Chapter 2 - The Five Words
The corridor felt colder than it had a moment ago.
Caleb stepped closer, his shadow falling over Mireia. His face was flushed, his eye twitching with the quiet rage of a man whose pride had been damaged in public. "Mireia, stop acting crazy. You're making a scene out of nothing. Everyone knows people say things they don't mean when they're stressed."
"You didn't say it because you were stressed," Mireia said, her voice steadying despite the tremor in her heart. "You said it because you finally forgot to pretend."
"You think anyone else would put up with you?" Caleb snapped, his voice dropping into that familiar, quiet venom he reserved for when they were alone. "You’re too blunt. You’re too stubborn. You don’t fit into my world, Mireia. I gave you a place at my side. I gave you that ring."
"And I gave it back," she replied, holding his glare.
Before Caleb could grab her wrist, heavy footsteps echoed against the marble floor.
A shadow, broad and towering, stretched across the hallway. The temperature in the corridor seemed to plummet further.
Darius Villano stepped out of the shadows.
He was imposing in person, far more than the icy photographs in the financial journals suggested. Dressed in a tailored black suit with no tie, the top button of his dark shirt undone, he moved with the predatory grace of someone who owned every inch of the city he walked on. His dark eyes weren't fixed on Caleb.
They were fixed on Mireia's neck.
Or rather, on the antique silver pendant resting against her collarbone—a crest framed by carved iron leaves, an heirloom passed down from her late grandmother that Caleb had always told her was cheap and ugly.
Darius paused three feet away. His gaze lingered on the tiny, faint mark stamped into the silver base of the pendant—a crest of a dragon intertwined with a crest of iron. A mark known only to the founding families of the underworld.
Caleb stiffened, instantly shifting into his sycophantic business persona. "Mr. Villano! I am so sorry for this disturbance. My fiancée is just having a small emotional episode. We’ll be done in a minute, and then we can discuss the financing for Wren Harbor—"
Darius didn't even look at Caleb. He didn't blink. He simply walked straight past him, forcing Caleb to take a hasty step back into the wall.
Darius stopped directly in front of Mireia. Up close, he smelled of cedarwood, expensive tobacco, and subtle danger. He looked down into her eyes, his expression unreadable, yet his dark eyes burned with an intense, sudden focus.
He reached out slowly, his large, gloved hand hovering inches from her chest before lifting the silver pendant gently with two fingers. He examined the hidden mark on the back.
Then, Darius looked up, meeting Mireia's startled eyes.
He spoke five words, his voice low, resonant, and absolute:
"You are coming with me."
Silence fell over the hallway like a heavy blanket.
Caleb blinked, stunned. "I... excuse me? Mr. Villano, this is my personal matter. She’s my fiancée—"
"She threw your ring on the floor," Darius said smoothly, not turning his head. His tone was as cold as liquid nitrogen. "Which means she is no longer anything to you."
"You can't just take her!" Caleb insisted, trying to step forward, though his posture lacked any real courage. "We have a contract regarding Wren Harbor! My family’s firm—"
Darius finally turned his head slightly, giving Caleb a sideways glance that made the younger man instantly freeze in his tracks.
"Wren Harbor is canceled," Darius said softly. "Your credit lines are frozen as of thirty seconds ago. And if you take one more step toward this woman, I will ensure your family’s firm doesn't survive until sunrise."
Caleb’s face turned paper-white. "What? You can't do that!"
"I just did," Darius said. He turned back to Mireia, holding out his gloved hand. He didn't grab her. He didn't force her. He simply offered it, a silent invitation, a doorway out of the cage she had lived in for six years.
"Miss Dalton," Darius said softly, his voice surprisingly gentle compared to the ice in his words to Caleb. "Walk with me."
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Mireia looked at Caleb, whose face was distorted with shock and panic. Then she looked at Darius Villano—a man feared by politicians and criminals alike, offering her an exit.
Without a second thought, Mireia placed her hand in his.
