The moment the mansion agent drove away, Dylan stood at the entrance of Lakeheights Mansion with the keys resting between his fingers, staring at the enormous building before him with an expression that was difficult to hide. Even after everything he had experienced over the past few days, including suddenly becoming a billionaire, acquiring luxury properties and vehicles, and watching his bank balance rise to a level he once could not even imagine, standing in front of a mansion of this magnitude still felt surreal.He inserted the key into the front door and pushed it open.The first thing that greeted him was silence.Not the ordinary silence of an empty room, but the kind of deep, almost unnatural quiet that seemed to stretch through every corner of the massive residence. Dylan stepped inside and slowly looked around, taking in the grand entrance hall, the polished marble floor, the elegant staircase leading toward the upper levels, and the enormous chandelier hanging above him.H

By the time Dylan arrived at the hospital, the sun had already begun sinking behind the buildings surrounding the medical center, casting long shadows across the parking lot. He parked his car and immediately headed inside. The hospital corridors were quieter than he expected, although nurses and doctors still moved between rooms while visitors spoke quietly among themselves. Dylan barely paid attention to his surroundings as he made his way toward Luke's room. Ryan had already sent him the room number. When Dylan finally reached the door, he pushed it open without knocking. "Look who finally decided to show up." Ryan was sitting beside the bed, his arms folded across his chest, while Luke lay against several pillows with both legs immobilized. Dylan stopped for a moment. Seeing Luke awake brought a strange mixture of relief and anger. He had already seen the reports describing the severity of Luke's injuries, but seeing his friend lying there made everything feel much more r

By the time Dylan left the hospital, the sky had already grown dark. He drove through the evening traffic toward Lakeheights Mansion, but his mind remained fixed on Luke's account of the attack. The image of his friend lying helplessly on the hospital bed refused to leave him. The fake basketball practice bothered him most. Someone had deliberately made Luke believe there was practice when there wasn't. Someone had gotten him to the facility while ensuring he would be alone, and then several men had appeared and attacked him. It was too organized to feel random. And although Dylan had no evidence connecting Brandon to what happened, the similarities between Luke's assault and the attacks he had experienced himself continued to gnaw at him. By the time he reached Lakeheights, however, he had decided there was nothing he could do tonight. The mansion greeted him with the same silence as before. Dylan entered, locked the door behind him, and dropped his keys onto the table near t

Hailey had checked the time on her phone so many times that she had eventually stopped counting. She sat alone inside the private reservation room at Aurelia Table, occasionally glancing toward the door whenever she heard footsteps in the hallway. The restaurant had already made her feel slightly out of place the moment she arrived, but the private room made the feeling even stronger. Everything around her was elegant. The soft lighting reflected off the polished table, the furnishings were far more luxurious than anything she normally encountered, and even the quiet atmosphere felt different from the busy dining area outside. Yet Hailey barely noticed any of it. Her attention remained fixed on the door. Nightwalker, was supposed to arrive soon. The thought alone made her stomach flutter. She had spent so much time thinking about him in her head that meeting him in person suddenly felt strangely intimidating. She knew his personality, or at least the version of it he had s

Dylan and Hailey left Aurelia Table together, but the moment they stepped outside, Hailey's attention immediately turned toward the road. Her mind was still focused entirely on her parents, and she instinctively reached for her phone while looking for a taxi that could take them to the restaurant as quickly as possible. Before she could make the call, however, Dylan continued walking toward the parking lot. Hailey stopped and looked at him in confusion. "Where are you going?" Dylan glanced over his shoulder. "Come with me." "But we need to get a cab." "Just follow me." There was such certainty in his voice that Hailey hesitated before eventually following him. She still had no idea where he was taking her, and given everything she had just heard from her mother, she didn't have the patience to figure it out. They soon reached the parking area, where several expensive vehicles were parked beneath the lights. Hailey barely paid attention to them. Her parents were in