LOGINVincent POVGabriel brought out guns.One after another. Handguns, mostly. Glocks, Berettas, and a SIG Sauer P226. A compact Heckler & Koch. Two revolvers, snub-nosed, the kind you keep in a nightstand or taped behind a toilet tank. A Mossberg shotgun, sawn down, that had been concealed in the false bottom of my hallway closet. A tactical rifle, broken down into components, that had been stored inside the hollow frame of my bedroom mirror.Gabriel kept pulling. Ten grenades, flash-bangs and fragmentation, that had been hidden in a ventilation shaft behind the utility room. A set of throwing knives from the magnetic strip inside my wardrobe. Two tasers from behind the books on my office shelf. A crossbow, compact, military-grade, from the space between my washing machine and the wall. Smoke canisters. A garrote. Night vision goggles. Body armour, folded flat, from beneath the false bottom of my living room couch.He arranged them all on the counter in neat rows, categorised by type, ea
Vincent POVI woke up suddenly at four-seventeen, by heart pounding wildly in my chest, my body taut with desire. I’d been dreaming about Evelyn kissing me for the past few days and would always wake up hard.I sighed. The sooner I try to make up with Evelyn, the better for me. I missed her so terribly that all I could think of right now was having her in my bed. The thought scared the shit out of me.Was I lusting over her now?The house was dark and still. I lay in bed for a moment, listening to the silence, hating the way it felt oppressive now, unlike before. The faint hum of the air conditioning. The settling of the building's old bones. The distant, rhythmic tick of the kitchen clock that I'd never replaced because the sound of it had become part of the architecture of my nights.I got up, pulled on a pair of joggers, and walked barefoot down the hallway toward the kitchen. I didn't turn on the lights. I didn't need to. I'd lived in this house for three years and could navigate
Evelyn POVMargaret was quiet for a moment. She looked at her son, then at me, standing in the doorway in my wrinkled pyjamas, my wild hair, and my pounding head, and something in her expression shifted, and straightaway, I knew a confession was coming. But, I'd expected her to be remorseful, instead, her eyes glinted coldly as she regarded I and Adrian. "Fine. If you must know, I added a mild stimulant to the wine glasses," she said. "It's something harmless, and it lowers inhibitions and heightens sensual response. It's commonly used in—""I don't care what it's commonly used in." Adrian's voice rose, and for the first time, I was filled with pain. "You drugged your own son, drugged a woman who was a guest in your home and manipulated us into—""Into what?" Margaret said, and her voice was sharper now, the maternal warmth stripped away like wallpaper peeled from a wall. "Into acting on feelings you've both been circling for months? Into finally doing what you've both wanted to do
Evelyn POVAdrian's face turned white as he stared at me. I saw the impact register behind his eyes, a flinch he couldn't quite suppress."You didn't want this," he repeated slowly."No. I didn't come here to sleep with you, Adrian. I came here because I was lonely and tired and you offered me a warm house and a fire and I was too exhausted to say no. And then the wine, and the terrace, and the stars, and you saying all the right things at all the right moments, but that is not enough for me to want to sleep with you.""What are you saying, Evelyn? Am I now undesirable?""It was not supposed to lead to sex, Adrian!" The words burst out louder than I intended, fuelled by the panic and the headache and the image of Margaret standing in the doorway seeing me half-dressed beside her naked son. "We have a painful history, Adrian. One that cannot just be erased because we have become friendly. I have spent the past year rebuilding myself, Adrian. You don't know what you did to me. You, Isab
Evelyn POVThe first thing I felt was sunlight. Warm, bright, pressing against my closed eyelids with the insistence of a morning that didn’t want to be ignored. The second thing I felt was skin. Warm skin against my back, an arm draped across my waist, and the slow, heavy rhythm of someone else's breathing against the nape of my neck.The third thing I felt was wrong.My eyes opened.I was lying on the love seat on the Whitmore rooftop terrace, wrapped in a blanket, completely naked, with Adrian Whitmore's body curved around mine. His arm was heavy across my waist. His chest rose and fell against my back. His legs were tangled with mine beneath the blanket, and I could feel every point of contact between his bare skin and my bare skin with a clarity that made my stomach drop.For three seconds, I lay perfectly still, my brain cycling through the fragments of the previous night like a projector with a jammed reel. The wine. The conversation. The heat that had come on so suddenly. Adri
Evelyn POVI shifted my hips beneath him, a small, rolling motion, and the friction made us both gasp. He opened his eyes and looked down at me, and whatever he saw in my face set him free.He pulled back slowly, nearly all the way out, and then drove forward in one deep, fluid stroke that made me cry out and grab the arm of the love seat above my head. He did it again, establishing a rhythm that was unhurried but powerful, each thrust reaching deep enough to make me feel it in my entire body.I wrapped my legs around his waist, locking my ankles against the small of his back, and pulled him into me with every forward stroke. The angle changed, and he hit a spot inside me that sent shockwaves through my core, and I moaned against his mouth, my fingers scraping across his back, leaving red trails on his skin that I could feel rising under my nails.He responded by driving harder. The love seat creaked beneath us. His hand found my thigh and pushed it higher, opening me wider, and the n
EvelynMy hands came up to grip his sweater, pulling him closer. The kiss deepened and became more urgent.His hands circled the small of my neck, pulling me closer as his tongue darted in and out of my mouth. Our tongues danced together, exploring each other’s mouths in a slow rhythm that left us
Gabriel POV"Who sent you?" I asked, striking the man tied to the chair.The overhead lamp was the only light in the dark room, casting shadows across his bruised face. His left eye was swollen shut, and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.The man's face lolled to the right, and then he sta
Evelyn POVI walked into Bennett Corporation at nine in the morning on a Tuesday, and I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped through the doors.The lobby was filled with people. My people. The staff I'd been trying so hard to keep employed and paid, even when I had no money.They were hold
Evelyn POVI shoved hard against his chest.“What is wrong with you?” I hissed, dragging myself out of his hold.Ignoring the eyes still watching us, he reached for my shoulders, fingers skimming my arms as if checking for bruises."Are you alright? I was so worried when I found out you'd been on t







