All Chapters of My Father’s Enemy, My Obsession : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter One – Kiss in the Crosshairs

I was raised to protect my father’s empire. Tonight, I’m here to help burn it down.Rain slicks off the edge of the rooftop, forty floors above Manhattan. From up here, the towers look clean—neon reflections on glass, white headlights gliding over wet streets.From down there, they look like salvation.From up here, Ava Moretti can see exactly what they are: crime scenes with better lighting.“Ava, this is the part where a sane person pulls the plug,” Cass hisses in her ear. “We can still order dumplings and talk shit about your father from the safety of our illegally cheap apartment.”Ava pulls her hood tighter and steps up to the ledge. Across the street, the Axiom glows like a high-end spa—pale wood, frosted glass, and soft interior light.On the surface, it’s a wellness club for the rich.Underneath, it’s where the worst people in the city auction off sins and call them investments.“Send me the node again,” Ava murmurs.Cass grumbles, keys clacking faintly over the comm. “You

Chapter Two – Blood & Lies

The next gunshot is so close that it punches through the leather seat inches from Ava’s head.She flinches. Damian doesn’t.“On your knees!” someone bellows across the room. “Hands where I can see them!”The emergency lights strobe red, turning the underground auction into a jagged slideshow—shadows lunging, glittering gowns smearing across black marble, and men in suits with guns instead of champagne.Damian’s fingers tighten on her jaw for a fraction of a second, like he’s checking she’s still there, still breathing.Then, his hand drops to her wrist.“Up,” he says. “Now.”“Are you insane?” The words slice out sharper than she intends.“Frequently.”He hauls her up with him, keeping her tucked against his side. To anyone watching, she’s just a shaken lover being dragged to the exit. To her, he feels like a moving wall of steel and control.“Head down,” he murmurs. “Stay on my left.”“Why—”“Because my right is where the gun is,” he answers, already steering her into the aisle.Her h

Chapter Three – The Moretti Princess

The elevator ride up to the Moretti penthouse feels longer than the one that took Ava down into the auction’s hell. She watches herself in the mirrored walls as the numbers climb. Her black dress is still damp at the hem. There’s a faint smear of someone else’s blood near the slit. Mascara shadows under one eye. Her lips are swollen from a man she should never have let touch her. From the outside, you’d think she went to a very exclusive party and had a very reckless night. From the inside, everything feels… shifted." Tilted. She tugs her sleeve down over her wrist, hiding the Moretti crest—and the faint red mark where Damian’s fingers dug in. The place his mouth crushed against hers felt bruised, tender, and wrong. *He has the drive. He has my name. And he knows exactly what I am.* She drags her fingers through her hair, lifts her chin, and pulls the old mask into place. Invisible. Controlled. Untouchable. The Moretti princess. The elevator dings softly. The doors slide op

Chapter Four – Digital Ghosts[Part 1]

By morning, the kiss is everywhere she looks.Not on the news. Not on gossip sites.On every screen that matters.Ava sits cross-legged on Cass’s secondhand couch in their tiny Queens apartment, city light slicing in through crooked blinds. The place smells like instant coffee, old takeout, and computer heat. Monitors line one wall in mismatched sizes, stacked on crates and thrift-store desks.On all of them: black-and-white stills from the underground auction.“It’s like watching a horror movie frame by frame,” Cass mutters, fingers flying over her keyboard. “Starring: my best friend’s worst life choices.”Ava doesn’t argue.She’s still in yesterday’s jeans and an oversized hoodie she grabbed from the floor when she snuck out of the penthouse at dawn. Hair in a messy knot. No makeup. She looks at how she feels—stripped down, raw.“Go back,” she says quietly. “Fifteen seconds. Slow it down.”Cass drags a timeline slider back and hits play.Security feed four: wide angle of the auction

Chapter Five – Digital Ghosts[Part 2]

“You were both,” Cass says. “Those traits travel in packs.”Despite herself, Ava huffs a weak laugh.Cass nudges her. “Look. You want out? I’ll help you run. New IDs, cash, a crappy apartment in Idaho. We can change your hair and get really into farmers’ markets.”Ava closes her eyes, just for a second.She sees Vince’s face. The old woman’s. The rubble. Damian’s hand on her wrist.Idaho feels like another planet.“I don’t want out,” she says. “I want this to stop. I want him to stop.”“Which him?” Cass asks softly.Ava doesn’t answer.She doesn’t have to.Cass squeezes her knee. “Then we go to the source. Carefully. On our terms as much as possible. You get in the room. I get in the network. We find out what’s actually on that drive and what’s missing. Then we decide how to use it.”“And if he catches you?” Ava asks.Cass’s grin is thin. “Then I finally get to find out if ‘eaten by billionaire’ is as glamorous as it sounds.”Ava stares at the screens one more time.At the glitch in t

Chapter Six – Enemies in Glass Towers

The Moretti family does charity like it does everything else—loudly, expensively, and with too much champagne. Crystal chandeliers drip from the ceiling of the Grand Meridian Hotel’s ballroom. Waiters in white jackets weave through the crush of Manhattan’s elite, silver trays balanced with flutes of champagne and bite-sized sins on porcelain spoons A jazz trio plays something smooth in the corner, drowned every few seconds by clinking glasses and sharp, familiar laughter. Ava stands at the edge of it all in a midnight-blue dress and heels that cost more than Cass’s entire apartment, smiling the practiced, empty smile of a woman whose life looks perfect in photos. Inside, her stomach is a knot. “I swear to God, if one more old man in a worse suit calls this a ‘charity for the poor,’ I’m flipping a table,” Riley mutters at her side. Riley Torres looks like she was tailored for this world and then refused to behave in it. Dark hair in a sleek blowout, emerald dress hugging every

Chapter Seven – Recognition & Warnings

If the gala were a chessboard, Ava had just realized she was never a pawn.She was the piece everyone was waiting to move.The rest of the night feels like walking a tightrope over knives.She leads the mayor through the exhibit of glossy renderings and miniature models, reciting rehearsed lines about sustainable materials and community integration. Her mouth moves; she hears the words. Her brain, however, is still in that tight circle near the entrance.*Ms. Moretti. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.*Behind her, Riley hums occasionally in agreement like a backup singer, eyes scanning the crowd with the predator awareness of someone raised on bad neighborhoods and worse boyfriends.“—and with this project, we’re hoping to integrate more public green space,” Ava finishes, gesturing to a model park balanced perfectly between high-rises. “Not just rooftops. Actual soil.”The mayor nods, impressed. “Very forward-thinking. Your father’s lucky to have you on his team.”“Thank you, sir,”

Chapter Eight – The Shell Game

Good girls don’t wake up with hangovers from charity galas.Ava wakes up with a Damian Kade problem.No headache. No nausea. Just the lingering, electric ghost of his hand around hers and a black metal card burning a hole in her nightstand drawer.She stares at the ceiling for a long minute before she moves.Her phone is a graveyard of missed notifications.Sixteen texts from Cass. Three from Riley. One from an unknown number she refuses to open yet.She ignores all of them.Shower. Hair. Concealer. The standard Moretti armor.By the time she walks into the kitchen of the penthouse, the smell of espresso and expensive toast is already in the air. Her brothers are arguing over a game score. Vince is at the head of the table, suit jacket on, tie already knotted, scrolling through something on his tablet with the focus of a man planning a war.“Morning,” Ava says.Three heads glance up. Two nods. One narrows.“You’re late,” Vince says.“It’s eight-thirty,” she replies.“And our world sta

Chapter NIne – Trapped with the Enemy

The elevator hums as it starts its ascent, a low vibration under Ava’s heels.Different building. Same feeling.Last time, she was going down into hell with a mask on her face and a mission in her pocket.This time, she’s going up into a different kind of danger, no mask, her real name stamped on every marble surface.Adrian stands beside her, hands clasped loosely in front of him. He’s taller up close, all coiled efficiency and watchful calm.“First time in the tower?” he asks, voice mild.“First time above the lobby,” she answers.He glances at her reflection in the mirrored elevator wall. “You’ll be fine.”The lie is polite.She almost thanks him anyway.“Is this a standard Crownline vetting procedure?” she asks instead.He smiles faintly. “Mr. Kade likes to be… "thorough.”Of course he does.The elevator dings at the forty-second floor. Doors slide open to a bright, open-plan level full of glass partitions and soft chatter. Sleek desks, floating screens, people in expensive casual

Chapter Ten – Terms & Conditions

She doesn’t sleep that night.Not really.She dozes in fragments—heat pressed against glass, silver drives glinting on dark tables, her father’s voice, Damian’s, Cass’s. When her alarm finally rattles at seven, she feels like she’s been spun in a tumbler all night.She gets ready on autopilot.Neutral makeup. Simple black dress that looks expensive but not flashy. Flat shoes instead of heels this time; she’s not in the mood to perform fragility.Her phone lights up as she pulls her hair into a low knot.**Riley:** > Morning, my tragic queen > I dreamt you ran off with a hot villain and left me your wardrobe **Riley:** > pls confirm this is fiction and not a live updateAva stares at the screen for a full five seconds before replying.**Ava:** > Going to Kade again. > Business.The typing dots appear immediately.**Riley:** > BUSINESS 😂 > Is that what we’re calling it now > Is he hot? Scale 1–10 > (10 = “I rethink my sexuality”, 1 = “just text him ur banking info &

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