LANCE'S POV:
The call came while i was staring at the skyline, glass of cold water in hand, trying to make sense of everything that wasn't making sense.
My phone buzzed once.
Unknown number.
I almost didn't answer it.
But instinct has a way of recognizing what logic can't.
I picked up.
There was a second of silence before a voice finally came through.
"Don't say my name," she said.
I froze.
"Selena?" I breathed.
Her voice was low, urgent. "Don't trace this. I only have a minute."
I didn't know what to say first. A hundred questions clawed at my throat. Where are you? Are you hurt? Why did you disappear?
But she spoke again, cutting through the storm in my head.
"Stop looking for me."
My grip on the phone tightened. "What the hell are you talking about—"
"I'm safe. For now," she said quickly. "But don't waste time chasing the tattooed men you saw. They're not the ones behind this. They're being used. Controlled."
"By who?"
She hesitated. I could almost hear her look over her shoulder.
"That's what i'm trying to find out. All i know is… this is bigger than I thought. More dangerous. This person, whoever's pulling the strings can manipulate anyone. Anything. They can twist truth into lies, heroes into villains. They can make the innocent disappear without a trace."
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat.
She wasn't just scared.
She was hunted.
"You need to be careful," she added, voice cracking slightly. "Especially Aurora. They're not going to stop watching her."
My chest tightened. "Selena—"
"I'll call again when i can. But i need to stay hidden. There are already people looking for me. People who aren't with you."
"Tell me where you are—"
But the line clicked off.
Silence.
Gone.
I stared at my phone like it would come alive again, fingers gripping it so hard my knuckles turned white.
The signal bar blinked weakly in the corner. No trace. No number. No way to call back.
Just her voice.
And that warning.
Don't focus on the tattooed men.
The real enemy… is someone who can control everything.
The rest of the day blurred.
I couldn't concentrate.
Not really.
I sat on the couch, replaying her words in my head. Again and again. Like a loop i couldn't escape.
Who was she talking about?
Who was that powerful?
I'd worked security details for politicians, diplomats, even private billionaires. I knew what power looked like. I knew how influence could buy silence, erase footprints, rewrite reality.
But this?
This sounded… deeper.
Darker.
Someone who didn't just manipulate people, but systems. Institutions. Someone who could make entire truths disappear and feed the public a lie so believable, they'd swear it was real.
Someone dangerous enough to scare Selena into running.
And bold enough to threaten Aurora, indirectly or not.
I felt a sudden, boiling unease in my gut.
Who the hell were we dealing with?
I didn't hear the door open until i saw her reflection in the hallway mirror.
Aurora walked in, phone in hand, laughing softly.
I stood.
Her eyes met mine briefly before she ended the call. "Hey. You okay?"
"Who was that?"
Her brows rose slightly. "A friend. Julius."
"Julius who?"
She blinked. "Um. Julius Evangelista."
I stared at her. "The president's son?"
"Yeah."
That familiar prickle of suspicion crept up the back of my neck. "How do you two know each other?"
She walked past me to the kitchen, too casually. "We've known each other since we were sixteen. The First Lady and my mom were close. Like, spa-and-charity-luncheon kind of close."
I followed her. "That doesn't explain why he's calling now."
She opened the fridge like this was just another Tuesday. "He always checks in when he's in the country."
"Does he like you?"
She paused.
There it was.
A flicker of something behind her eyes. Caught.
I folded my arms.
She shut the fridge and leaned against it, arms crossing over her chest now too. "He tried. When we were sixteen. But i said no."
"Why?"
"Because i didn't want distractions. I was focused on work, runway schedules, international auditions. He went back to the U.S. a month later anyway. His life's always been… there."
"But he still calls."
She tilted her head. "So?"
I didn't answer right away.
There was something tight in my chest.
Not jealousy. Not exactly.
Something… worse.
I knew what kind of world Julius Evangelista came from.
The same kind that could shut down investigations, silence journalists, erase scandals before they ever made it to the headlines.
That world had more money, more media control, more reach than anyone could imagine.
What if—?
I swallowed hard.
What if Selena's warning wasn't theoretical?
What if she was trying to point us in a direction… and we were too distracted looking the other way?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Aurora asked quietly.
I didn't realize i was staring.
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to shake it off. "No reason."
But there was a reason.
A voice in the back of my head that wouldn't shut up.
What if the person Selena was talking about wasn't just some shadowy figure behind the scenes?
What if it was someone close?
Someone who already had eyes on us.