PROLOGUE: RACING AGAINST TIME
~WARREN~
Branches whip across my face as I tear through the forest, each stinging strike a reminder of how badly I've failed.
The tracking device in my hand pulses with an increasingly rapid signal—Eva's location beacon growing stronger with every stride. But it's the sounds coming through my earpiece that make my blood run cold.
A gunshot.
Then silence.
My heart slams against my ribs as I push myself faster, muscles burning as I navigate the treacherous terrain in near darkness. The moon offers little illumination through the dense canopy, forcing me to rely on instinct and memory of these grounds I've patrolled countless times before.
Times when I should have been closer.
Should have been watching more carefully.
But I'd stepped back, hadn't I?
Let my guard down because she'd dismissed me—seen through the cracks in my carefully maintained facade to thebroken man beneath. The man still haunted by another woman with silver hair and fierce determination.
Iris.
The name echoes in my mind like an accusation as Eva's tracking signal grows stronger. I'd failed them both now—let my past mistakes taint my ability to protect the present.
Because that's what Eva had seen, wasn't it?
How I couldn't separate her from the ghost of my former Ruthless Maiden.
"...The scorpion venom should be taking effect now." The Blind One's voice carries through my earpiece with clinical detachment. "Your heart will stop soon enough. Such an elegant solution, don't you think? The poison delivered via bullet, spreading through your system with every desperate beat of your heart..."
"You better pray it does," Eva's voice emerges breathless but defiant, making my chest tighten with both pride and terror.
Even facing death, she maintains that fierce spirit that makes her so dangerously similar toher.
"Because you don't want to deal with what happens if I survive. Don't want to see how manic I become getting what's mine back if you dare touch Matteo."
Scorpion venom.
The words hit like physical blows as I vault over a fallen tree, nearly losing my footing on the frost-covered ground. They've engineered her death to look natural—another mysterious illness in a pattern stretching back generations.
A dog's desperate howls echo through the trees, the sound mixing with Eva's increasingly labored breathing in my earpiece. The animal must have been planted there, knowing she wouldn't ignore a creature in apparent distress.
Another piece in their carefully laid trap.
"Such spirit," The Blind One muses, genuine amusement coloring his tone. "Such delicious fury even in the face of inevitable defeat. But I'm afraid your husband is destined for widowhood. Though I must admit, I find it rather touching that he ordered that ring from Italy. Quite the romantic gesture."
My jaw clenches at the calculated cruelty in his words. Because that's what this is, isn't it? Not just elimination, but psychological warfare. Making her last moments heavy with regret for things she'll never experience.
"Shame you didn't check the mailbox before chasing random dogs into the woods," he continues, twisting the knife deeper. "Could have died with at least that one final piece of happiness."
The tracking signal spikes, indicating I'm less than a hundred yards away now. But Eva's breathing has grown more erratic, each gasp a countdown I'm terrified to reach the end of.
Move faster. Have to move faster.
"I do apologize that it has to end this way," The Blind One says, his voice carrying that particular tone of someone savoring their victory. "Such wasted potential. But perhaps one of your surviving Kings will take up your vengeance once you're gone. Assuming any of them survive what comes next..."
The words fuel my desperate sprint as memories of another silver-haired woman flash through my mind.
