That mark had meant something to him. Something he had never explained, Now it stared back at her from the world Damon ruled.She swallowed hard, forcing her voice steady. “That symbol. What does it mean?”Damon’s grin was sharp. “So you noticed. Clever girl.”He leaned back, one arm draped lazily across the seat. “It’s the crest of a brotherhood older than the nation you live in. They trained us. Shaped us. Gave us the power your precious husband now wields. Adrian Kane was one of theirs once.”Selene’s breath hitched. “You’re lying.”Damon’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Ask him yourself, if he ever tells you the truth.”Her chest tightened. Every unanswered question, every silence in their marriage, every night Adrian had stared at the broken heirloom like it was bleeding him dry… suddenly loomed larger than life.Adrian hadn’t just been keeping military secrets. He had been hiding a past bound in blood and serpents.Miles away, Adrian stood in the wreckage of the Carter estate,

Her breath tore out of her in a ragged whisper. “No… no, this is impossible.”Damon’s smirk widened, satisfaction curling at the edges of his mouth. “Is it? Or is it exactly what you’ve always suspected? That your perfect, polished family wasn’t built on clean hands?”Selene shook her head violently. “My father hated Adrian. He despised him. He”“He despised what Adrian represented,” Damon interrupted smoothly.“A mirror. A reminder of the life he abandoned. Of the blood oath he broke. The Brotherhood doesn’t forgive betrayal, Selene. And neither do I.”Her stomach twisted, bile burning her throat. “You’re lying.”Damon gestured to the soldier who had brought the photograph. The man pulled down the collar of his shirt, revealing the same serpent-and-sword brand carved into his skin.“This mark binds us in ways you cannot comprehend,” Damon said. “And your father bore it once too. Ask yourself why he never told you. Why he spat on Adrian while hiding his own sins.”The room spun. Memor

Rain fell hard over the east docks, slicking the wood with a sheen that mirrored the crimson serpent painted on the pier’s warehouse doors.Adrian crouched in the shadows, rain dripping from the brim of his hood, his eyes locked on the fortress Damon had made of the safehouse. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter with mechanical precision, their rifles glinting under the floodlights.Beside him, Vivienne whispered, “You’re outnumbered three to one. Storming in will get you killed.”Adrian’s jaw clenched, his breath steady despite the fury boiling inside. “If Selene’s in there, I don’t care if it’s thirty to one.”Vivienne’s gaze softened for a fraction of a second, then hardened again. “At least let me flank the east side. Create a distraction. You’ll need more than bullets to take Locke alive.”Adrian’s silence was answer enough.Inside the warehouse, Selene sat rigid in her chair, her wrists bound with cord, her eyes burning from the relentless hours of Damon’s taunts. The rain’s dr

Rain battered the roof of the warehouse, the storm outside a mirror of the chaos within.Adrian’s gun never wavered, but his eyes, those steel-gray eyes Selene once trusted more than her own heartbeat, were closed, his chest rising and falling like a man standing on the edge of a cliff.Then his voice came. Low. Rough. Final.“I killed him.”Selene’s blood froze. Her throat went dry, the storm’s roar muffled by the thunder of those three words.Her hands shook violently in Damon’s grip. “Killed… who?”Adrian’s eyes opened, and she saw the truth she had begged for, the truth he had buried for years.“Your brother,” he said, each syllable a stone dropped into her chest. “Marcus.”The name tore through her like a blade. Marcus. Her family’s golden son. The one whose death had shattered her parents, whose absence had poisoned every room in their home.Her knees buckled, a sob ripping from her throat.“You…” Her voice cracked. “You killed my brother?”Damon’s laughter exploded through the

The muzzle of the gun wavered, but only barely. Selene’s finger curled tighter, her breath coming in shallow, broken bursts.Adrian froze where he stood, blood streaming from his side, his body battered but unbowed. His weapon lay forgotten at his feet. His eyes locked on hers, not with fear, but with the kind of raw, aching plea that made her chest seize.“Selene,” he said, voice low, steady despite the storm breaking inside him. “Look at me. Just me. Not him. Not the past. Me.”Damon’s laughter crackled like lightning through the tension. He staggered to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth, his grin splitting his bruised face.“Do it,” he hissed, circling her like a wolf scenting victory. “Pull the trigger, Selene. End the lie. End the man who killed your brother and shattered your life.”Selene’s arms trembled, the pistol jerking slightly between them both. Her tears blurred everything, but the weight of the gun felt heavier than her entire body.“Stop” she gasped. “Both of you,