Chapter 2 Two

The car didn't move.

For a moment that stretched too long, Seraphina thought the world had gone still. The alarms outside blurred into a hollow hum, muted through the tinted glass. Her breath echoed loud in the confined space, ragged and uneven, a betrayal she couldn't silence.

She didn't dare look at him. Not yet. Not when the weight of his presence filled the car so completely it was suffocating.

Kael Veyron.

Viper.

The name pulsed through her skull like a second heartbeat. She had whispered it like a curse for weeks, terrified of the faceless killer Dante had spoken of with reverence and dread. And now she sat in his car, literally inches away from him.

Her pulse stuttered. She pressed herself back against the leather, fingers knotting in the thin fabric of her slip. The cool air of the interior carried a faint metallic tang, like steel polished too many times.

Finally, his gaze shifted from the windshield.

It pinned her in place.

"You ran from Dante." His voice was low, unhurried, smooth as oil. "And straight into my car. That's either desperation..." He let the silence stretch, the ghost of a smile flickering at his mouth. "...or very poor judgment."

Her lips trembled. "I didn't know-"

He cut her off with a look. No raised voice, no sudden movement. Just the slow turn of his eyes, pale as frost, stripping her to bone.

"Don't lie."

The word pressed against her like a blade.

She swallowed hard, her throat dry. "I only wanted out. That's all. I didn't-I didn't know this was your car."

A low chuckle slipped from him. Not amusement-something a littlle darker. "And if you had known?"

Her chest ached from how fast her heart was beating. "I would've run the other way."

He leaned back slightly, one hand draped over the steering wheel, the other resting loose on the gearshift. His posture was almost lazy, but the air around him coiled tight, as if violence lingered just beneath his skin, waiting.

"Honest." His voice brushed the word like a taste on his tongue. "I like that."

Her breath shivered in her lungs.

Then they heard movement.

The blur of steel caught the dim dashboard light. A knife, black-handled, sleek, appeared in his hand so smoothly it was as though it had grown there.

Seraphina froze.

The blade tilted toward her chest, not pressing, not yet touching-but close enough that she felt the cool whisper of air it cut.

She could feel her heartbeat in her mouth. But she maintained a calm demeanor.

Panicking won't help you now, Sera.

"So you're Dante's little bird, huh?" he murmured, studying her face with clinical detachment. "Pretty. Fragile. And now trapped in the wrong cage."

She pressed back against the seat, hands flat, palms slick with sweat. Her body wanted to shake, to scream, to run-but the knife in his hand kept her still as stone.

She tried to talk steady but her voice cracked. "If you're going to do it, then-then do it."

His eyes narrowed.

There it was again. That raw, reckless truth. Not begging. Not bargaining.

"Hmm." His head tilted, predator's curiosity sharpening his gaze. "You'd rather it be me than him, wouldn't you?"

The words landed like a blow.

She didn't answer. She couldn't.

Because he was right.

Viper's hand stilled, the blade hovering at the hollow of her throat. His breath ghosted the air between them, steady, unnervingly calm. Her own breath came in jagged bursts, chest heaving, every nerve in her body screaming at the edge of the knife.

Seconds dragged into what felt like ours.

Then, without warning, the blade pulled back.

He slid it away with casual precision, the weapon disappearing back into his coat as if it had never existed.

Seraphina sagged against the seat, lungs clawing for air. The relief was sharp and a lttle dizzying, but it lasted only a heartbeat before dread replaced it.

Why?

Why hadn't he killed me?

His voice broke the silence. "Tell me, Seraphina... do you want to live?"

Her eyes snapped to his.

"Yes." The word tumbled out before she even thought. "Yes, I-"

"Then don't lie to me again."

The warning slid through her like ice water.

She nodded, frantically. And immediately hated herself for letting her terror show.

But before she could speak again, before she could ask him what he wanted, the sound came.

Boots.

Shouts.

Engines.

The world outside surged back into motion. Floodlights swept across the gravel, cutting through the tinted glass in brief, blinding flares. Voices barked orders in the distance, closer now, tightening like a noose.

Dante's men.

Kael's head tilted, listening. Calm and unbothered.

Then his mouth curved into a small smile.

"They're here."

Seraphina's breath caught, her pulse ricocheting through her veins.

Outside, the beams of flashlights lanced through the night, converging, until shadows closed in around the car from all sides.

Metal clicked-rifles being cocked.

A voice bellowed, muffled but unmistakable. "Step out of the vehicle!"

In lesss than a minute, the car was surrounded.

Seraphina's eyes widened, her entire body coiling in terror. Trapped between the man she'd fled and the assassin she'd feared.

Kael, however, only leaned back in his seat, pale eyes glinting in the strobe of floodlights, as calm as if death itself were an old friend knocking at the door.

His words fell soft, almost amused, before the night exploded around them.

"Now it gets interesting."