Chapter 1
Rain hits the pavement in sheets, the kind that blurs headlights and makes the world look like it’s melting. Liora Vale pulls her hood tighter, clutching the sketchbook she always carries. She just needs to get home. One more block. One more—
A sharp crack slices through the night.
Not thunder.
A gunshot.
Liora freezes on the corner, heart pounding so loud she swears the whole street can hear it. She shouldn’t look. She knows she shouldn’t. But something drags her eyes across the alley—
A man stands over a body.
Tall.
Dark.
Unmoving.
His head lifts slowly… and even under the flickering streetlight, she recognizes him.
Kieran Voss.
The heir to the Voss syndicate. The man her father once whispered about in warning. The man she has seen exactly twice in her life — both times from a distance, like he existed in a world she wasn’t meant to touch.
Now he’s looking right at her.
Liora chokes on a breath.
Liora: soft, terrified “No… no, no…”
He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t run.
He just steps toward her with a calmness that makes her stomach flip.
Footsteps echo. Rain stops feeling cold. Time stops moving.
Kieran: “Liora.”
Her name from his lips is low. Familiar. Like he’s said it a thousand times in his head before ever speaking it aloud.
She stumbles back.
Liora: “I—I didn’t see anything. I swear. I swear, I’ll forget—”
He’s already in front of her, closing the distance effortlessly, like the world bends for him.
His gloved hand grabs her elbow gently… too gently for the danger in his eyes.
Kieran: “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
Liora: “You—your brother— is that—”
She points with a trembling hand toward the body.
Kieran’s jaw tightens. Rain drips from his hair, darkening the sharp angle of his cheek.
Kieran: “Get in the car.”
She jerks away.
Liora: “No. You’re— you’re dangerous. I’m calling the police.”
He looks at her like she’s a child saying something sweet but foolish.
Kieran: “If you call the police, you’re dead before they arrive.”
Liora: “Are you threatening me?”
Kieran: “I’m telling you the truth.”
A black SUV rolls up from the shadows, its lights off. The back door opens.
Kieran steps closer, his voice dropping to a place meant only for her.
Kieran: “You saw something you weren’t supposed to see.”
Liora: “I’ll forget it—just let me go—”
He cups her jaw suddenly, not rough, but firm — like he’s done it in his mind a hundred times and now he’s finally allowed to touch her.
Kieran: “I’ve been protecting you for years, Liora. Don’t fight me now.”
Her breath catches.
Liora: “Protecting me? From what?”
He leans in, lips near her ear, his breath warm despite the rain.
Kieran: “From everyone who wants you dead.”
She shoves at his chest, panic spiking.
Liora: “Let me go!”
Kieran nods once. And before she can blink—
Jex, his right-hand man, grabs her from behind, covering her mouth.
Liora screams into his glove, kicking, her sketchbook hitting the ground and splashing into a puddle.
Kieran: low and lethal “Put her in the car.”
Liora: muffled, fighting “KIERAN! PLEASE—DON’T—”
She’s shoved inside. A hand presses her down as the door slams.
Kieran slides in beside her, soaked, breathing slow, eyes locked on hers with unsettling calm.
Outside, sirens echo distantly.
Inside, the world goes silent.
Liora’s shaking, heart racing violently.
Liora: whispering, broken “Are you going to kill me?”
Kieran looks at her for a long moment… then reaches out and brushes a wet strand of hair off her cheek.
His touch burns.
Kieran: cold, quiet “No. I’m going to save you.”
Liora: voice cracking “From what?”
He meets her eyes, and the truth inside them is darker than anything she imagined.
Kieran: “From the truth… you were never supposed to know.”
SUV tires screech as they speed away. Rain fades.
And Liora realizes—she isn’t going home tonight.
Kieran: soft, terrifying “Don’t scream. They’ll hear you.”
------see you in the next chapter.
