Page 175 of I See You

But the moment his gaze landed on her… everything shifted.

That fury… melted. His shoulders dropped slightly. His jaw loosened. And for a second, the cold was gone. His eyes softened— not weak, but vulnerable in a way that only she could pull from him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. And Hassan? He didn’t say a thing either.

Not yet. Because right now, the only thing keeping him from going back out that door to hunt down Braxton… was her.

???

(LATER that day)

Hassansatonthebalcony,aslow-burningbluntinonehand,a half-empty glass of Henny in the other. His jaw clenched, his muscles tight, rage simmering just beneath his skin. The skyline did nothing to calm him. He didn’t see the lights. Didn’t feel the breeze. All he felt was the fire in his chest.

Von’s call came out of nowhere—Braxton was at Sevyn’s clinic. Hassan had dropped everything. Didn’t think. Didn’t blink. Just moved. The thought of that snake being anywhere near her had his blood boiling. But it wasn’t just about proximity—it was Braxton’s obsession with trying to take him down, no matter who got caughtin the crossfire. And now Sevyn was being dragged into a world she didn’t ask for.

He never tried to hide who he was. From the start, he laid it all out for her—cold, raw, unfiltered. Every part of him. But this? This wasn’t just his past creeping back in. This was war. And Braxton wasn’t playing fair.

He was breaking rules, bending the truth, withholding evidence. He wasn’t trying to solve the case he was assigned. He was trying to bury Hassan. Personally. Ruthlessly. And Hassan couldn’t tell if it was out of fear or hate.

Carlos DeVille wasn’t someone you failed. He was the kind of man who made people disappear for far less than incompetence. Maybe Braxton felt the pressure. Maybe he was trying to save his own life. But if that meant putting Sevyn in the line of fire, Hassan couldn’t let that shit slide.

He exhaled a heavy cloud of smoke, his eyes low, teeth grinding.

He was always a step ahead—always. But lately Braxton was matching him move for move, like he had the playbook before the game started. Visiting Sevyn? Hassan didn’t see that coming. And when he showed up too late, and saw the panic in her eyes, the way her body tensed like she’d been shaken—he knew Braxton showed her everything.

Every secret. Every scar. Every sin.

And Hassan hated that more than anything.

Not because he was afraid of losing Sevyn. But because she didn’t deserve to carry his demons. And now she had them—right in her lap.

He took another long drag, the blunt burning low. Something had to be done. Before Braxton made another move. Before someone else he loved got hurt.

Before Sevyn walked away for good.

His eyes locked on her the moment he burst into his office, and for a second, his breath caught in his chest. She was okay—physically. But the fear behind her concern cut deeper than any bullet ever could. It was subtle, buried beneath her composure, but he saw it. Felt it. And it broke something inside him.

For the first time since he met Sevyn… she was afraid of him.

The words spilling from her mouth didn’t register. He couldn’t hear them—couldn’t feel anything but the silence crashing over him as he stood frozen, paralyzed in his own skin.

“She finally see your damaged ass for what you is. A killer,” the six-year-old version of himself said, perched on the balcony rail, swinging his legs like he was watching a movie.

Hassan gritted his teeth, trying to ignore it, but the voice only grew louder.

“You don’t deserve love, nigga. When you gone realize that?” Ten- year-old Hassan added, seated right beside the younger version, both of them staring with amused cruelty.

“You scared her,” six-year-old Hassan hissed. “You fucking scared her, nigga!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Hassan snapped, the words bursting from his chest, echoing into the night like a crack of thunder.

But they didn’t stop.

“Don’t be mad at us,” the older one said calmly. “Why your weak ass keep pretending you not broken?”

“Or that you deserve a woman like her,” the younger one added with a laugh that pierced straight through him.

Something in Hassan snapped. He grabbed the shot glass from the table and hurled it across the balcony. It shattered against the wall, Henny splattering like blood on concrete, and for a moment, all he heard was glass raining down around him.

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