. I did what I had to do. I avenged my sister. My brother-in-law. I ended the men who took everything from me. From Felicity. And yet, I
Alessandro ☩══♛══☩Scott leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “So, they never left?” Nikolai shook his head once. “No. They just ‘forgot’ to check their phones.” Lorenzo exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “They did it on purpose. Because of what was said at the table.” I stayed quiet, fingers drumming against my knee. That wasn’t surprising. If anything, it was expected. The women weren’t the type to sit still when something unsettled them. Nikolai turned his gaze to me. “Speaking of dinner conversation... how’s she doing?” My spine straightened. I already knew who he meant. I pushed up from my chair. “I’ll check.” The office door shut behind me as I stepped into the hallway. There was a weight pressing against my ribs, a feeling I didn’t like acknowledging. The metallic stench of blood hit me first. I stepped into the room, and stepped onto the blood spread across the ground. The carnage was absolutely beautiful. Eight men, all of them dead. Their thro
Francesca sat in the chair, trembling, her hands clutching the fabric of her skirt. Her tear-streaked face darted between the women surrounding her, searching for sympathy.but she found none. Evangeline adjusted the tripod, the camera framed Francesca perfectly. Allegra crossed her arms, “You know, Francesca, the thing about the truth is, it always comes out. Whether you say it yourself or someone else drags it out of you, that’s up to you.” Francesca sniffled, dabbing her face with a trembling hand. “I don’t know what you think I’ve done,” she stammered, her voice uneven. “Oh, we’re way past thinking,” Delilah snapped, stepping closer. Her heels clicked sharply against the floor, “We know exactly what you did. To Alessandro.” Camilla stood at the back of the room. Her eyes bore into Francesca, filled with years of pent-up rage and sorrow. She didn’t say a word, she just looked at that woman with a new kind of hatred. Francesca’s eyes darted nervously from one face to the nex
Viviane☩═✦═☩The moment I stepped outside, I stopped dead in my tracks. They were all there, standing in a tight circle. Each one of them towered over six-foot-three, dressed in black suits that barely hid the tattoos snaking up their necks and wrists. And knowing them, each probably had at least five knives or guns hidden somewhere under all that tailored fabric. Hell, probably even brass knuckles tucked away for good measure. While I was unarmed...I had nothing. Just the clothes on my back and whatever shred of confidence I could scrape together. My stomach twisted, the instinct to turn and run hammering in my chest. I pulled my shoulders back, forcing my spine straight, and took one step after another down the stairs. The sound of a black SUV pulling up caught their attention. They moved as one, parting without a word, clearing a path for me straight to the car. My throat felt dry as sandpaper as I swallowed hard and walked forward. Nikolai stepped to the side and opened t
Viviane☩═✦═☩“Alessandro,” Evangeline began casually, twirling her wine glass by the stem, “I’ve been thinking about what you said in Nikolai’s office the other day.”I didn’t even realize my hand had tightened around my fork until I heard the faint scrape against the plate. My eyes flicked to her briefly, then instinctively to Alessandro, who sat across the table.He frowned at her, “What about it?” Evangeline tilted her head slightly. She lazily moved her fork through the air, like she was painting an invisible picture. “Oh, nothing really. It’s just something you said stuck with me,” she sipped her wine slowly, “That little comment you made about how ‘boys don’t get abused,’” she said, mimicking his words, her voice lilting mockingly. “And then you added, what was it?” she snapped her fingers, “Ah, right, ‘boys enjoy it.’”I froze in place, unable to bring the fork to my mouth. Did she really just say that? Here? Like this? My eyes went to Francesca sitting at the far end and she
Viviane☩═✦═☩In the mirror’s reflection, I saw him. I spun around immediately, my heartbeat went haywire. Without thinking, I moved to push past him, my shoulder brushing against his arm as I headed for the door. His hand shot out, gripping my waist that stopped me in my tracks. Before I could react, he pulled me back, positioning himself in front of me. I shoved his hand off with more force than necessary and tried again to move past him. But he was faster. Both of his hands found my waist this time, locking me in place. And then he lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing and set me on the sink counter. My hands shot out to push him away, I opened my mouth, ready to tell him exactly where he could go, but his finger pressed against my lips. “Shhh, just shhh...” his gaze said, though his lips didn’t move. My chest heaved as anger burned through me. My lips pressed into a tight line as I glared at his face, but his focus wasn’t on my face. His eyes had already dro
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Stella’s favorite pink gown. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The silk clung to me in all the ways it used to cling to her like it was made for her and no one else. My hands trembled as they smoothed over the fabric, my fingertips skimming the delicate spaghetti straps, the soft sheen of the silk, the open back that dipped low. It felt wrong and right all at once, wearing this. Like I was trespassing into a memory that didn’t belong to me but still clung to me like a second skin. My vision blurred, and I had to blink hard to clear the moisture pooling in my eyes. She lent it to me. I remember the way she smiled as she handed it over, the way she laughed and said, “You’ll look better in it than I ever could.” She was lying, of course. Stella lit up every room she walked into, and in this dress, she looked like a star. She lent it to me but I never got the chance to wear it. And I never got the chance to give it back. My chest tightened as I wrapped
Viviane ☩═✦═☩ Numbness. It wasn’t just a feeling, it was the absence of it, a void where something should have been. Like standing in the middle of a fire and not feeling the heat. It was the cruelest kind of punishment because it wasn’t pain—it was the loss of even that. I looked at him, the man I would’ve given everything for, the man I still would and felt the kind of emptiness that comes from feeling too much for too long. I loved him. I loved him so much it hurt. But that love had hollowed me out, until all that was left was this ache I couldn’t get rid of. It wasn’t that I stopped caring, I couldn’t even if I tried. He was still the one I’d die for, still the one I’d burn my entire world down for. But when I looked at him now, there was this cold, cruel distance between us, and I didn’t know if it was his fault or mine. I wanted to scream at him, shake him, make him see what he was doing to me. But instead, I just sat there, silent, staring at the man who still owned ev
Alessandro ☩══♛══☩ “Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice was barely audible. She leaned in, her forehead pressed against mine, “Why?” she repeated, “Well... because you did it to me. You took everything I hated about myself and made me live in it, drown in it. And now?” her hands slid up to cup my face, her lips just brushing my ear as she hissed, “It’s your turn.” I clenched my teeth, fighting the instinct to lash out at her, to tell her to stop, to end this insanity. But I knew if I said a word, if I gave her even an inch, this madness would spiral out of control. I needed to get it over with once and for all. “You don’t like this, do you?” she murmured, her voice honey-sweet, she took another drag, the ember glowing bright, and then tilted her head, exhaling the smoke directly at my neck. It clung to my skin, suffocating, and I fought the urge to jerk away. I kept my eyes fixed on the wall, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a reaction. Her breath was warm agai