The sound of his voice struck Jaden like lightning.
That tone—smooth, arrogant, dangerous—he could never forget it.
Lydia's eyes darted between them. "Brother?" she whispered, disbelief cutting through her breath.
The man stepped forward, slow and deliberate. The dim light caught the faint scar that ran across his cheek. His eyes, the same shade of ice as Jaden's, locked on to them both.
"Hello, Lydia," he said with a smirk. "You're prettier than I expected."
Jaden's jaw tightened. "Don't you dare say her name."
"Oh, relax," the man chuckled. "Always the protector, aren't you? Just like when you protected me—until you didn't."
Lydia's confusion deepened. "What's he talking about?"
Jaden's silence said it all.
The man—Damian Steele—took another step closer.
He was the kind of presence that filled a room without shouting. Calm. Calculated. Deadly.
"You really didn't tell her?" Damian mocked. "That I'm the reason you left the family business? That you ran away instead of facing what you did?"
"Enough," Jaden said coldly, raising his gun.
But Damian didn't flinch. He smiled, like he had been waiting for this moment for years.
"You think I came here to kill you? No, little brother," he said softly. "I came to save you. You're in way over your head, and now she—" he tilted his head toward Lydia "—is your biggest weakness."
Lydia's pulse quickened.
The way Damian looked at her made her skin crawl.
But Jaden didn't lower the weapon.
"Walk away, Damian," he warned. "Before I make you regret stepping into this place."
Damian laughed quietly, unbothered.
"Oh, Jaden. You still don't get it, do you? I'm not here to fight you. I'm here because the board wants you alive. For now."
He tossed a sleek black envelope onto the floor.
It slid across the dust toward Jaden's feet.
"Inside is everything they've planned for you," Damian said, his voice dropping. "But make no mistake, brother — the moment she walks away from you, they'll come for her too."
Then, without another word, he turned and vanished into the darkness—his footsteps fading into the echoing silence.
Lydia's voice trembled. "Jaden, what does he mean? What's in that file?"
Jaden didn't answer. He crouched down slowly and picked up the envelope. His hands were steady, but his eyes were wild—haunted.
He ripped it open. Inside were photos. Documents. Transaction slips.
And one image that made Lydia's heart stop.
It was her.
Taken from outside her apartment. From the night she met Jaden.
Her breath caught in her throat. "They've been watching me…"
Jaden's voice was low, almost a growl. "Damian wasn't lying. They're coming for us both."
He stood, eyes burning with fury and fear.
For the first time, Lydia saw him not as the untouchable billionaire — but as a man fighting to stay alive.
"What do we do now?" she whispered.
He looked at her, and his expression softened just a little.
"We disappear," he said. "Before they make their next move."
But before he could finish, a faint red dot appeared on his shoulder — the unmistakable glow of a sniper's laser sight.
Lydia's scream tore through the air.
"JADEN—!"
He shoved her down as the bullet shattered the glass behind them.
The warehouse plunged into chaos a
gain — but this time, the enemy wasn't inside.
It was outside… waiting.