The rooftop breeze had turned cooler by the time dessert arrived. Beatrice set her fork down, eyes glittering from wine and something softer. The table between her and Ren was scattered with half-finished dishes and unfinished stories.
"I almost forgot," Ren said, leaning closer. "There's this quiet noodle shop by the riverbank. Tianlei used to—"
Bang
A sharp light split the air. A streak of red light not a flare, but a tracer round, shot across the sky.
Ren stiffened.
Beatrice was already moving.
The rooftop shuddered as a concussive thud ripped through the lower floors. Smoke belched upward, followed by the heavy clatter of boots.
They were surrounded.
Meanwhile, Allison had just changed into her pyjamas when her phone buzzed.
"They're inside." She couldn't recognise the number.
Her head snapped up.
The next second, the windows shattered.
Black-clad figures burst into the living room like shadows come to life, faces masked, rifles up, sharp movements trained for kill zones.
Tianlei had been drawing dragons in his book. Now he stood, small and quiet, his charcoal pencil still in hand staring at them as if they were pests in the wrong place.
They didn't notice him.
Allison caught the first attacker with the edge of her foot, spinning low and fast. Her body still remembered how to move, even with her little baby bump. Her flame-forged sword flared briefly, a sword of fire but then invisible again. She didn't need full power for them.
---
"Move" Ren shouted, grabbing Beatrice wrist. They dove behind the bar counter as bullets sprayed into the outdoor seating, shattering glasses and flames of candlelight.
Below, the stairwell door burst open, six, no, seven armed men stormed out.
Beatrice pulled her hair free from its clip, cracking her neck. "How long have they been watching?"
Ren unholstered two short blades from his back. "Long enough to forget we were built for this."
The next few seconds were bullets and limbs.
Beatrice moved like silk tearing across stone, a sharp, clean, brutal strike. One man went down with his knee shattered. Another screamed as she wrenched the gun from his grip and sent it flying into Ren's waiting hand.
"Take over," she said.
Ren didn't need the invitation.
He tore into the others like water through paper, silent, efficient, ruthless. His moves smooth, they couldn't predict his movements. Beatrice stood there reminiscing of the past. This was the father of her child, a man who also dominates worlds. It was then she realised that she never wanted to be away from him again.
---
The Lu Villa was now a war zone.
A sudden wind slammed the front doors open, a dozen attackers thrown back by a force they couldn't see.
His white shirt was stained with dust and fury. His silver eyes glowed dimly.
Allison met his gaze. "The nursery—"
He vanished from her side.
The air ripped as he crashed into the men upstairs.
Beatrice and Yevana crashed through the villa gates from the side street at the same time, blood on their sleeves and fury on their heels. Yevana took out three men with a sweep of daggers. Beatrice ducked under a swinging baton, caught it, and used it to crack the attacker's jaw open. Blood spouting like it was water.
"Where's Tianlei?" she shouted over the noise.
---
LIVING ROOM
The boy hadn't moved. He stood in the corner, untouched, unnoticed.
But his eyes… were cold and distant.
Not scared. He didn't cry. Just cold and observing.
A man lunged toward him.
Tianlei didn't flinch.
But the attacker tripped violently, his foot catching on something unseen. His body slammed to the floor hard, then hit the room door as his body fell into many pieces. A black thread slipped from the man's body to Tianlei's hand.
Tianlei looked down.
And then he smiled, just slightly.
"You messed with the wrong people."
Fifteen intruders. All subdued.
Lucian stood at the center of it all, shirt torn, knuckles bloodied. Allison was at his side, cheeks flushed, but her baby safe.
Yevana was checking for explosives. Beatrice was stitching up a graze on her arm. Ren stood silent by the window, watching the cleanup teams roll in.
The mafia gang had underestimated everything.
They thought it was just a rich estate with a handsome CEO.
They didn't know Lucian was Celestial-born.
They didn't know Allison bloodline was flame-wrapped.
They also didn't know that there was a monster there as a little boy.
They didn't know the people closest to them were trained for war.
But someone had tipped them off.
And that someone wanted Allison to be vulnerable.
************
Elarian's domain hadn't changed even after settling down recently.
Still the color of bone and flame. Still suspended between ruin and reverence. Where shadows slithered like servants and chandeliers hung like webs from ceilings carved in obsidian.
Yevana stood before the gates alone. She has thought he slipped alone but she didn't know he also took some of his minions.
The guards didn't stop her. She had once ruled in a realm beside him.
And now… she came only to confirm her hatred.
Inside, the air was thick with incense and lust. The walls breathed sin. Laughter echoed from the throne room — low, indulgent, the kind that curdled blood.
She walked in without permission.
And there he was.
Lounging like a god bored with worship.
The Devil.
Lucian's father.
Her lover.
Still wrapped in gold and darkness, wearing that half-smile that had once made her heart skipped. A smirk that no longer touched her. Still as handsome as ever, gloriously handsome.
Beside him knelt a blue-eyed woman, unclothed, hair falling in waves down her back, her body pressed shamelessly close as she whispered into his skin. Her voice blurred with desperate pleasure and the urge to be noticed.
Elarian didn't stop her. He didn't even glance down.
His eyes were only on Yevana.
"You came" he said, his voice soft and magnificent.
Yevana didn't speak.
She didn't move.
The woman at his feet gasped too loudly " mhm" — attention-seeking, needy. Elarian silenced her with a hand to the back of her head and a sharp downward push at his groin.
Yevana looked away, disgust flashing across her face. It wasn't jealousy nor was it bitterness
"You left," he said, as if continuing a conversation unfinished. "But I never gave you permission."
Yevana laughed coldly. "You think I needed it?"
He rose slowly, ignoring the woman still at his feet. His body like a Greek god, the type that always made her heart beat wildly.
"She's pregnant," he said softly. "You know what that means, don't you? I'll kill both her and the child if you don't bring her. If you bring her to me, you get to keep the child with you. It's a win-win situation."
Yevana's jaw tightened.
"If you hand her over, I'll forgive your little rebellion" he continued. "You'll be stronger than ever. A queen again not just a castoff wandering mortal streets." He sat down again.
She stared at him, eyes hard as steel.
"You want her blood," she said. "To keep your empire alive. You want your son's child… to fuel your broken throne." She spat angrily.
The blue-eyed woman whimpered beneath him, making a sound that drew both their attention — too loud, too eager.
Elarian smiled, sharp and cruel.
"You always hated watching," he smirked, "but you haven't look away."
"I came to see if there was anything left worth saving or staying with" she said, her voice hollow. "There's nothing."
She walked away.
And didn't see the way his smile faltered behind her as he pushed the blue eyed woman away.