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Chapter 32: The Lines in the Sand
The penthouse was silent except for the faint hum of the rain against the glass.Ava sat on the edge of the leather sofa, the flash drive resting in her palm like a loaded gun. Liam stood near the desk, sleeves rolled back, every line of his body rigid.Neither of them moved for a long time.“Last chance to walk away,” Liam said finally, his voice low, deliberate. “You plug that in, you can’t unsee it.”Ava met his eyes. “That’s the point.”He exhaled sharply, then crossed to the desk and slid his laptop toward her. The drive clicked into place with a muted sound that seemed too small for how heavy it felt.The screen went black for three seconds, then filled with a single folder. No labels. No dates. Just a symbol — a jagged black crown.Liam’s jaw flexed. “He’s sending a message.”Ava double-clicked.The folder bloomed into dozens of files — audio logs, video footage, scanned contracts, each stamped with a date ranging from eight years ago to last month. She opened the first video.
Chapter 31: The Breaking Point
It started with a note.No name, no signature. Just five words written in neat block letters:“Come alone. Trust yourself.”The location was scrawled beneath — an old riverside café that had been shuttered for years, its windows boarded, its door chained from the inside. Ava stood across the street now, her coat pulled tight against the bite of wind coming off the water. The rain had stopped hours ago, but the air still smelled of it — damp wood, rust, and something faintly electric.She shouldn’t have come.Every part of her training, every instinct Liam had drilled into her, said never walk into the lion’s den. But maybe she needed to know if the lion was already inside her home.The lock on the café door had been broken recently; the chain hung loose, one end bent at an awkward angle. She slipped inside.It was dim, the only light coming from a single lamp on one of the corner tables. And there he was.The scar was the first thing she saw — the sharp, deliberate cut across his jaw
Chapter 30: The Man in the Photograph
The firelight from the penthouse hearth licked against Liam’s profile, sharpening the edges of his jaw, his cheekbones, the shadows under his eyes. The photograph was already in the flames, curling black at the edges, the scarred man’s face distorting and breaking apart.Ava stood a few feet away, arms wrapped loosely around herself. It should have felt final — the physical evidence destroyed, the ghost reduced to ash. But finality had a strange way of feeling empty.“He’s gone now,” Liam said without looking at her. His voice carried the kind of certainty meant to end the conversation. “Forget him.”Her gaze didn’t leave the fire. “And if I can’t?” she asked, her voice, sounding far away. “You can,” he said, more firmly this time. “You will.”The flames ate through the last sliver of the card. He stepped forward, watching until it crumbled into red embers. Ava wondered if he was trying to convince himself as much as her.When he finally turned, there was something in his expression
Chapter 29: The Photograph
The image burned in Ava’s palm like it was molten iron, searing through skin and bone until it settled somewhere deep in her chest.She didn’t even realize she’d stopped breathing until her heel shifted slightly, pressing into the base of her wineglass, and the faint crack of glass reached her ears. It was barely more than a whisper — but enough to snap her back into herself.Her gaze locked on the man in the photograph.Tall. Lean. A shadow of muscle under a tailored jacket.And the scar — sharp and deliberate — cutting across his jawline like a blade had claimed him and he’d survived just to spite it.But it was his smile that cut deepest. Dangerous. Amused. The same smile he’d worn the night he left her bleeding on the cold pavement while the city lights blurred above her. A smile that had followed her into her nightmares.“Impossible,” she breathed, her voice almost drowned by the pounding in her ears.Delilah’s voice came smooth as silk, but with the edge of a knife hidden in its
Chapter 28: The Invitation
The envelope was waiting for them on the counter when they woke.No courier, no knock, no cameras catching the delivery. It just appeared.This was the work of a professional, they both thought. And the perpetrators were not kidding at all. They were here for serious business. Liam stared at it like it might be a bomb. The paper was thick, ivory, expensive. The kind of stationery you used when you wanted someone to feel small just touching it.Ava didn’t need to open it to know. The handwriting alone — looping, deliberate, every stroke the perfect blend of elegance and threat — was Delilah’s. Dearest Ava,You always did shine brightest under my light. Join me tonight at the Glass House. No security, no Liam. Just you. Let’s see if you still know how to play.— D.She read it once. Twice. Then she slid it toward Liam without a word.His jaw worked. “She’s baiting you.”“Of course she is.” Ava poured herself coffee she didn’t drink. “And she knows I’ll come.”“No.” The word was flat,
Chapter 27: Old Scares in New Light
"Ava.”Her name from his lips was both a command and a warning. He wasn’t going to let it go. He never did when he thought she was hiding something dangerous.She turned from the window at last, and for a moment, the room felt too small for the two of them. Liam stood with his hands braced on the counter’s edge, eyes sharp, but there was something else there too — worry. The kind of worry that made her want to look anywhere but at him.“It’s not just her,” Ava said finally. “It’s what comes with her. The kind of trouble that makes even you look over your shoulder.”“I’ve faced worse.”She let out a humorless laugh. “You’ve faced enemies who wanted to win. Delilah doesn’t just want to win — she wants me gone. Erased. There’s a difference.”His jaw tightened. “What did she do to you?”A thousand images clawed up from the dark — the auction room, Julian Vale’s cold smile, Delilah’s whispered advice that wasn’t advice at all but the first nudge toward ruin. The night she’d realized her si
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