Rose's POV______
The clock ticked louder than my heartbeat. 1:42 a.m.
The moon outside painted shadows across my walls, but no amount of light could erase the chill on my skin. I lay still, staring at the ceiling, every muscle tense... waiting for something I couldn't name.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him.
The gun.
The blood.
The way his voice dropped when he said my name.
Why couldn't I shake him?
I hated that he invaded my peace like this.
That the same man who could crush lives with a nod had made mine tremble—with just a look.
What scared me wasn't what he could do to me. It was what he already had done.
To my mind.
To my curiosity.
To the parts of me that weren't supposed to feel anything for monsters.
I turned to the side, pulling the blanket tighter around me.
Sleep wouldn't come.
Because tonight, fear wore his face.
Xavier's POV______
I didn't sleep. I rarely did.
But tonight was different.
It wasn't the nightmares that kept me awake. It was her.
That look in her eyes right before I walked out—half fear, half something else. Something I couldn't name but couldn't forget either.
She was supposed to be just another problem. Instead, she became a question I couldn't answer.
I sat in my chair, a glass of whiskey untouched in my hand, the city stretching cold and quiet outside the window.
And still... my thoughts didn't stray from her.
Was she thinking about me too?
Did she feel that moment, the one between the breath before her parents burst in?
I shouldn't care. But I did.
Because in this world of fire and blood...
She was the only thing that made me feel alive.
And that scared the hell out of me.
Rose's POV______
Days passed.
Peaceful.
Routine.
Almost... too quiet.
My father resumed his cold meetings. My mother hosted her charity brunches. And I pretended like nothing inside me had changed.
But it had.
I still hadn't seen Xavier. Not a whisper. Not a shadow.
And somehow, that made me more anxious than his presence ever did.
Then came that night.
We were at the dinner table.
The usual silence between silverware and formality.
I picked at my plate, my thoughts miles away—until my father's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen. Frowned.
Then answered. "What is it?"
His face changed mid-call.
The calm, composed expression I was raised to fear... vanished.
"What do you mean the accounts are red?" he snapped.
I sat up straighter.
His voice rose, rare and shaken.
"That's not possible. We ran those numbers two days ago! How the hell does a billion- dollar firm face bankruptcy overnight?!"
My mother gasped, dropping her fork.
I watched my father rise from his seat like someone lit a fuse beneath him. His phone still pressed to his ear, his steps already moving toward the door.
"I need to get to the office. Now."
I stood. "I'm coming with you."
He hesitated.
For a second, I saw something flicker in his eyes—not anger.
Fear.
Not for the business.
But for what—or who—might be behind this.
My father turned to leave, urgency pulsing through every step.
"I'm coming with you," I said again this time firmly, already rising from my seat.
He paused, turned sharply.
"No. You stay here. It's not safe."
I looked him dead in the eye, voice calm but unshakable.
"I'm your only heir. If something's threatening our empire, I deserve to know about it. I should be there."
For a moment, he looked like he wanted to argue. But he didn't.
Instead, he gave a short nod—silent approval from a man who rarely gave it.
I turned to my mother, who sat frozen in place, her hands gripping the table like it might vanish beneath her.
"It'll be fine," I told her gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out."
She nodded stiffly, clearly unconvinced but too afraid to say it. Then I left with my father—into the night, into the chaos.
Not just as his daughter.
But as the future of his empire.
And deep inside, a flicker of something darker whispered:
What if it's already too late?
Later that night – Victor Knight's Private Office
The drive to the company was silent, heavy. I could feel my father unraveling beneath the weight of whatever was waiting.
When we entered the building, the usual cool confidence of the Knight empire was gone. People were panicked. Phones rang off the hook. And everyone avoided my father's eyes.
His assistant rushed forward, pale and sweating.
"We've been breached, sir. It's serious this time." Victor's jaw tightened. "How bad?"
"Almost all foreign assets are frozen. The money trail's been distorted—every alert system tripped and looped back. We can't trace the original source. They were fast... and smart."
"Who was it?" I asked, stepping forward.
The assistant hesitated. "We think it's the Rivas Clan, sir. They've been silent for months, but it looks like they've hired tech mercs this time."
My father cursed under his breath, running a hand down his face.
Victor Knight... helpless?
That didn't happen. Until now.
"I can help," I said quietly.
Victor looked at me like I'd just offered to walk into gunfire.
"This isn't child's play, Rose," he snapped. "This isn't code written in a classroom."
I walked past him without waiting for permission and sat in front of the main system, fingers already flying across the keys.
Firewalls. Access logs. Hidden jumps.
They thought they were clever, but they left fingerprints—tiny ones, in the data compression patterns and misaligned timestamps.
"Here," I muttered. "They rerouted through five dummy accounts, but this one... this IP? It's static. Sloppy."
I cracked open the false shell and traced the root. Within minutes, I had them.
"The Rivas Clan," I confirmed. "And they weren't working alone."
My father leaned over my shoulder, eyes scanning the proof I'd pulled up.
He didn't say anything for a long time.
Then, finally, he spoke—quietly, but with something rare in his voice.
Pride.
"Well done... my daughter."
But even after I took back control of the system, the problem wasn't completely solved.
Yes, the breach had been patched. Yes, the accounts were secure again.
But the damage was already done.
The money stalled. The trust shaken. And whoever orchestrated this—they weren't finished.
My father gave orders to double security, encrypt internal communications, and assign round-the-clock guards to our most vulnerable branches.
But beneath it all, I saw the truth in his eyes.
He was worried. And if Victor Knight was worried... We were in more danger than he dared admit.
We returned home in silence.
No victory speeches. No "well done" praise.
Just the weight of what was coming... and the knowledge that it had only just begun.
Next Morning
The next morning felt like pretending nothing had cracked. Breakfast was quiet.
Too quiet.
I sat across from my parents, the air still heavy from last night's chaos. My father looked worn — the powerful Victor Knight, now carrying shadows under his eyes.
I reached across the table and touched his hand gently.
"Everything is going to be alright, Dad. We've been through worse."
He didn't answer right away. Just nodded, as if trying to convince himself too.
My mother chimed in, her voice soft. "This family has survived storms before. We'll do it again."
We exchanged a look, the kind that speaks in silence: Stay strong. Don't break.
After breakfast, I insisted on going with my father to the company again. He didn't argue this time. In fact, he seemed relieved to have me near.
We rode in silence, but this time it was less panic, more purpose. We had to strategize. We had to stay ahead.
In his office, we started going over every possible move— partnerships, digital locks, ways to isolate future threats. The tension was still thick, but now it had a direction.
Then—
The door opened.
No knock.
No warning.
Just... calm footsteps.
I turned toward the entrance, expecting an assistant, maybe one of our legal heads.
But instead— There he was.
Dressed in black like the devil in a tailored suit. Calm. Composed. Dangerous.
Xavier Blackwood.
His gaze swept the room slowly—landing on my father, then on me.
And when our eyes locked... I forgot how to breathe.
__________________________________________
InkedBySifi
"And that's where I'll leave them for now... tell me, what did your heart feel in this chapter?"
"Did this chapter leave a scar or a smile? I'd love to hear your thoughts below."
"So... what are you thinking right now? Share your heart with mine in the comments."