Page 156 of Mystic's Sunrise

She sighed, long and theatrical, like she was bored already. Then stretched her legs out and gave the documents a lazy glance. “And if I don’t?”

I ground my teeth. “Then we do this the hard way.”

Her eyes flashed.

And just like that—the game ended.

She stood. Slow. Deliberate. And I felt it. The shift in the air. The moment she decided to go for blood. “I have to say,” she murmured, stepping closer, “I wassurprisedwhen I found out about her.”

My gut tightened. I didn’t react. Didn’t flinch. Because I knew—fuck, I knew—whatever came next was meant to rip me apart.

“Did you know she’s not even a citizen?” she went on, head tilted, her tone dripping sugar. “That her little ‘run for freedom’ wasn’t exactly legal?”

Still, I stayed silent.

“You think you can just walk away from me, Kain?” Her voice dropped—low, sharp, venom laced in every syllable. “You really think I won’t burn everything down on my way out?” A slow, cruel smile curved her lips. “Because I can make one call. Just one. And they’ll rip her away from you.”

I snapped.

I moved too fast.

One second she was smug and untouchable—

The next, her back hit the wall, hard. My hand slammed beside her head. My body trembled with the force it tooknotto do what every part of me screamed for.

She gasped. But it wasn’t fear in her eyes. It wassatisfaction.

Because sheknew. She had gotten to me. Had dragged me back into the worst parts of myself.

“Careful, sweetheart,” she whispered, thick with poison and sugar. “You wouldn’t want to do something you’ll regret.”

My pulse thundered. My blood boiled. And she wasn’t done.

Her lips curled again. “You know, I’ve been thinking—”

I didn’t give a fuck what she’d been thinking.

“It’d be a shame if certain...storiesgot out.”

I froze.

She dragged a fingernail down my arm—slow, taunting. “People love a scandal. And if they thought your sweet little refugee wasn’t some innocent victim... if they thought sheknewwhat she was getting into...”

“Chelsea,” I warned, voice shaking, low and lethal.

Her smile stretched wider. “I could ruin her, Kain. You know that, right?”

Rage swallowed me whole, and I could feel the violence winning. Then, a hand clamped down on my shoulder. Strong. Solid.

“That’s enough.” Devil’s voice cut through the storm like a blade of ice.

I had barely registered the door slamming shut behind him or the heavy boot steps sounding across the hardwood. Because all I could see washer—that smirk, that twisted satisfaction. That goddamnvictoryin her eyes.

“Get out,” Devil said. Calm. Controlled. Final.

Chelsea let out a soft laugh—but the edge of confidence was gone. She hadn’t planned for him. She thought she’d have me alone.

He stepped between us, his broad frame cutting her off from my sight like a wall of iron. “You don’t get to threaten one of ours and walk away clean.”

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