The apartment smelled of chocolate and perfume the evidence of what he had lost and what he had witnessed. The bouquet in his hand was crushed beyond recognition. Petals scattered across the kitchen tiles like pieces of my dignity. He didn’t cry. Not anymore.The room felt smaller than it should have.Not because of the space but because of the silence inside it.Xavier sat still, his fingers loosely wrapped around the glass in his hand. The drink had gone warm, untouched for longer than he realized.Crying was for men who lost once.He had lost everything in his plain life .She had left ,leaving a void full of emptiness in his heart . He stared at the untouched chocolates on the counter. They looked almost innocent. A pathetic offering from a man who thought love could be fixed with sugar and flowers.Sleep had abandoned him. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard her moans echoing down the hallway. He saw his brother’s smirk. It didn’t feel real or seem real it would take tim

I reached for the contract. And that's when my phone buzzed an unknown number.A message. "Welcome to the family, Xavier." Another message followed immediately."By the way… your brother sends his regards." My blood ran cold.Who were these people that knew Liam.Before I could think further, another notification appeared. An image. It loaded slowly, And when it finally cleared my heart stopped. It was taken from outside my apartment from across the street.A zoomed-in photo of me standing by the window.Watching the rain.Another notification came from a different number ."You're being watched " l looked out the window to see movement in the opposite apartment.Xavier zoomed in on the picture again.The angle....whoever took it wanted him to notice. A slow smile crept onto his lips.“Who sent this, Pakhan…?”He leaned back in the chair, the faint glow of his laptop reflecting in his grey eyes.“Another test…?” His jaw tightened.“Or is this Liam?”The thought lingered longer than he

Three days passed quietly. Too quietly.Liam didn't suspect anything. He moved normally, laughed normally, lived normally.That was the problem. Men were most vulnerable when they believed they had already won.I watched from a parked car across the warehouse district. Night again but this time I wasn't observing blindly.This time, I was designing the outcome.My phone vibrated once.Unknown: Positions ready.It was her. I didn't reply.Headlights cut through the darkness as trucks rolled toward the docks the shipment Pakhan had spoken about. Security looked relaxed. Routine movements. Routine checks.Exactly as planned.Inside those crates were not just weapons. They were bait. And predators never recognized a trap when it smelled like opportunity.A second car pulled into the shadows across the road.Liam stepped out. Diego followed.I watched them through the windshield, unmoving. They spoke briefly before his men began moving quick and organized. They’d done this before. They tho

A week had passed since the funeral. The city had swallowed the echoes of his grandfather's death, but Xavier hadn't. Every property, every account, every thread of the family empirelegal and illegal had shifted to his name. Even the girl's future was his responsibility. The weight of it was intoxicating, a power that hummed in his veins, crawling into every decision, every glance, every movement. He walked through the newly acquired office tower as though it were already his kingdom.And in a way, it was."Security protocols are incomplete," he muttered under his breath, scanning a room full of busy employees who glanced nervously at the man now sitting at the top of their hierarchy. Rushing to their posts when they saw him come in . Some whispered. Some kept silent. Some feared him outright. All obeyed.But none mattered more than her safety .She sat at the top presidential corner office, the glass walls offering a panoramic view of the city below, unaware he was watching through