Chapter Eleven – Ghosts in the Dark
The air in the penthouse thickened, charged with a tension so sharp it could cut through steel.
Leila's pulse hammered as Alexander Wolfe stepped inside, his presence a quiet storm. He hadn't changed. The same calculating blue eyes. The same effortless confidence. The kind that made people nervous before he even said a word.
Cassius didn't move. Didn't speak. But the look in his eyes spoke volumes.
Jaxon let out a low whistle from his seat. "Well, well. Thought you were long gone, Wolfe. Dead, even. But you always had a habit of showing up when the fire was hottest."
Leila swallowed hard. Alexander had vanished without a trace months ago—right before things had gone to hell. Now, here he was, slipping back into their world like he'd never left.
Cassius's voice was dangerously calm when he finally spoke. "Where the hell have you been?"
Alexander exhaled, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Watching."
Leila's stomach twisted.
Cassius's jaw flexed. "Watching what?"
Alexander's gaze flicked to her, then back to Cassius. "Everything."
Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Then Cassius moved.
Not much—just a subtle shift, a flicker of something lethal in his stance—but Alexander caught it. He didn't flinch. Didn't even blink.
"You think I betrayed you," Alexander murmured.
Cassius didn't answer. He didn't need to.
Jaxon leaned back, smirking. "Hate to break up the staring contest, boys, but unless Wolfe came back from the dead with something useful, we're wasting time."
Alexander's smirk faded. He reached into his jacket, pulled out a flash drive, and set it on the glass table between them.
"This," he said, voice smooth but edged with something dark, "is the real game."
Cassius picked up the drive, rolling it between his fingers. "What's on it?"
Alexander's expression hardened. "Proof that whoever's coming for you isn't playing. They want you both dead. And they've been planning it for a long time."
A chill slithered down Leila's spine.
Cassius didn't hesitate. He strode to his desk, plugged the drive into his encrypted laptop, and pulled up the files.
The first thing that loaded was a list of names.
Cassius Beaumont.
Leila Carter.
Jaxon Grey.
Each name had a file. Beneath them, dates. Locations. Surveillance reports.
Every move they had made in the last three months.
Leila's throat went dry. "This is…" She shook her head. "This is insane."
Alexander's expression darkened. "It gets worse."
He clicked on a folder labeled 'Final Execution.'
A blueprint of Beaumont Tower appeared on the screen.
Detailed schematics. Escape routes. Attack points.
Planned to the second.
Cassius's face remained unreadable, but Leila could feel the shift in the room. The weight of what this meant.
Someone was coming for them.
And they knew everything.