LOGINThey walked out of the poker room fast. Damien’s hand stayed firm on Kai’s lower back the whole way down the hallway. The air felt thick, like the whole casino was watching them. Kai could still feel Victor’s eyes on his back.
When they reached a quiet side hallway near the restrooms, Damien stopped suddenly and pulled Kai inside the private single-occupancy bathroom, locking the door behind them.
Kai leaned against the sink, breathi
The hospital room felt too bright, like the lights were shining straight into Kai’s skull. He was sitting up in the bed now, IV drip still going, one arm in a cast, ribs taped tight under the gown. Damien sat on the edge, holding his hand like it was the only solid thing left in the world.“We’re staying right here,” Damien said, voice low but steady. “All night if we have to.”Kai nodded, eyes still half-closed from the pain meds. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere. Not without you.”Outside the room, Kaicen talked to the cops. Lila was called in. But the secret was out. Victor was in cuffs. The accomplice too.The door opened quiet. A nurse came in with fresh clothes. “He can go home tomorrow,” she told them. “But rest first. No big calls.”Damien waited till she left. Then he leaned
Victor’s laugh filled the warehouse like a knife in the ribs.“You think you know her?” he said, pointing the gun at Kaicen’s chest. “Lila’s been feeding me every meeting. Every change you two pushed. She’s been inside the company for years. And now she’s even closer— she’s dating your dead son, Damien. Full circle.”Kai’s face went white. “Lila? Your daughter? That’s not—”The accomplice stepped up, knife already out. “She told me everything. The shooting. How you almost left him. How you wanted space. She’s been laughing behind your back the whole time.”Damien moved fast. He grabbed the accomplice’s arm, twisted the knife away, and slammed him against the wall. “You’re done talking.”But Victor just smiled wider. “Too late. Lila’s already signed the papers with me. She’s my girl now. And your brother’s boy she loves him. They’ve been together ten years. She never told you because you’re too busy with your cold heart.”Kaicen looked at Damien, voice cracking. “Lila… she helped me. S
The drive to the police station felt like it took forever.When they finally reached the station, Damien told the officers everything. The hidden camera. The photo. The accomplice’s name.They called Victor’s right-hand man in immediately.The man denied everything.Until they showed him the photo.Until they showed him the live feed.Until they showed him the hidden camera in Kaicen’s apartment.He broke fast.He was the accomplice.He had worked for Victor the entire time.He had helped Marcus kidnap Kaicen.He had been feeding Victor information about the company for months.He had been the one who told Victor about the ethical changes.He had been the one who had been watching them.He had been the one who had Kaicen right now.The police took him in.But Kai’s heart was still racing.Because the photo had shown Kaicen.And the man holding the gun had been looking straight at the camera.At them.At the brothers.At Damien.At all of them.Damien looked at Kai.His voice was low a
The phone call came at 11:47 p.m.Kai was already awake. The sound of the ringtone cut through the dark like a knife. He sat up fast, heart slamming in his chest.Damien was beside him, phone in hand.The screen showed an unknown number.Kai’s mouth went dry.Damien answered on speaker.The voice on the other end was calm. Almost polite.“Kai Lennox. Or should I say, brother of Kaicen Lennox. How sweet. I have your brother. I have both of them now. Come find him… or I start breaking him the way I broke your brother all those years ago.”The line went dead.Kai stared at the phone in Damien’s hand.His voice came out small. “He has him. He has Kaicen.”Damien was already moving. “We’re calling the police. We’re calling security. We’re going to Kaicen’s apartment right now.”Kai shook his head. “No. We don’t wait. We go now. We find him. We get him back. We do it together.”Damien looked at him. His face was calm, but his eyes were hard. “Together. Okay. Grab your keys. I’ll drive.”The
The penthouse was too quiet.Too still.The kind of quiet that feels like the walls are listening.Damien stood in the middle of the living room, arms crossed, staring at the floor like he could find answers in the shadows. The photo from Victor was still burning in his mind. The handshake. The caption. The man’s voice on the phone saying he had Kaicen.Kai was in the bedroom, door closed. He hadn’t come out in twenty minutes.Damien rubbed his face. His hands were shaking.He had almost lost everything today. The company. His position. Kai. His brother. The man he loved. One vote. One offer. One lie from the board and everything he had built was gone.He had walked out. He had chosen them.And now it felt like the world was coming for them anyway.The door to the bedroom opened.Kai stepped out. His face was pale. His eyes were red.He looked at Damien and his voice came out flat.“We need to separate.”Damien felt the words like a punch in the stomach.“What?”Kai’s voice cracked. “
**Chapter 126: Victor’s First Move**The penthouse felt too big after the board meeting.Damien walked through the empty rooms like a man who had just lost his own grave. The silence was deafening. The city lights outside the windows still looked the same, but everything inside felt wrong.Kai sat on the couch, staring at the floor.They had gone home after the board vote. Quietly. Together. Damien had driven without saying a word. Kai had stared out the window the whole way, hands shaking in his lap.Now it was past midnight.No one had spoken about the changes. No one had mentioned the investors who had left. No one had mentioned the new apartment keys Kaicen had dropped off earlier that evening.The secret was still there, heavy and suffocating.Damien sat down on the couch beside Kai. He didn’t touch him. He just sat close enough that their legs brushed.“It’s real,” he said quietly. “They removed me. They offered the company to Victor. They did it while we were fighting for the r
“You’re late,” Kai Lennox said the second Damien stepped through the service door at 11:52 p.m., voice low and edged with something that wasn’t quite anger anymore. He was already leaning against the far end of the bar, sleeves rolled high, phoenix tattoo gleaming under the low amber lights of Ecli
“You’re going to leave fingerprints on my throat tonight, aren’t you?” Kai Lennox said the second Damien’s shadow fell across the bar at exactly 11:47 p.m. His voice was already husky, half challenge, half invitation. He didn’t look up from the glass he was polishing—didn’t need to. He could feel t
“You canceled a fifty-thousand-dollar dinner meeting for this?” Kai Lennox’s voice cut through the low hum of the rooftop bar like a blade, sharp and disbelieving. He was behind the counter at Eclipse, polishing a glass that didn’t need polishing, his ice-blue eyes narrowed on the man who had just
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here again,” Kai Lennox said, voice low and edged with warning as he slid a fresh scotch across the polished bar top exactly at 11:47 p.m. “One night, remember? I don’t do encores for suits who think they own the city *and* my ass.”Damien Vale didn’t sit. He stood







