Ilian
I opened my eyes to a suffocating brightness as the world came into view. Everything around me was white and loud and wrong. The sterile lights stabbed straight through my skull. My breath hitched, and pain tore up my leg like something chewing through the muscle.
Kai stood at the foot of the bed, hands in his pockets, exhaustion and disappointment dragging at his posture.
His mouth twitched. "You've gotten weaker, I see."
I looked at the IV taped to my hand. Then lower. The bandages. The stitched mess pulsing with poison. The pain roared back slicing into me, and my head thudded against the pillow.
Kai clicked his tongue. "So weak."
"Shut the fuck up," I growled. Speaking hurt. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. The bullet was still in me, metaphorically if not literally, its poison coiling through organs, muscles screaming under every shift.
Valevskys were damn good at making lethal weapons.
I shut my eyes. The memories barrelled through me, each one a punch to the ribs. Gloria's scream, the SUV doors slamming, the rain, the darkness closing in. Rage curled in the base of my throat. I forced myself not to rip the wires out and destroy this entire floor.
"They took her." Kai placed a stool beside me.
"I know." My bones cracked as I dragged myself upright on my elbows. "Have they tried to contact me yet?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Dmitri. It was always fucking Dmitri. His plan was so predictable it would've insulted me if it weren't so dangerous. Gloria had been the target long before I met her. He just needed the right moment to strike.
Kai spoke. "Her family is outside."
I froze.
He continued with a flat voice. "They're being very… civil. You know, trying not to come in and put three hundred bullets in your skull."
I almost snorted. "I expected more enthusiasm."
Before he could reply, the door slammed open so hard the metal handle dented the wall.
Nico stormed in first as a force of pure fury. Gloria's father right behind him, hand gripping his son's shoulder in a useless attempt to restrain him.
"You," Nico spat, pointing at me as if he'd tear my throat out. "Where the hell is she?!"
His father exhaled sharply, trying to steady him. "Nico—"
"No." Nico's voice cracked like thunder. His eyes burned, raw and bloodshot. "He knows something. Start talking, Valevsky."
Kai stood up in defence but not ready to attack. I didn't blink.
I kept my voice controlled. "She was taken by Dmitri."
Nico surged forward, but his father held him back with both hands. He was trembling with fury, but he forced his tone to stay steady. "Why? Give me one good reason why anyone in your world would take my daughter."
I exhaled slowly through my nose. "He wants the throne."
Silence rippled then broke when Gloria's mother gasped. I didn't notice the woman in a crying mess until now. She stood trembling beside Nico.
I continued, gaze cutting through all of them. "And he wants your family gone. Executed. Every last one."
Their expressions tightened. Shock registered on their faces but it was as if they were expecting it.
"He knows the only way to break me," I said, voice dropping, "is through her."
Nico swallowed hard, fists shaking. "You're saying she—what? Became leverage? A hostage in some power play you caused?"
"She is everyone's weakness," I answered. "Yours. Your father's. And unfortunately," my jaw tensed, "mine."
Nico stepped closer, voice low and venomous. "If she dies because of you—"
"She won't." My tone cut him off. "No man has the audacity to put a scar on her."
Nico stared at me like he could carve me open with his bare hands. Then he said nothing, turned, and stormed out. His father lingered a moment longer, eyes heavy with something between rage and fear.
"What happens next?" he asked.
I knew the man to have nerves of still but if there was something I shared with him it was the grippling amount of protectiveness we felt for Gloria.
I didn't look away from him. "War."
He nodded once tightly, then with eyes that sparked a warning, he left.
The room sank into a tense quiet.
Kai exhaled. "So. What now?"
______
The ride to Kai's house was a blur of painkillers fading too fast and thoughts spiraling too loud. By the time we reached the penthouse, the storm had tapered off, leaving a low fog draped across the city. The world had narrowed down to the rhythm of my breathing and the memory of Gloria's last expression before she disappeared.
The elevator ride up felt too quiet, the kind of quiet that presses on the ribs.When the doors opened, Kai didn't give me a chance to pretend I was fine; he grabbed my arm and hauled me into the apartment with all the grace of someone dragging a corpse.
"Sit," he ordered, pushing me onto the couch. "You walk like a dying goat."
"Go to hell."
"Already there," he muttered as he dropped the med kit beside my leg. "Population: you."
He knelt, ripping open the kit. The harsh scent of antiseptic filled the air as he snapped on gloves."You're not even limping properly," he said, inspecting the wound with theatrical disgust. "It's tragic. Do you want a cane? Should I carve your initials on it?"
"Kai," I warned, jaw tightening, "I will stab you with one of your own needles."
He shrugged. "Add it to your list of accomplishments."
The sting hit as he cleaned the wound, sharp and clawing, climbing my nerves. I gritted my teeth and let my head fall back against the couch, seeing nothing but white hospital light and the last glimpse of Gloria before the shot rang out.
My thoughts scattered and reformed like broken glass.
Option one: Go in head-on. Raid Dmitri's base. Tear through every guard, every wall, every barricade he thinks can stop me.A massacre was easy, satisfying, and absolutely idiotic.
Option two: Send men in quietly with stealth and extraction. No noise.A clean and smart move but too slow.
Option three: Kill Dmitri first. Cut off the head of the snake.Fast. Efficient. Bloody enough to cause a civil war.
Kai taped the bandage, smoothing the edge with two fingers as he studied me."You're thinking too loud," he said. "It's giving me a migraine."
"She's in his hands." My voice felt raw. "Every second we waste—"
"—is a second you're bleeding out on my furniture," he interrupted, lifting an eyebrow. "Which I paid for, by the way."
"I can't relax."
"That much is obvious." He snapped off the gloves. "The great Ilian Valevsky caught a case of kidnapped girlfriend syndrome—"
I shot him a murderous look. "She's not my girlfriend." I said. I would never insult her with such a title.
"Right," he nodded solemnly. "And I'm not your only friend despite resenting the position."
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at his face. He didn't move, letting it bounce pathetically off his shoulder.
"That was sad," he said. "Try again when the blood loss isn't making you throw like a toddler."
I was about to tell him exactly where he could shove the pillow when a soft chime cut through the air.
Both of us stilled.
The elevator.
No one. No one used my elevator without clearance.
Kai reached for his gun in one fluid motion. "Stay here," he said.
"I'm not staying." I pushed myself off the couch, breath sharp as fire flared up my thigh. The floor tilted under me. "If someone got into my house—"
"You'll collapse halfway there and I'll need to drag your body. Sit down."
I kept going, each step slow and stubborn. Pain screamed, but adrenaline drowned it out.
Kai beat me to the door. He checked the screen, then unlocked it and pulled it open a crack,
then froze.
"Kai?" I whispered, but it came out more like a growl.
He didn't answer immediately. His shoulders tensed and jaw locked. I saw the life draining out of his face
"Ilian…" His voice dropped. "You need to see this."
I reached the doorway, gripping the frame as my vision pulsed.
A small parcel sat neatly in the center of the hallway floor. Perfectly placed.
The moment the air shifted, the metallic smell hit me with something thick and old.
Kai crouched and opened the box.
His breath hitched.
Inside was the severed head of one of the guards I had assigned to Gloria.His mouth hung slightly open. His eyes... Those damn eyes were stuck in the last terror he saw before dying.
Beside him, on heavy black paper, embossed in a shade that looked like dried blood, was a message:
"Chase your queen."
For a moment, everything went silent.
My pulse. My breathing. My thoughts.
Then something cold... colder than any winter blade settled in my chest.
Dmitri hadn't just crossed a line.
He erased the entire map.