Chapter 2 Never Tell Me to Stay

"I said stay here."

"I said no."

I bolted past Jaxon before he could grab me not because I thought I was faster, but because I knew he wouldn't drag me back.

Not unless he wanted to touch me.

And if he touched me right now, I'd burn us both.

The hallway was colder than before. Sharp with silence. The kind that warns you something's already gone wrong.

Another scream.

Female.

Muffled.

I ran toward it, heart hammering, adrenaline kicking.

Left turn.

Open door.

A girl stood shaking in the corner of a dim room, hands over her ears. She wore a maid uniform barefoot, splattered with red.

A body lay facedown on the marble floor.

"Get back!" Jaxon barked behind me.

Too late.

I was already kneeling beside the man, flipping him over.

Gunshot to the throat.

Still warm.

Whoever did this had just left.

Jaxon swore under his breath and pulled out a phone.

"What the hell is happening?" I demanded.

He ignored me.

"Lock every floor. Check the east camera loop. No one leaves the building."

The girl was crying now. Whispering something in Italian.

I stepped toward her gently. "Hey... it's okay. You're safe."

She blinked up at me. Eyes swollen, mouth trembling.

Then she said it.

"They were looking for you."

I froze.

"What?"

Her hand trembled as she pointed to the dead man.

"He asked where you were. Said he had orders to drag you back."

Jaxon looked at me. "Still think I'm the one you shouldn't trust?"

I stared at the body.

No markings.

No insignia.

Just a cheap tattoo on the wrist.

A match.

To the men my father used to send for clean-ups.

They weren't here for him. They were here for me.

Back in the main room, Dev Jaxon's head of security was pulling camera footage. Jaxon stood beside him like a storm in a tailored suit.

"He got in through the private garage," Dev muttered. "No facial match. Probably using a burner ID."

"And the girl?" Jaxon asked.

"New hire. Cleared three weeks ago. Looks clean."

"Looks," Jaxon repeated.

Then his eyes flicked to me.

"You bring them with you?"

I didn't answer.

Because I wasn't sure.

He closed the distance between us in three long strides.

"Tell me the truth, Raven. Who else has your encryption key?"

"No one."

"Try again."

I swallowed. "My brother had a copy."

He froze.

Had. Past tense.

"I buried him."

His stare sharpened.

"When?"

I didn't blink. "The night after my mother was killed."

"Cause of death?"

"Shot to the chest. I did it myself."

Dev looked up from the screen. "Then why the hell is his code still active?"

Silence.

Then

Jaxon grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hallway I hadn't seen before. No cameras. No echoes.

Just cold walls and hotter anger.

"What aren't you telling me?" he hissed.

"I don't know!"

"You show up with files that were supposedly lost. People start dying. Your dead brother's ghost sends you messages and I'm supposed to believe that's all coincidence?"

"No," I snapped. "You're supposed to believe I didn't walk into your life to start a war."

He stared at me.

"Then explain why I'm already bleeding from it."

My chest tightened.

Because he wasn't wrong.

He stepped back, paced once, then turned and pinned me with a look I felt in my spine.

"I should lock you down. Cut the power. Block the drives. Hell, maybe I should hand you over."

"Then why don't you?"

He paused.

Took one long step forward.

Voice low. Controlled. Deadly.

"Because you're the only thing that feels real in this entire goddamn mess."

My breath hitched.

I hated how much I wanted to believe him.

Suddenly, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a second phone.

He handed it to me.

"It's encrypted. Your eyes only. Use it to trace the last message from your brother's signal. If you're lying, I'll know."

"And if I'm not?"

He stared at my lips.

Then my eyes.

Then back again.

"Then I'm protecting you for the wrong reasons."

[Later That Night – Description + Dialogue]

I sat cross-legged on the bed, decrypting code while my hair dripped from the shower.

The trace led to a server farm downtown.

Too clean. Too fast. A rerouted ghost trail.

But there at the edge of the log file a signature.

R.M.

R. Moretti.

Not me.

Someone was posing as me.

Which meant

The voice in the message wasn't my brother.

Or my mother.

It was a forgery.

But the message?

That part might be true.

The door creaked open behind me.

"Come in," I said without looking.

I knew it was him.

Only Jaxon moved like that like the room was already his.

He walked in. Quiet. Watchful.

His tie was gone. Shirt sleeves rolled up. Hair slightly messy.

Dangerous men shouldn't look that good after someone dies in their penthouse.

"I know who forged the message," I said.

He raised a brow.

"Who?"

"No idea. But they used my name."

"Impressive. Or suicidal."

"Maybe both."

He came closer. "Are you still planning to run?"

"I was never running. I was baiting."

"And now?"

I looked up. "Now I'm hunting."

He stepped into my space again, closer than was necessary. His scent curled around me earth and sin.

"And if I tell you I want in?"

I didn't blink.

"Then I tell you I don't trust you."

He reached out slowly fingers brushing the damp ends of my hair.

"Trust me with your secrets. Not your heart."

"That was never on the table."

"Good."

But neither of us stepped back.

"You make me want things I shouldn't want," I whispered.

He smiled darkly. "Then we're even."

His fingers brushed my collarbone. Then my wrist.

Every inch of skin he touched felt like it was choosing sides.

"You're fire, Raven," he murmured.

"And I've never been afraid of getting burned."

And then he kissed me.

Not gentle.

Not sweet.

Possessive. Brutal. Demanding.

I kissed him back like I was starving.

Because I was.

Not for him.

For power.

For control.

For revenge.

And if I had to pretend to love the man who ruined my family to get it?

So be it.

The flash drive on the bedside table lit up again.

One message:

> "THEY'RE INSIDE."

And the screen went black.