The sirens were not part of the port’s normal noise.Dock Nine was loud on any given day. Cranes groaned as they lifted containers. Forklifts beeped while reversing. The sharp scent of crude oil mixed with sea air and hot metal. Workers shouted numbers and directions over the sound of engines. It was controlled chaos, and Selene walked through it like she owned every bolt in the steel.The black sedan rolled to a smooth stop near the loading platform of the Iron Meridian. The massive ship towered over the dock, its hull painted deep gray, its name stamped boldly across the side. It was not just a ship. It was status.Ethan stepped out first this time, scanning the area automatically. Selene followed, calm and precise, her heels striking the concrete with quiet authority. The moment she appeared, conversations shifted.“Madam Selene is here,” one supervisor whispered.“Of course she is,” another replied quickly. “This shipment is huge.”Heads turned. Workers straightened. Table

Selene’s arm jerked as the officers pulled, and the scrape of her heel against the concrete sounded louder than the sirens.“Enough,” Ethan said, but it wasn’t a plea this time. It was a switch being flipped.The inspector’s mouth curled. “Hold her,” he ordered. “And someone get this man out of the way.”One officer shoved Ethan’s shoulder. “Move, daft man,” he muttered.Ethan didn’t argue. He moved.He moved fast.A dock worker gasped. “What is he doing?”Orson’s voice came out thin. “Oh God… Ethan—”Ethan’s hand shot out and caught the officer’s wrist, not with a struggle, but with a clean grip that stopped the arm like it hit a wall. The officer tried to yank free, and Ethan turned the wrist slightly. The baton fell from the officer’s hand and clattered on the ground.“Let go!” the officer barked.Ethan’s voice stayed calm. “You grabbed the wrong woman,” he said.He stepped in, elbow tight, and drove a short strike into the officer’s chest. It wasn’t a crushing hit. It was a disab

The inspector’s phone shook in his hand like it was alive. He stared at the screen, then at Ethan, then back at the screen again, as if looking twice could change what it said. Around him, the other officers were doing the same thing with wide eyes, pale faces and pride draining out of them in real time.“This… this can’t be real,” Sergeant Malik Rowe muttered with a hoarse voice. He held his phone up like evidence. “Termination? Immediate dismissal? Sir, that’s… that’s career death.”Ethan didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. “You should have thought about your careers before you grabbed my wife in a disrespectful manner,” he said, staring at the inspector like he was measuring whether to speak again or end this with silence.Officer Trent Hale took a shaky step forward, both hands open. “Sir, please,” he said quickly. “We didn’t know. We swear we didn’t know who you were. They told us it was routine. They said she would come quietly.”Selene stood beside Ethan, adjusting her

Ethan’s stare stayed on Selene as if his eyes could force her to flinch.Around them, Dock Nine held its breath. The dock workers stood in loose knots near the crates and rusted rails, pretending not to watch while watching anyway. The dismissed officers kept their distance, uncertain now, like dogs that had lost their owner. Even the inspector looked smaller, like his own uniform had begun to reject him.Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Tell me that’s a lie,” he said.Selene didn’t blink. “Which part?”“The part where they call you a witch,” Ethan said, each word was controlled, but strained. “The part where they say you’re tied to gruesome deaths.”Selene tilted her head slightly. “Do you think I practice rituals?”Ethan’s mouth opened, then closed again. He hated how that question landed, clean and sharp, as if she had flipped the blade and offered him the handle. He felt the eyes of the dock on his back, and it made the air feel hotter.“I asked you first,” he said. “Say no.”Selene’s l

Casper’s mouth stayed open for a second too long, like his mind refused to accept the sound that had just entered his office.“My daughter?” he said again, slower this time, as if saying it differently could make it less true. His eyes moved from Ethan to Selene, then back to Ethan, searching for a crack in their faces that would prove this was a mistake.For a second, he almost expected Ethan to laugh and say this was all a misunderstanding. But Ethan’s expression did not change. There was no hesitation, no uncertainty. Just quiet certainty. That frightened Casper more than anger would have.Ethan didn’t blink. He stood with the same calm he had used on the dock, but the calm wasn’t gentle. It was controlled pressure.Selene remained beside him, silent, her posture clean, like she was allowing Ethan to speak because this was his line to draw.She did not defend herself. She did not interrupt. That restraint told Casper something else — this conversation had already happened between