Derek's face went from red to purple in under three seconds. His mouth opened, closed, opened again, and when the words finally came out they were loud enough to rattle the gate."Poach?" Derek's voice cracked with indignation. "You think I'm trying to steal your wife? I came here to apologize for a brake failure and you're standing there accusing me of plotting against your marriage like some kind of cartoon villain?""Nobody said cartoon." Kyle kept his voice light. "I said interesting. You're the one who jumped to villain.""I am not plotting anything!" Derek grabbed the fruit basket off the step with both hands, his fingers crushing the woven edges. "I was looking out for an old friend who is clearly trapped in a toxic household with a man who treats women like pieces on a chess board. That is called being a decent human being, Kyle, something you clearly know nothing about.""And yet you drove a car directly into my SUV this afternoon." Kyle tilted his head. "Decent human beings

Mental Power advancement logged. Source: bond activation with registered wife Scarlett Reyes. Five star Dragon Sparrow. One night contact. Stored star stone energy converted through intimacy pathway. Two star threshold bypassed. Three star threshold achieved.Blake stared at Scarlett's name on the screen and something dark moved behind his eyes. Not anger. Something older. Something that had been sitting in the back of his skull for months, quiet and patient, waiting for the right moment to come forward.Scarlett Reyes. The five star Dragon Sparrow. The most powerful, most composed, most strategically valuable wife in Kyle Cole's entire wretched household. The one Blake had been watching since the day he moved in next door. The one he had been waiting for.She was supposed to leave. That was the plan. Kyle's cruelty would drive them apart, the divorce system would break the bond, and when Scarlett walked free, Blake would be there. Patient. Kind. Ready. A worthy husband with a clean r

"I was retaliating against Blake." Kyle chewed and spoke at the same time, his words slightly muffled. "Everything I said out there was aimed at him. Not at Bianca. Not at any of you. Blake showed up with his fake concern and his healing salve and his little speech about setting wives free, and I hit back. That's all.""I understand why you did it." Scarlett's golden eyes held his with their usual cold steadiness. "But Bianca does not hear the target. She hears the words. And the words sounded exactly like the man who sold Vivian to a black market trader for a handful of crystal cores."Kyle stopped chewing. The grapefruit went sour in his mouth."Her distrust is not personal," Scarlett continued, her voice dropping to something quieter. "It comes from real history. She watched the original Kyle strip Vivian down to nothing and throw her away like garbage. She watched him tell the rest of you that Vivian ran off on her own. She spent six days searching the fog zones while he sat in th

Kyle stood up from Bianca's bed and walked toward the door, feeling something close to relief for the first time since Blake's gate visit. The conversation had gone better than he expected. No blood. No broken furniture. Progress."Bianca." He turned in the doorway. "Thanks for hearing me out.""Don't make me regret it." Bianca stood from the desk chair and walked toward the door to close it behind him, her wet hair still dripping down the back of her black shirt.Kyle stepped into the hallway. Bianca reached for the door. And at exactly the wrong moment, Kyle's hand shot out to catch the frame because he had one more thing to say.His fingers missed the frame entirely and caught the edge of her towel instead.The towel, which Bianca had loosely rewrapped over her shirt as a hair cover after her shower, came off in Kyle's fist with a clean, swift pull that left Bianca standing in the doorway with wet hair suddenly falling across her bare shoulders and the neckline of her loose shirt d

Vivian watched the exchange with her amber eyes narrowed, clearly sensing that the basin story did not quite match the sounds she had heard through the ceiling. But she said nothing, which for Vivian meant she was saving it for later.Dinner finished without further incident. Hailey cleared the plates. Riley excused herself to check the perimeter. Bianca disappeared upstairs without a word. And Vivian, because the universe had a sense of humor and it was aimed squarely at Kyle's household, was on dish duty.She stood at the sink with her back to the room, scrubbing plates with the grim determination of a woman serving a sentence she did not deserve, grapefruit juice still faintly visible in the hair above her left ear.Kyle waited until the table was clear and the others had filtered out of the room. Then he walked to the center of the dining area and stood where everyone still in earshot could hear him."Before everyone disappears for the night," Kyle announced, his voice carrying th