Landon was seething with unbridled anger, a fiery storm raging inside him, yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of vindication. The rage boiled in his chest like molten metal, but beneath it, there was a quiet affirmation that his instincts about Trixie had been correct all along.He knew with absolute certainty that Trixie would never attack another student without cause. She wasn’t the kind of child who lashed out carelessly. For her to reach a breaking point meant that something truly provoking had been done. In this case, being insulted so cruelly and without restraint was more than enough reason. To Landon, it was justification.Normally, he would have disapproved of her getting into fights, especially with children who hadn’t laid a finger on her. But this situation was different. He understood exactly where her fury came from and why she reacted the way she did. Landon himself had endured years of ridicule and insults when he was younger. He knew firstha

Adam took a deep, steadying breath, forcing his racing heart to calm. The cool night air filled his lungs and escaped in a long exhale, misting faintly in the dim light as he centered himself. He was ready to proceed with his mission—a mission that had been completely derailed by the chaos at George Anderson’s estate. The explosion, the panicked guests, and the sudden disappearance of the patriarch had turned what should have been a precise operation into a volatile mess.“So, how do I find George… and the pricks who did—” Adam muttered, his voice low and sharp. He turned to the left, eyes narrowing toward the distant silhouette of George Anderson’s sprawling mansion. But before he could finish his thought, a harsh voice sliced through the darkness behind him.“Who the hell are you?!” a gruff voice barked, the sound echoing across the quiet grounds.Adam froze, every muscle tensing. His assassin’s instincts screamed caution.“Did you not hear me?!” the voice pressed, louder now, the e

Jack panicked the instant he realized he had been caught. His heart slammed against his ribs like a trapped bird, and his breath caught in his throat. The blood drained from his face as fear gripped him.“I—I assure you that this isn’t what it looks—” Jack began shakily, desperate to explain himself. But before he could finish, Adam’s hand clamped over his face like an iron vise. With terrifying ease, Adam lifted Jack clean off of Stella.“Can it, kid,” Adam growled, his voice deep and unrelenting. “I saw what you did with my own eyes. You didn’t show her a shred of mercy when you thought you were alone and could get away with it—so don’t start expecting yours to be a different case!”Jack’s entire body went cold. Sweat prickled along his hairline, and soon he was sweating bullets, his shirt sticking uncomfortably to his skin.“L-look, man, please… please forget about what happened,” Jack stammered, his words tumbling over themselves. “We’ve all made mistakes, and this—this is clearly

“Don’t you think you’re going a little too fast?” asked the petite brunette, her voice edged with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Her arms were wrapped firmly around the rider’s torso, her fingers clutching his leather jacket as she sat snugly on the back of the motorcycle. The night wind whipped her hair into a wild frenzy, the strands glinting faintly under the pale moonlight.“Fast?!” the confident rider echoed, his tone laced with teasing bravado. “You think this is fast? Oh, baby, I can go even faster!” A daring grin stretched across his face as he twisted the throttle, causing the bike’s engine to roar louder and the scenery to blur even more.“Baby!!” she cried out, half in fear and half in exhilaration, her heart hammering in sync with the powerful rumble beneath her. The cool night air stung her cheeks as the world around them became a smear of passing trees and asphalt.The rider chuckled, clearly amused by her conflicted reaction. “I thought you loved it when I go

“What?!” The rider’s voice cracked with disbelief as he quickly whipped his head toward his girlfriend, his eyes wide in shock. “You… you want me to what?!”His girlfriend, standing tensely beside him, cast a cautious glance at Adam through the corner of her eye. That single look was enough to see the way Adam’s once-threatening aura seemed to ease slightly. Her heart fluttered with a quiet, almost invisible sigh of relief. She realized, with certainty, that her small interjection had just defused a potentially bloody confrontation. Her subtle choice of words had essentially saved her boyfriend’s life—though he remained completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation.Still unaware of how close he had come to disaster or of what his girlfriend had just done for him, the rider furrowed his brow and demanded again, more impatiently this time, “Why on earth would you ask me to listen to that guy—to that asshole—and agree to sell my motorcycle?!” His tone dripped with incredulity and