"You are different than I thought," Sebastian's cold, dark voice echoes in the silent car.
I raise an eyebrow. Sebastian Von Klest is a confusing character. That infuriating half-smile on his lips tells me his plan isn't going accordingly, which makes him both annoyed and intrigued.
"You see, that little vixen is good at throwing herself on any man who shows even the smallest bit of kindness," his voice drips with disdain.
My jaw clenches in rage. "Are you calling my best friend a vixen right before me?"
He laughs low and runs his fingers through his golden locks. "Even vixens are better than her." He looks at me curiously. "You wanna know how this entire thing even started between me and that friend of yours?"
Sebastian's eyes drill into mine with strange resentment, a deep, festering anger whose source clearly lies in Beatrix. My gut twists in unease. There's something deeply unsettling about how calm he is while talking about all this.
"Say."
Sebastian looks back at the road. The night sky is dark and cloudy, the city lights fading behind us as he keeps driving in silence. His eyes are calm, yet there's a glint of madness in them — the same kind I once saw in Julian Laurent's eyes.
"Do you know about the five conglomerate families of Germany who run the country's economy from the shadows?"
I frown, confused about what the five conglomerate families have to do with his affair. Honestly, the power web is so complicated that real power hides in the shadows. It's hard to know who the true players are.
Sebastian doesn't wait for my answer.
"Von Klest, Weber, Steinberg, Ludwig, and..." he pauses, his voice dropping an octave lower, "Wolff."
My eyes widen. My head snaps toward him, my grip on my handbag tightening. A sharp breath of disbelief leaves my mouth.
"Are you telling me..." I whisper, unable to finish my sentence. I press a hand to my face, trying to process the information. Sebastian gives me a knowing look.
"Seems like you never knew."
I swallow hard. It's a different kind of betrayal, one I never saw coming. Beatrix — from one of the families that secretly run Germany's economy? But she told me her father was a lawyer, and her mother, a fashion designer, died twenty years ago.
The hum of the car engine is the only sound in the heavy silence of the night.
"She's the youngest daughter of the current patriarch of the Wolff family, Heinrich Siegfried Wolff. Well, technically, she's the illegitimate daughter of Heinrich Wolff. Her birth mother's whereabouts are unknown."
Suddenly, the air inside the car feels suffocating. The cold wind from the AC brushes my skin, but it can't cool the heat rising in my chest. My spine goes rigid, rebelling against the chaos inside me.
"I met her for the first time at a Christmas party four years ago in Berlin. Her father introduced her to me." Sebastian's tone grows low and dangerous, his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead, illuminated only by the headlights.
"I didn't think much of her — just another daughter of a wealthy man. My wife was home with our son, and I wasn't at that party by choice."
He blinks slowly, his jaw clenching in visible rage and resentment. "I just had one glass of champagne that a waiter handed me while I was talking to that father-daughter duo. Harmless, right?"
He laughs bitterly at the memory, a mocking echo of the night that changed everything.
"Within minutes, I was out of my mind. My body felt heavy, my head was spinning, and I couldn't even speak properly when Heinrich Wolff, that sly fox, told me to go rest in a hotel room."
He slams his hand against the steering wheel as he takes a sharp turn, the car jolting hard.
I can already guess where this is going. My chest feels tight, heavy, like something is pressing down on my lungs.
I wish, God, I wish, Sebastian would show one hint of lying. But even the best manipulators can't fake that kind of rage — pure, raw, and destructive.
"And when I woke up the next day, Beatrix Elizabeth Wolff was lying naked beside me in the hotel bed," his face twists in disgust.
"There was no way she could've been in my room. I remember walking up alone before I passed out from the unbearable pain and arousal in my body."
I whisper, "She... assaulted you."
Sebastian laughs bitterly. "That's one way to put it. Imagine — the heir of Germany's most powerful family, drugged and taken while asleep."
He unfastens his watch and throws it into the backseat. Sweat beads along his temple and neck despite the chill of the AC — a silent marker of the trauma that clings to him like a shadow.
"I demanded answers, but she cried, saying her father forced her into it." He scoffs. "I confronted Heinrich Wolff the same day, furious. And you know what he did? He showed me a sex tape of me and Beatrix."
He growls as the car accelerates, the dashboard vibrating faintly. "Von Klest and Wolff families had always been close. When I told my father, he said I shouldn't ruin things between us over 'just one thing.'"
I frown. "Your father said that? Even though you're married to the Chancellor's daughter?"
Sebastian clicks his tongue. "That's the funniest part. My father wanted to use me to strengthen the Von Klests' position on both fronts."
I've heard stories from classmates back in grad school about how their families decide everything for them. Wealth looks glamorous, but it's a gilded cage.
"I resisted. But leaving the family isn't an option for a Von Klest. Leaving means betrayal. And betrayal, in our language, means annihilation."
His eyes darken. The car fills with silence again, thick and suffocating.
"At first, I thought... okay, let's play the game. Beatrix didn't seem to enjoy it either, so maybe we could pretend. Avoid pressure from both sides."
He laughs bitterly, mocking himself. "I never touched her after that night — not a single hair. I respected her, encouraged her, treated her like a friend. But that bare minimum made her sickly obsessed with me."
I lean back, speechless. I've seen it first-hand. Beatrix is indeed obsessed — unhealthily so. She talks about her 'boyfriend' nonstop, stares at his photo for hours, and never shows us his face. We didn't push — everyone has their secrets. But now, it all makes sense.
"She started sending weird gifts to my house, showing up at my sets, following me everywhere. Calling when I was with my wife and kids." His lips tremble, the corners of his eyes redden, his voice cracks under the weight of old pain.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply, trying to process his side of the story.
"I told my father she was insane, but he told me to bear with her. 'Make use of the perks that come with Beatrix Wolff,' he said." His tone turns glacial.
I straighten up as Sebastian presses harder on the accelerator. The car roars forward. My breathing quickens with the rising speed and the cold fear creeping up my spine.
He smirks, cruel and merciless, his expression darkening into something almost devilish.
"So I used Beatrix Elizabeth Wolff's brain for something I'd put on hold for years."
My voice trembles. "What did you do?"
He sneers, eyes gleaming with pain and vengeance. "I started my grand plan to destroy the man I once called brother — the one who betrayed me. Beatrix became my wildcard."
He glances at me, his expression hard. "So, until I destroy that bastard, I'm not letting go of that little vixen."
"Even if it means cheating on your wife and children?" I ask coldly.
His eyes darken further. "I'm not cheating. Not physically, not emotionally. Beatrix is my mistress by name only. I've never touched her sober."
I stare at him in disbelief. "Are you fucking crazy?"
He laughs low, almost ready to reply — but his expression changes. His pupils widen as headlights flash toward us.
"Fuck! Lower your head and hold on to the dashboard unless you wanna die!"
My heart drops at his shout. He spins the wheel violently; the car swerves, tires screeching. My body jolts; my head spins. He reaches out, pressing my head down as metal screams against asphalt.
The car slams into a tree, the sound sharp and deafening. My body rattles. Sebastian's hand stays firm on the back of my head.
"Seems like you're born under unlucky stars, witnessing a face-off between two mafia underbosses," he mutters darkly.
I stare at him, horrified. "Wait… you're—"
He removes his hand, his expression twisting into something predatory, a bloodthirsty grin cutting across his face.
A gunshot cracks the air outside. My whole body freezes, the sound echoing in my skull.
"Yeah," he says, reaching under his seat and pulling out a sleek black gun. "I happen to be a mafia. And that bastard out there? The biggest sadist in the underworld."
My throat goes dry. The realization hits — if Sebastian truly wanted me dead, he could have done it anytime. That gun was under his feet the whole drive.
"Are you going to kill me?" I whisper, voice shaking.
He glances at me and smirks. "I was going to. But you're more interesting than I thought — for a best friend of that vixen."
My fingers dig into my handbag until my nails ache. I try to suppress the shaking in my hands, the pounding in my chest.
Three more gunshots. I flinch hard, eyes squeezing shut.
Sebastian narrows his eyes. "Aren't you too cowardly for someone who dared to threaten me in my own car?"
My lips tremble. Shame burns hot in my cheeks. "These two aren't the same."
He sneers in amusement and pulls out another gun. "Ever held one before?"
"No."
"You should learn. You've just walked into a maze of power and secrets, Nova. The kind of maze elites kill to keep hidden."
There's something in his voice — a warning, a threat, maybe both.
"Don't worry," he adds, grinning as he loads his gun. "Neither I nor that sadist outside will kill you."
I frown. "What do you mean?"
He shrugs casually. "Let's just say you fall under an unspoken law. Unless directly involved, we don't touch women."
I let out a dry, humorless laugh. "What a great way to comfort me."
Another gunshot. I flinch again.
Sebastian huffs in irritation. "Stay inside, Nova. That sadist's impatient."
He steps out of the car and slams the door shut.
I hug myself tightly, rocking like I used to when I was twelve. The car is soundproof; I can't hear anything outside — only the thud of my heartbeat and the ringing in my ears.
My breathing grows ragged, my chest rising and falling unevenly.
Then the car door on my side opens.
I freeze. My eyes catch a pair of black shoes on the cold concrete. Muffled voices — Sebastian's and another man's — ring faintly.
My lips tremble. Before I can look up, a cold hand covers my eyes.
"Nggh—"
I whimper as a sharp sting pierces my neck. My body grows heavy. My vision blurs.
And before I can make sense of anything, I lose consciousness.