Page 37

Chapter 36

Seanna

“No,” I whisper, like denial alone can make it untrue. “You’re lying.”

The name echoes—louder inside my skull than in the room. Vaughn . It shouldn’t shake me this hard. Shouldn’t feel like someone’s kicked a hole straight through my stomach. But it does.

Because that name means something. It means Max. It means safety. It means childhood memories of being told not to touch the encrypted drives on his desk. It means trust .

And now it means this ?

I stare at Ruin—Huxley—like if I glare hard enough, maybe the mask will crack. Maybe this whole fucking fantasy will dissolve and leave me with a version of reality that makes sense.

“Max never said anything,” I snap, voice rising sharp and raw. “Not once. Not even a hint.”

Except… that’s not true.

The memory punches through the haze like a knife between ribs—just last week, he had let something slip. Not much. Barely a whisper. But it was there. A shadow in his eyes. A quiet nod. A line about keeping people hidden to protect them. I’d brushed it off at the time, assumed it was just his usual cryptic bullshit. But now? Now it clicks. Now it burns.

“No one could know.” Ruin’s voice doesn’t waver. “Not after what almost happened to my mother.”

That stills me.

“What happened to her?” I ask slowly.

Ruin leans forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees. “She was targeted before I was even born. Max told me it was because of his work. Because he got too close to something someone wanted buried. He doesn’t talk about the details. Only that he spent months with her in hiding. After that, he moved us constantly. Never the same place twice. Never told anyone. Not even your parents.”

I try to breathe, but there’s something thick in my chest now. Something that tastes like betrayal and grief, old and fresh all at once.

“He didn’t want us to be found,” Ruin says. “Didn’t want me to be found. He always said the safest secret is the one no one even knows exists. He kept me off the grid. No birth records. No schools. No friends. Just training. Constant relocation.”

My pulse stutters.

“Max doesn't trust anyone around his family,” Ruin continues, voice softening just a fraction beneath the harsh modulation. “He couldn't afford to. But he did tell me stories. When I was little, he’d come home late some nights, sit on the edge of my bed, and tell me what I thought were bedtime stories. But they weren’t fairy tales—they were real people, hidden in plain sight. He'd tell me about your parents. About Agent Alexandra Darling and the two men who loved her enough to tear the world apart.”

I swallow hard, my throat dry, a lump forming as I try to picture Max—stoic, guarded Max—sharing anything so intimate, so personal.

“He started telling me about these beautiful twin girls,” Ruin continues, and something twists low in my stomach at the tone in his voice—soft, almost reverent. “Hydessa, quiet and steady. And Seanna—the black-haired girl with a spirit of fire, the little storm of a girl who fought every rule, who burned bright and fierce. Even before I ever saw your face, even before I knew what you looked like, you were already seared into my mind. You’d wormed your way into a part of me I couldn’t rip out even if I tried.”

My breath stalls, throat tightening. I can feel Rule watching us, silent and still as stone, but I can’t look away from Ruin.

“He didn’t know he was planting seeds,” Ruin continues. “But every story Max told wormed its way into my bones. Especially yours. Because of those stories I knew you. Seanna, the storm. The untamed fire. The fearless girl who laughed when most people would scream.”

My chest aches, something heavy settling into the hollow space carved by his words.

“How did Rule get involved?” I manage, voice quieter than I want it to be.

Ruin looks at Rule for a moment. “We were teenagers. Bored, too smart for our own good, both with access to places on the dark net we shouldn't have had. We met in a chat room—two kids from entirely different worlds. He had his own darkness. His own secrets. But we connected and became friends. And then…” He pauses, taking a slow breath, looking back at me. “Then, eventually, I told him about you.”

My pulse spikes painfully, fists clenching against the cuffs.

“You became our shared obsession,” he says softly. “At first, it was distant—just surveillance. Watching. Tracking. Learning every detail we could gather. But that wasn’t enough. We needed more.” His voice tightens. “We worked towards inserting ourselves into your life, carefully, subtly. Closer and closer without you even knowing. Until it felt normal to have us nearby, watching from within arm’s reach.”

I swallow hard, feeling like the walls are closing in, like the room itself is pressing against my lungs.

“You lived with Max,” I say, piecing it together slowly, like assembling shards of broken glass. “How—?”

“Max was barely ever home,” he answers quietly. “So sneaking out wasn’t hard at first. And by the time I moved out, I was already an adult. He hated it—thought I was risking everything by stepping into the open.”

I nod slowly, processing each revelation like a series of blows I can’t dodge. “If you had joined the organization, it would have been a big deal. You'd have been a legacy. That matters.”

Ruin's voice dips lower, threaded with quiet intensity. “That's exactly why I’m not part of the organization. Besides, it would be a little hard to avoid Max if I ended up working in the same place he did.”

Rule finally breaks his silence, shifting slightly from his place against the wall. His voice is calm, controlled, but with a dark undercurrent that makes my heart skip. “Taking you wasn't the original plan. We were going to do things slowly. Carefully. Earn your trust, make you see we weren't your enemies. But then you set yourself on a mission to take out Javier.”

I raise my chin, ignoring the tightening ache in my chest. “Javier needed to be stopped. You, of all people, should understand that.”

Rule exhales slowly, and his mask gleams in the dim light. "I understood better than anyone, Seanna. Even when you targeted Javier directly, we weren’t intending to rush things. But you were too fucking good at what you do. You kept working your way closer, relentlessly dismantling his operation piece by piece, until one night I overheard him talking about you with his men. At first, he wasn’t overly concerned—just another agent thinking she could rattle his cage. But when you pulled Diego into your web, and then set your sights on Cruz, Javier decided you were too dangerous to let live."

My pulse quickens, fury and fear tangling sharply beneath my ribs. “So what, you thought kidnapping me was the best solution?”

“It was the only solution,” Ruin answers quietly, his voice hardening with conviction. “We weren’t going to let Javier have you. Not after everything—not after how deeply you’d embedded yourself in both our lives, even from a distance. We knew exactly what Javier would do if he caught you first.”

My stomach twists, nausea rising bitterly at the realization. I’d known it was dangerous. I'd known I was painting a target on myself, but hearing it confirmed so plainly...

“Letting Hydessa know you've been taken has only put you at risk.” Rule continues, his voice low, careful. “Someone could track your location simply by your family trying to find you. Javier has eyes everywhere.”

Frustration simmers beneath my skin. “So what? I'm supposed to stay locked up here indefinitely?”

“No.” Ruin stands abruptly, moving toward me, his presence filling the room with quiet intensity. I tense instinctively as he reaches for the cuffs, but all he does is unlock them, the restraints falling away, leaving my wrists free. He steps back, giving me space. “You’re not a captive here, Seanna. Not anymore. But Javier won't stop until you're dead, and we’re begging you—don’t leave. Don't put yourself at risk when we’re already working to take him out.”

My wrists feel strange without the cuffs, lighter but then my heart is still heavy with the weight of the moment. I look between the two men, caught between resentment, confusion, and something dangerously close to trust. Their words circle in my head, relentless, digging into every crack I thought I’d sealed shut. They’re not just trying to keep me locked away. They’re trying to keep me alive.

I lick my lips slowly, voice softer now. “Do I get to see your faces, then?”

Rule laughs, a low sound edged with dark amusement, while Ruin hums—a quiet, thoughtful sound.

“Yes,” Ruin answers eventually. “But not right now.”

I narrow my eyes slightly, suspicion rising again, but before I can speak, he steps closer. Close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body standing so close to the bed, even through the layers of black.

His gloved hand rises slowly, and I flinch—just barely—before freezing as he brushes a strand of hair away from my face. His touch is gentle. Unexpected. The leather cool against my skin. It’s not possessive. Not harsh. Just… tender. Reverent, even.

My breath hitches.

My brain screams at me not to soften. Not to feel. But I find myself tilting into his touch, aching for something I don’t dare name. It’s so stupid. So dangerous. But in this moment, I want more than I should. Crave more than I’m willing to admit.

“I know you want to see our faces,” he murmurs, thumb ghosting near my cheekbone, “but I want you to see what’s beneath all this first. Prove you can be a good girl. That you understand… what matters is what we feel together. What we make you feel.”

His voice is low, intimate. It crawls under my skin, coils around my spine.

I should shove him away. But I don’t.

Because part of me—the part I’ve been trying to kill for days—wants to believe him. Wants to see what’s underneath.

His hand lingers for a moment longer, thumb tracing just beneath my jaw before falling away. But the imprint of his touch remains, ghostlike and impossibly vivid.

He studies me quietly, then adds, softer this time, almost hesitant—

“I became obsessed with you before I ever saw your face. The girl in the stories. The storm Max described. The fire no one could put out. That’s who I fell for first. And maybe… maybe we’re hoping, just a little, that soon you might start to feel the same before seeing ours.”

The ache in my chest blooms outward, confusion and heat crashing together in my ribs. I hate that they’re inside me like this, clawing through everything I thought I was.

But I don’t move.

I don’t tell them to leave.

Because deep down, part of me doesn’t want to.