LOGIN“Carlos, please meet the doctor and handle all the necessary papers” Raina said with a hoarse voice while still holding Angelo in her arms.Carlos nodded and walked with the Doctor to the other end of the hallway.“Do you think he understands?” Lisa suddenly asked from the side while looking at the sleeping Angelo.“Probably not…toddlers are dumb as fuck, so he probably doesn't understand” Bailey rolled her eyes and said without any emotion.Marcus angrily glared at her and she frowned with a confused expression. “What? Why are you giving me that look?” She asked him and this time, it was her friend Lisa that glared at her.Raina was pissed off but she wasn't in the mood to deal with Bailey's insensitive actions.“ That little boy just lost his father and he is now an orphan, that's something I expect you to know how painful it is” Pascal said from the side and his voice was cold.“You expect me to know? Why don't you just call me an orphan directly!” Bailey suddenly raised her voice
Deep in the woods, far from any main road, stood an old, abandoned building, its walls covered in thick moss, its windows boarded up with rotting wood that had long since given up trying to keep out the weather. Inside one of the back rooms, Maxton sat on a cold metal chair, his wrists bound tightly behind him with thick rope, two of Evan's men standing guard by the door, guns slung casually over their shoulders like they had no real concerns about him trying anything.His mind wasn't at peace. Not even close.He kept replaying the image of Xander in his head, over and over, like a wound he couldn't stop picking at. The blood soaking through his friend's shirt. The pale, gray color his face had turned. The way his eyes kept fluttering shut despite his clear effort to stay conscious as the men loaded him into the car to rush him to the hospital. Maxton had seen enough wounds in his lifetime, more than most men ever would, to know exactly what that kind of injury usually meant. Still,
The mocking voice still hung in the air when Raina's whole body went rigid with fury. Her hands curled into tight fists at her sides, her grief from moments ago twisting instantly into something hot and dangerous, burning away the tears that had been falling just seconds before."You," she hissed into the phone, her voice shaking with barely controlled rage. "You won't get a good death, Evan. You're going to beg for it. You're going to pray for death and it still won't come for you. I'll make sure of that myself."Around her, everyone listening to the call wore the exact same expression, dark, simmering hatred burning behind their eyes. Carlos's jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked beneath his cheek. Pascal's hands had curled into fists at his sides, his bandaged head not stopping him from looking ready to commit murder. Even Marcus, still nursing his injured leg, leaned forward like he wanted nothing more than to reach through the phone and strangle the man on the other end wit
The moment the doctor finished speaking, the hallway fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Nobody moved or spoke.. . It was like the air itself had gone still, waiting.Raina felt her chest cave in. The tears she had been trying so hard to hold back finally broke free, streaming down her face in a steady, silent flood. She pulled Angelo closer against her chest, hugging him so tightly that the little boy let out a small, confused whimper, sensing something was terribly wrong even if he didn't fully understand what.She turned to Carlos, her voice trembling but firm. "I'll take him in.""Raina…" Carlos started, his own eyes slightly red and tired."I'll take him," she repeated, already stepping toward the doors.Bailey's frown deepened instantly, stepping forward to block her path. "The doctor said Xander asked for his son. Not for you."Raina didn't even bother answering her. She simply walked past Bailey, shouldering past her without a second glance, and pushed through the heavy do
The world tilted under Raina's feet. For a second, her vision blurred at the edges, her knees nearly giving out beneath her. Bailey reached out and grabbed her arm without thinking, steadying her before she could actually fall."Raina?" Lisa's voice sounded far away, like it was coming through water.Raina blinked hard, forcing herself to stay upright, to stay present. She couldn't fall apart right now… Not when there were still things she needed to know."The hospital," she said, her voice shaky but urgent. "Where Xander is being treated, do you know which one?"Lisa nodded quickly. "I do...I've actually been waiting for you both, so we could head there together. I figured you'd want to go the second you found out.""Then let's go to the hospital now." Raina said with a panicked voice.The three of them piled back into the car, and Bailey drove just as fast as before, weaving through the darkening streets of Country K. Raina sat in the back this time, her hands clasped so tightly tog
Raina rushed into her room like the floor was on fire under her feet, her heart still pounding from everything Bailey had just told her. She pulled a black backpack from the closet and threw it on the bed, her hands moving fast, fueled by adrenaline and fear in equal measure.She stripped out of her sundress in seconds and pulled on a pair of black stretchy jeans, the kind that let her move freely without restriction. Next came a plain black hoodie, soft but sturdy, the kind that wouldn't catch on anything if she needed to move quickly. She laced up a pair of black sneakers, tying them tight, double knotting them out of habit, then grabbed her hair and twisted it into a quick, tight ponytail, not a single strand left loose to get in her way or give anyone something to grab.Her hands moved on instinct now, like muscle memory from a part of her life she rarely talked about anymore. She pulled open the drawer beside her bed and grabbed the gun hidden underneath a stack of folded scarve
Michael's car pulled away from the Retroferd estate and Michael sat back in his seat and just stared through the window and said nothing for the first two minutes.His driver knew better than to speak when he was in such a terrible mood.The city was waking up slowly around them. Early morning traf
Raina stood exactly where she was with her eyes on the man in the wheelchair and her brain doing something it almost never did.It went completely silent like every thought that had been running at full speed for the past several hours had hit a wall at the same time and stopped dead, and she could
Maxton got out of the car before Carlos fully stopped it.He had seen the tail lights and had watched the black car carrying Raina turn off the side road and disappear into the darker street beyond and he had told Carlos to follow and they had been doing well right up until the bus.It came from th
The taxi stopped two streets from the Valente mansion.Raina had told the driver to stop there deliberately. She wasn't going to pull up to the front gate in a civilian car and give Michael's guards thirty seconds of warning. She was going to come in from the side road through the gap in the east w







