Chapter 2 Never Tell Me To Stay

• “I said stay here.”
• “I said no.”
• I bolted past Jaxon before he could grab me not because I thought I was faster, but because I knew he wouldn't drag me back.
• Not unless he wanted to touch me.
• And if he touched me right now, I’d burn us both.
• The hallway was colder than before. Sharp with silence. The kind that warns you something’s already gone wrong.
• Another scream.
• Female.
• Muffled.
• I ran toward it, heart hammering, adrenaline kicking.
• Left turn.
• Open door.
• A girl stood shaking in the corner of a dim room, hands over her ears. She wore a maid uniform barefoot, splattered with red.
• A body lay face down on the marble floor.
• “Get back!” Jaxon barked behind me.
• Too late.
• I was already kneeling beside the man, flipping him over.
• Gunshot to the throat.
• Still warm.
• Whoever did this had just left.
• Jaxon swore under his breath and pulled out a phone.
• “What the hell is happening?” I demanded.
• He ignored me.
• “Lock every floor. Check the east camera loop. No one leaves the building.”
• The girl was crying now. Whispering something in Italian.
• I stepped toward her gently. “Hey… it’s okay. You’re safe.”
• She blinked up at me. Eyes swollen, mouth trembling.
• Then she said it.
• “They were looking for you.”
• I froze.
• “What?”
• Her hand trembled as she pointed to the dead man.
• “He asked where you were. Said he had orders to drag you back.”
• Jaxon looked at me. “Still think I’m the one you shouldn’t trust?”
• I stared at the body.
• No markings.
• No insignia.
• Just a cheap tattoo on the wrist.
• A match.
• To the men my father used to send for clean-ups.
• They weren’t here for him. They were here for me.
• Back in the main room, Dev Jaxon’s head of security was pulling camera footage. Jaxon stood beside him like a storm in a tailored suit.
• “He got in through the private garage,” Dev muttered. “No facial match. Probably using a burner ID.”
• “And the girl?” Jaxon asked.
• “New hire. Cleared three weeks ago. Looks clean.”
• “Looks,” Jaxon repeated.
• Then his eyes flicked to me.
• “You bring them with you?”
• I didn’t answer.
• Because I wasn’t sure.
• He closed the distance between us in three long strides.
• “Tell me the truth, Raven. Who else has your encryption key?”
• “No one.”
• “Try again.”
• I swallowed. “My brother had a copy.”
• He froze.
• Had. Past tense.
• “I buried him.”
• His stare sharpened.
• “When?”
• I didn’t blink. “The night after my mother was killed.”
• “Cause of death?”
• “Shot to the chest. I did it myself.”
• Dev looked up from the screen. “Then why the hell is his code still active?”
• Silence.
• Then, Jaxon grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hallway I hadn’t seen before. No cameras. No echoes.
• Just cold walls and hotter anger.
• “What aren’t you telling me?” he hissed.
• “I don’t know!”
• “You show up with files that were supposedly lost. People start dying. Your dead brother’s ghost sends you messages and I’m supposed to believe that’s all coincidence?”
• “No,” I snapped. “You’re supposed to believe I didn’t walk into your life to start a war.”
• He stared at me.
• “Then explain why I’m already bleeding from it.”
• My chest tightened.
• Because he wasn’t wrong.
• He stepped back, paced once, then turned and pinned me with a look I felt in my spine.
• “I should lock you down. Cut the power. Block the drives. Hell, maybe I should hand you over.”
• “Then why don’t you?”
• He paused.
• Took one long step forward.
• Voice low. Controlled. Deadly.
• “Because you’re the only thing that feels real in this entire goddamn mess.”
• My breath hitched.
• I hated how much I wanted to believe him.
• Suddenly, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a second phone.
• He handed it to me.
• “It’s encrypted. Your eyes only. Use it to trace the last message from your brother’s signal. If you’re lying, I’ll know.”
• “And if I’m not?”
• He stared at my lips.
• Then my eyes.
• Then back again.
• “Then I’m protecting you for the wrong reasons.”
• [Later That Night]
• I sat cross-legged on the bed, decrypting code while my hair dripped from the shower.
• The trace led to a server farm downtown.
• Too clean. Too fast. A rerouted ghost trail.
• But there at the edge of the log file a signature.
• R.M.
• R. Moretti.
• Not me.
• Someone was posing as me.
• Which meant the voice in the message wasn’t my brother.
• Or my mother.
• It was a forgery.
• But the message?
• That part might be true.
• The door creaked open behind me.
• “Come in,” I said without looking.
• I knew it was him.
• Only Jaxon moved like that like the room was already his.
• He walked in. Quiet. Watchful.
• His tie was gone. Shirt sleeves rolled up. Hair slightly messy.
• Dangerous men shouldn’t look that good after someone dies in their penthouse.
• “I know who forged the message,” I said.
• He raised a brow.
• “Who?”
• “No idea. But they used my name.”
• “Impressive. Or suicidal.”
• “Maybe both.”
• He came closer. “Are you still planning to run?”
• “I was never running. I was baiting.”
• “And now?”
• I looked up. “Now I’m hunting.”
• He stepped into my space again, closer than was necessary. His scent curled around me earth and sin.
• “And if I tell you I want in?”
• I didn’t blink.
• “Then I tell you I don’t trust you.”
• He reached out slowly, fingers brushing the damp ends of my hair.
• “Trust me with your secrets. Not your heart.”
• “That was never on the table.”
• “Good.”
• But neither of us stepped back.
• “You make me want things I shouldn’t want,” I whispered.
• He smiled darkly. “Then we’re even.”
• His fingers brushed my collarbone. Then my wrist.
• Every inch of skin he touched felt like it was choosing sides.
• “You’re fire, Raven,” he murmured.
• “And I’ve never been afraid of getting burned.”
• And then he kissed me.
• Not gentle.
• Not sweet.
• Possessive. Brutal. Demanding.
• I kissed him back like I was starving.
• Because I was.
• Not for him.
• For power.
• For control.
• For revenge.
• And if I had to pretend to love the man who ruined my family to get it?
• So be it.
• The flash drive on the bedside table lit up again.
• One message:
• > “THEY’RE INSIDE.”
• And the screen went black.
• The words burned through the screen.
• THEY’RE INSIDE.
• Then the flash drive blinks red once and dies.
• “Shit,” I whispered, lunging for it.
• Dead.
• I checked the laptop.
• No power.
• No signal.
• The lights flickered overhead.
• Not from a storm.
• From a system breach.
• “What is it?” Jaxon asked, immediately on alert.
• I held up the drive. “Someone just warned me they’re already inside this building.”
• His expression changed fast. From desire to calculation.
• He pulled a gun from behind his back like it belonged there.
• Don't panic.
• Just action.
• “Stay here.”
• I grabbed his arm. “No. We do this together.”
• A long pause. Then a sharp nod.
• The power dropped completely.
• Dark.
• Silent.
• Cold.
• Backup lights flicked on a second later low glow, emergency only.
• Down the hall, I heard the click of a door unlocking.
• One door.
• Not two.
• “That came from the vault hallway,” Jaxon muttered, already moving.
• I followed without asking.
• His steps were silent, but mine echoed against the floor. Every shadow looked like a person. Every breath sounded like a whisper.
• We passed the maid’s quarters. Empty.
• Past the sitting lounge.
• Then, a low beep.
• A hiss.
• A vent swung open.
• Jaxon raised his gun.
• Too late.
• Smoke flooded the corridor thick, chemical, suffocating.
• Gas.
• “Back!” he shouted, grabbing my wrist.
• We staggered back toward the main room, but my vision swam.
• “What ” I gasped. “Is it ?”
• “Sedative gas. Tactical.”
• “Great.”
• My knees gave out.
• He caught me before I hit the floor.
• “Don’t you dare pass out.”
• My head rolled against his shoulder.
• “Stop flirting,” I whispered. “Bad timing.”
• He laughed.
• Dark.
• Ragged.
• Worried.
• He lifted me into his arms and bolted into the elevator, slamming the override button.
• “Dev,” he growled into his comms. “Floor lockdown. We’ve been breached. Raven’s been targeted.”
• No answer.
• The line was dead.
• The elevator doors closed. We dropped too fast. Basement level.
• Jaxon cursed under his breath and switched to manual control, punching a code into the panel.
• “Where are we going?” I mumbled.
• “Somewhere they can’t follow.”
• [Scene Shift – Underground Vault]
• The elevator opened to a sub-level I hadn’t seen before.
• Dark concrete.
• Red lights.
• Weapons mounted along the walls like artwork.
• Jaxon carried me into a small room that looked more like a panic cell than a safe house.
• He shut the door behind us, locked it manually, and pulled a vial from the wall cabinet.
• Smelling salts.
• I waved him off. “Already awake. Just… dizzy.”
• He knelt in front of me. Eyes searching.
• “Who the hell warned you?”
• “I don’t know.”
• “Raven…”
• “No, I really don’t. Whoever it is… they’re in our system. They’re using my encryption. My identity.”
• He stood slowly.
• Ran both hands through his hair.
• “You said your brother was dead.”
• “He is.”
• “You said your mother’s dead.”
• “She is.”
• “Then who the hell is inside my system using your blood to break my firewalls?”
• I looked at him.
• “Someone who knows exactly what I’m about to do next.”
• [Flashback – Two Years Ago]
• The night I burned the Moretti estate, I watched from the treeline.
• I watched the flames crawl across the stone like it wanted to remember every sin committed inside.
• My brother’s body was already buried.
• My mother’s… gone.
• And as the sirens neared, I whispered into the fire:
• > “If they come for me again, I burn it all.”
• [Back to Present]
• Jaxon handed me a burner phone. Untraceable.
• “Use this. Trace the original sender. You’ve got ten minutes. Then we move.”
• “Move where?”
• “Somewhere worse.”
• I plugged the phone into the backup port on my laptop.
• The encryption opened partially.
• One file unlocked.
• Video.
• I hit play.
• [VIDEO FEED]
• A shadowed room.
• A man in a chair. Hooded. Bound. Bleeding.
• > “She’s coming for you.”
• “You should’ve killed her when you had the chance.”
• “Now you’re going to wish you were already dead.”
• The camera zoomed in.
• The man’s face was blurred… but the tattoo on his wrist?
• The same one the dead man in the penthouse had.
• Jaxon stood over my shoulder.
• “Recognize the room?”
• I nodded.
• “That’s your vault.”
• His jaw clenched.
• “Then this was filmed in my house. Before tonight.”
• The power flickered again.
• A hum filled the air.
• Not like before.
• This one… was mechanical.
• Rhythmic.
• A timer.
• Jaxon sprinted across the room to the wall panel. Tore it open.
• Curses spilled from his mouth.
• “They planted something in the central fuse box.”
• “A bomb?”
• “No. Worse.”
• He turned to me.
• “A virus.”
• My pulse jumped. “What kind?”
• “The kind that wipes everything. Every name, every file, every account. Including the drive I gave you.”
• My mind raced. “Can you stop it?”
• “No.”
• He looked at me.
• “You can.”
• “What?”
• “You’re the only person with an active key that hasn’t been cloned yet. That means you can override the system before it executes.”
• “And if I can’t?”
• He didn’t blink.
• “Then you watch your entire legacy disappear.”
• Jaxon opened the emergency control panel.
• Lights flickered red.
• > Override Required. 10:00
• “Go,” he said.
• I sat down, heart racing, and started typing.
• Every second mattered.
• Every heartbeat echoed louder than the last.
• > Override Required. 6:24
• Files started to unlock.
• I bypassed the firewall. Engaged the backdoor protocol.
• One misstep… and everything would vanish.
• > Override Required. 3:01
• Sweat trickled down my spine.
• Jaxon stood guard with a gun in one hand, the other on my shoulder anchoring me. Grounding me.
• > Override Successful.
• I gasped.
• Relief. Terror. Adrenaline.
• It was done.
• The screen blinked.
• New Folder Unlocked.
• Name: R.M. FINAL TRUTH
• I clicked it open.
• Inside?
• One single audio file.
• I hit play.
• > “If you’re hearing this, Raven… I’m alive.”
• “And I’m the one who killed her.”
• I froze.
• The voice wasn’t my brother’s.
• It was my father’s.