Kael's POVThe rain hit hard enough to sting my skin and cold water soaked through my hoodie as I sped through the streets of Blackthorn City on my bike, ignoring the ache in my legs and the numbness in my fingers.Midnight deliveries always paid more and right now, I needed every extra dollar I could get because hospital bills didn’t care if you were exhausted.I tightened my grip on the handlebars as headlights flashed past me, expensive cars spraying dirty water across the road while rich people sat comfortably inside with heated seats and lives that probably didn’t involve choosing between food and medicine.“Lucky bastards.”, I muttered under my breath.My phone buzzed in my pocket again and I took it out to see that my mum was calling. I answered immediately.“Hey, Mom.”Her soft coughing filled the line before she spoke.“Kael, are you still working?”I forced a smile even though she couldn’t see it.“Nah. I’m relaxing on a beach somewhere.”“You shouldn’t joke while riding tha

Kael’s POVThe door burst open and three men stepped inside. They were on black suits, black gloves and had silenced guns. They were not cops or ordinary criminals either and they moved too calmly and professionally.The red emergency lights painted their faces like demons as terrified nurses backed away screaming.One of the gunmen scanned the room before his gaze landed on me and smiled making my blood turn to ice.“There he is.”Every instinct inside me screamed danger as my mother gripped my wrist harder.“RUN!”Gunfire exploded and the doctor beside me dropped instantly with blood spraying across the wall.The nurses screamed and everything turned chaotic.I ducked on pure instinct as bullets shattered the glass behind me.“What the hell!”A hand grabbed my hoodie suddenly and I turned to see it was my mother. Her terrified eyes locked onto mine.“There’s a back exit,” she gasped desperately. “Go!”“I’m not leaving you!”“You have to, now!”Another gunshot tore through the room a

Kael’s POVThe call ended and rain continued crashing around us beneath the train bridge, but it seemed like I couldn’t hear any of it as Lucien’s final words echoed through my skull over and over again.Did your mother ever mention the key?I slowly lowered the phone and Raven was already watching me carefully.“What did he say?”My throat felt strangely tight. “He asked about a key.”For the first time since meeting her, Raven’s expression actually shifted into real shock.“What kind of key?"“I don’t know.”“That’s impossible.”I snapped. “Well, welcome to my night because apparently everything is impossible!”My voice echoed beneath the bridge as I dragged both hands through my wet hair, trying to breathe through the chaos destroying my mind.This couldn’t be real, there was no way any of this could be real. Yesterday I was worried about hospital bills and Selena cheating on me but now armed killers were hunting me because of some underground empire connected to a father I never k

Kael’s POVWe didn’t stop running until my lungs felt shredded.Rain hammered the streets of Blackthorn City while Raven dragged me through narrow alleys and abandoned roads like she already knew every escape route in the city.The word “assassin” still echoed bitterly in my head as I glanced at her running ahead of me. She was cold, fast, deadly and apparently she was originally supposed to kill me.My shoulder burned with every movement while blood continued soaking through my hoodie and Marcus ran behind us surprisingly well for an older man.“How are you not tired?” I shouted breathlessly.“Fear doesn't make you tired!”We cut through another alley before Raven suddenly shoved open a rusted metal door hidden behind stacked crates.“Come inside.”I stumbled into darkness. The place smelled like dust, oil and old smoke and a warehouse abandoned by the look of it.Raven slammed the door shut behind us and locked it immediately.For the first time all night, there was silence, no gunf

Kael's POVThe warehouse fell completely silent after Lucien said those words.Father hired her himself.I stood there with a gun in my hand and blood soaking through my bandage while smoke still drifted from the barrel of Raven's weapon, and I couldn't process what I'd just heard.The words didn't fit anywhere logical in my brain. They kept sliding off the edges of my understanding like water off glass.Alessandro hired Raven. My father, a man I never met, a man who died the same night I learned he existed, had hired an assassin to kill me.I turned slowly toward Raven. She wasn't looking at me. She was staring at Lucien with the kind of cold fury that could strip paint from walls, her jaw locked tight and her fingers white around the grip of her gun.Whatever composure she normally carried like armor had cracked slightly and beneath it was something raw and dangerously close to shame which told me everything her silence refused to."Look at me," I said quietly but she didn't."Raven