AVERY’S POV:I was tempted to tell her the truth. To say, "Your father did this. He’s trying to erase me, piece by piece, until I don’t recognize myself anymore." But I couldn’t. So I smiled, forcing lightness into my tone. "I went to the salon and got it done," I lied. She tilted her head, considering me. "I want to get my hair done too," she said thoughtfully. "So I can be pretty like you." Her words struck a sad chord inside me. If only she knew how much of myself I was losing with every change Axel forced on me. But looking at her now—bright-eyed, full of trust—I couldn’t bring myself to shatter the moment. "Maybe one day, darling," I said softly, running my fingers through her ponytail. Maybe one day, when I was free, I'll go back to my natural hair."You don’t need to change a thing, Sea," I told her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "You’re already perfect just the way you are." Considering my words, she gave a satisfied nod. "Okay! But if I ever do change
AXEL’S POV: No name. No number. Just an address scribbled on a card—my only clue to my destination. And yet, I was placing not only my fate but also that of the pilot in its hands as we flew through endless sky. This was our second day in the air, and I couldn’t help but wonder—just where the hell were we heading? It felt like the edge of the world. After the incident, there was no more room for hesitation. I had made up my mind. Sea wanted this, and I had to give it to her. Refusing her any longer wasn’t an option. She had already lost too much. Ryan, the one person she was comfortable with, had been sent away to handle business. That left Avery. The only other person Sea clung to like a lifeline. I had given strict instructions—let Avery settle in naturally, with Baron as the only security presence checking in from time to time. But I didn’t need constant reports to know what was happening. I had eyes everywhere. I saw everything. And what I saw… It was almost unnatural,
AXEL’S POV:I stepped out of the helicopter, my boots hitting the ground with a dull thud. The moment I did, an unsettling silence pressed in around me. The wind barely stirred the brittle grass, and the only sound was the distant hum of the helicopter blades slowing to a stop. The GPS had led us here, but this couldn’t be the right place. It didn’t make sense. The coordinates pointed to an active location, yet everything around me was abandoned—rundown houses with shattered windows, rusted fences barely standing, and trees stripped bare like skeletons. No movement. No sound. No sign of life. My jaw tightened. Was this a mistake? Should I turn back? The thought lingered, but I shoved it aside. I wasn’t the kind of man who retreated. If this was a setup, then so be it—I would deal with it the way I always did. I turned to the pilot. “Stay with the chopper. Keep it ready.” He nodded, and I moved. I slid a knife into the holster at my ankle, checked my gun before tucking it away
AXEL’S POV:I staggered to my feet, my knees bracing for whatever the hell this was. Her eyes rolled back, turning pure, blinding white. Her hair was now all black falling around her shoulders as the candlelight extinguished all at once, plunging the room into flickering darkness. "The problem you face," she began, her voice echoing in ways it shouldn’t, "would have been easy to solve. Forgivable, even. But because you do not know forgiveness—" She smiled, and it was vicious. "Your redemption is nearly impossible." The air pulsed. The room shook. She sounded possessed. No, she was possessed. "You have killed the innocent. A soul without sin. And so, you are cursed." My blood turned to ice. I squared my shoulders. "Cursed?" I scoffed. "By who?" She didn’t answer. Instead, her voice deepened, layered with something ancient. "The circle around your heart will never break—unless you find a virgin, one pure in heart, to love you earnestly, and then pray to the God you do
AVERY’S POV:Routine had become my safe space—predictable, comfortable, and yet, in the quiet moments, I felt something creeping in. Restlessness. A hollow kind of boredom. I told myself I liked this life, this peace, but deep down, I knew what was missing. Axel. It wasn’t just his presence—it was the way he made the world feel more alive. The way everything around him burned with danger and excitement. And yet, it had been over a week with no sign of him or Ryan. Nothing. I told myself not to care. I wasn’t his wife, wasn’t obligated to worry. But the silence stretched too long, pressing against my chest like a weight I refused to acknowledge. Instead, I poured myself into the people still here—Sea, Baron, even Katie and her mute entourage who communicated mostly through stiff nods. Sea, especially, had become my shadow. My best friend. We spent hours in the kitchen, making a mess of Axel’s pristine counters, flour coating our faces as we experimented with recipes she found
AVERY’S POV:Her words touched a nerve, and my chest grew tight as she repeated calling me mom—so naturally, as if the words had been waiting inside her all along, just waiting for the right moment to be spoken. I knelt beside her, helping distribute the small gifts I had picked out. Baron had taken me shopping without a single question, letting me pick whatever I thought Sea might need. He didn’t make me feel like a prisoner, didn’t hover over my every move like the others. With him, I had a sliver of freedom, something I hadn’t had in years. It was strange—liberating, yet unsettling, like I had forgotten how to exist outside of someone else’s control. As we handed out the last of the gifts, Sea beamed up at me. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For what?” “For coming.” I brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Always.” Time slipped away as I observed Sea effortlessly connecting with the other children. Several parents approached me, beaming with admiration, and complimented m
AXEL’S POV:I had eyes and ears everywhere, so the moment I left that godforsaken pit of horror, I tracked Ryan down. We flew out immediately, landing on the outskirts of his location, though I knew full well that his attackers would’ve already been alerted to our arrival. They’d be watching, waiting. The sky was burning red from the fires, thick columns of smoke rolling toward the heavens like the battlefield itself was screaming. The stench of gunpowder clogged my throat, mixing with the iron tang of blood that had long since stopped fazing me. Bullets tore through the air, whizzing past with deadly precision, chipping the concrete walls of the fortified mansion ahead. Ryan crouched behind a wrecked car, his knuckles white around his rifle. His men—what was left of them—were taking cover behind whatever they could find: bodies, debris, smoldering remains of vehicles. The battlefield looked like a goddamn war zone. I stormed over, firing off a few rounds before ducking beside h
AXEL’S POV:The battle was supposed to be over. For seven days, we had fought through hell, clearing every one of Bruno’s strongholds, cutting through his defenses like a relentless storm. We were exhausted—our clothes tattered, covered in soot, sweat, and the blood of men who hadn’t been fast enough to survive. Our bodies ached from sleepless nights and countless injuries, but there was relief in knowing it was done. Bruno was dead. His empire was dust. Or so we thought. Our sole means of escape, our ticket home, was now nothing more than twisted wreckage.I had no time for arguments. The ambush was perfectly timed. Whoever was left in Bruno’s command wasn’t just throwing bodies at us; they were executing a planned counterattack, waiting for the moment we dropped our guard. We were only four now—me, Ryan, Devon, and one other. Our clothes were shredded, burned in some places from close encounters with grenades. Blood had dried in patches on our skin, most of it not even ours.
AVERY’S POV:"If I could, I'd kill London a second time," Axel growled, his voice gravel-coated and bitter. "She was a traitor. A whore. Imagine the woman I loved, bent over for the Don of a rival cartel like a common street slut. Not just once—but again and again, even when she was carrying my child."He wasn’t yelling. That made it worse. His voice was calm, even fond in a twisted way, as if the memory had hardened into something precious—just not in the way love is supposed to be.His lip curled, disgust tightening every word. “She didn’t just betray me. She betrayed her father. Our family.”I stood frozen, every inch of me recoiling. My mouth went dry. Axel’s rage was volcanic—rising, spilling, burning everything in its path.“At first, I had my suspicions,” he said, almost too calmly. “But I dismissed them. Turned a blind eye. You know why?” He scoffed and looked away, his jaw twitching. “Because I loved that loose hole.”He laughed, but there was no joy in it—only the sound of a
AVERY’S POV:Axel coughed violently, blood splattering the stone beneath him. His limbs were twitching now—shock setting in. His breaths were ragged like each one hurt more than the last. The kind of pain that looks more animal than human. Still, he tried to speak."Devon…” he managed, gasping between words. “How… did I ruin your life? You… you pledged allegiance to me. Swore on your mother’s life. You said I saved you. You—”“Oh, please,” Devon cut him off, sneering. “I told you what you wanted to hear. You’re so arrogant. So hungry to be worshipped. That story about the boy you saved? It was real. I just found him. Killed him. Took his place.”The courtyard stilled.Devon’s voice turned cold. “He was a drunk, anyway. I did the world a favor.”My blood chilled. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.Axel’s face twitched. Whether from pain or betrayal, I didn’t know. His hands were slick with blood now, trying weakly to press down on his wounds. His lips quivered, mumbling words I could
AVERY’S POV:I was drenched in blood. It had soaked into the white of my temple robe, turned my hands sticky, and clung to my skin like guilt. Akira’s body—now wrapped in linen, still and pale—lay in front of me. Her death had left a hollow in my chest that no scream could fill. I cried until I couldn’t anymore, until the pain became dry and raw like my throat. She had just begun to teach me how to live through this pregnancy, how to breathe again in a world that felt so suffocating. And just like that, she was gone. Snatched from me as quickly as she'd come.The others sat quietly around her body. No chants. No songs. Just silence thick enough to choke on.Then came the chaos.Gunshots. Screams. The kind of terror that twists reality in half. My head jerked toward the sound, and my heart thudded in my throat. I scrambled to my feet, wiping at my tears, suddenly alert."What’s happening?" I asked the nearest person—a small Orion boy, no older than eight, trembling beside a pillar."T
AVERY’S POV:I stopped counting the days. Time moved like molasses, thick and slow, as we lived under the constant shadow of fear. We were caged like animals—patrolled, watched, starved of dignity. Devon wasn’t the man I remembered. Whatever light used to be in his eyes had long been smothered by something cruel and cold. The once-easy smile he wore like a badge was now replaced by a stone-hard jaw and the hollow stare of a man long lost to the dark.He used to be kind.Now, he hit my brothers for speaking too loud.But I didn’t hate Devon.I hated the man who turned him into this. The one who gave the orders. Who turned my protector into a monster.Axel.I couldn’t fight back. I didn’t have the strength. And worse—I’d brought this ruin to my people. The earth was ransacked, torn apart by metal and greed. The same land that once glistened under the sun was now a wounded body, bled dry by machines. They dug up every corner, searching for a 'precious mineral' as I overheard one of the g
AXEL’S POV:From where the car stopped, a jet was already waiting on the tarmac, beneath the pale morning sky. Less than two hours later, I was in our new location—a fortress tucked deep into the outskirts, reinforced and brimming with security. I showered, shaved, trimmed the unruly beard. Cedric stitched the gash on my brow and reset two of my ribs without a complaint. My knuckles were still bruised, but the fresh set of clothes—black shirt, tactical trousers, leather boots—made me feel human again. Strange how luxury used to feel normal. Now, even clean water felt sacred.Cedric didn’t speak much, but I could tell from his eyes that he knew we were standing in the middle of a long war—and that everything, even moments like this, had consequences. He’d been brought by Baron, apparently to save Ryan. Since then, he hadn’t stopped working. He patched, treated, and kept morale up without asking for thanks. That alone earned him more of my respect.Ryan had updated me as soon as we lan
AXEL’S POV:A cold pressure squeezed my chest, but I forced it down. I couldn’t afford to think. Not now.I looked at him—his blood pooling beneath him, face a mess of terror and agony. He was nearly gone, and I was already losing interest.With one swift motion, I sliced off his dick.Then, without hesitation, I pried open his jaw and hacked off his tongue.His legs came next—each cut as clean as the last, each one a punishment, a lesson, a warning. I left him writhing in his own blood and filth, a hollowed-out shell of the man who once smirked in my face."You call those torture games?" I said, stepping over him. "Come learn from me."Then I drove the blade into his right eye. A sickening squelch echoed through the stillness.The men around me flinched. Some looked away. Others stared in stunned silence."Take me to my daughter," I said, my voice flat, final.Ryan stepped forward, nodding once, his expression unreadable. He gestured toward a blacked-out SUV idling nearby."You need
AXEL’S POV:"She's fine," Baron said, steady and sure. "She's with Katie and our men at the safe house."Relief punched through me like cold air after drowning."Where the hell have you been, Baron? How did they even escape?"He exhaled, like he’d been holding the memory in too long. "Boss, it wasn’t easy. When the first explosion hit, I went straight for Sea. Found her curled up in a corner of her room, shaking. Wrapped her in a blanket, threw her over my shoulder, and ran. On the way out, we ran into Ryan—he was barely hanging on, bleeding like hell, but still breathing. He pushed us toward the escape tunnel. We managed to gather Katie and a few others. But before we could get back for the last group..." He paused. "The whole place went up in flames."My heart staggered in my chest. Sea was alive. That was all I needed to hear. That was enough to breathe again, enough to fight again.We’d made it outside now. Armed, masked men formed a silent wall around the perimeter. I stayed aler
AXEL’S POV:When thoughts went to the people that mattered in life, I tried to brace myself for that clean slice that would end it all. Or worse—he might do it messy, on purpose. Just to draw it out. Just to hear me scream.My mind found my mother first. I hoped she was in a better place, waiting for me, arms open. Maybe death wasn’t an end. Maybe it was our reunion. And maybe, just maybe, I'd recognize my father too. But guilt didn't let me rest there. It crawled up my throat, settled in my chest. Laurent. I should’ve made time for him. I should’ve asked questions, cared more, listened better. And what about the others—the lives I took? Would they be waiting on the other side too, not with open arms, but fists and rage?"Forgive me, Sea," I whispered in my head. "Wherever you are."I breathed in deep, slow. Vaughan was taking his damn time, drawing out the moment like it was some kind of art. That was the thing about death. Sometimes, the silence before it was louder than the act it
AXEL’S POV:"Not only did I think you were stupid," I began, the taste of blood already pooling at the edge of my tongue, "you're archaic." I kept my eye away from Vaughan. "What’s this? The 1980s?""Seal his mouth. We're about to start filming," he snapped without missing a beat.They pushed me to my knees, the cold bite of concrete pressing into my skin. My hands were tied behind me, and my neck was bared like an offering. An execution. The kind you only read about or see in cartel footage—until it's your turn."Axel, let me tell you before I end you," Vaughan sneered, circling me like a wolf. "You were powerful. But you were also blinded—by pride, by selfishness. You were so easy to manipulate. Infiltrating your organization? Child’s play. Turning you against your second-in-command? A masterpiece."My jaw tightened. What was he driving at?"It was never Ryan, Axel." He crouched down to my level, voice low like a lullaby laced with poison. "This entire game was engineered to divide