Content Warning

This chapter contains references to threats, non-graphic violence, psychological manipulation, and situations of risk. Reader discretion is advised.

The next morning, the light slipped cautiously through the gaps in the curtains. Noah woke without alarm, still wrapped in that stillness that only appears after an emotionally intense night. Nicholas was still beside him, awake, phone in hand, his brow slightly furrowed. He wasn’t typing, but reading. Over and over again, a little nervous.

The signal had returned to the building. And with it, the consequences.

“Morning, Noah,” he finally said, lowering the phone with a controlled gesture, lying. “I have to go, it’s work-related. I can’t postpone it.”

Noah sat up slightly, propping himself on one elbow. Something about Nicholas’s posture felt off to him: too straight, too alert.

“Good morning. Is everything okay?” he asked, without beating around the bush.

Nicholas didn’t lie entirely, but he didn’t tell the whole truth either.

“I just… need to confirm something.”

He didn’t explain that the message was from Damien. He didn’t say it wasn’t about work, but a direct threat, carefully worded. A meeting point and a time.

A warning disguised as certainty: if you don’t go, his mother disappears.

Claire as leverage. As always.

The silence that followed wasn’t comfortable, but tense, as if something invisible had settled between them.

“Do you need help?” Noah said, with absolute firmness.

Nicholas shook his head almost immediately.

“No. I’ll be fine.”

Noah pressed his lips together. He didn’t argue, but his unease was evident.

“I don’t like this. I hope you’re having trouble with… work.”

Nicholas stepped closer, gently placing both hands on Noah’s shoulders, trying to appear calm.

“I’ll be fine… just…,” he said softly. “If you notice anything strange at the hospital. If anything happens… don’t hesitate to call the police.”

Before Noah could respond, Nicholas leaned in and kissed him. It was brief, charged with something urgent, as if he feared he might not get another chance.

“Promise me you’ll come back,” Noah asked, his voice barely steady.

Nicholas held his gaze without looking away.

“I promise.”

***

The danger didn’t take long to manifest. Damien wasn’t direct. He never was.

He summoned Nicholas near an industrial warehouse, in an area with irregular traffic, under the excuse of a ‘necessary’ conversation. Nicholas arrived alert, aware of every sound, every vehicle that passed a little too slowly.

And he saw it before he felt it —the impact was brutal.

A car appeared out of nowhere and struck him from the side, throwing him onto the asphalt without giving him time to react. The blow knocked the air from his lungs. The world became noise, distorted lights, dull pain. He tried to move, but his body didn’t respond. His head hit the ground violently, and everything went dark.

It was no accident, obviously, but a demonstration by Damien, under Sebastian’s control.

The driver didn’t stop. There was no need to. The message was clear: we can reach you whenever we want. A carefully calculated delay and a warning wrapped in impunity. Nicholas understood it even before losing consciousness.

***

Sebastian, for his part, finally acted and appeared that very night. He didn’t call or warn anyone. He waited in the lobby of Noah’s building as if the place still belonged to him, as if time hadn’t passed. Minutes later, he forced the apartment door’s lock and managed to get inside.

He leaned against one of the living room walls, calm, assured. The watch with the cracked screen on his wrist—the one his prey had given him three years earlier —paired with that presence that always seemed to invade the space without touching it.

***

Noah had spent the entire day at the hospital, focused on his mother. He received no messages from Nicholas during that time, absolutely none, and worry settled in his chest like constant pressure.

When he climbed the stairs to his apartment and noticed the door ajar, he knew it before seeing him.

Sebastian was there.

He didn’t feel panic, and that was the most revealing part.

“You’re still living in modest places,” Sebastian commented, scanning the space with his gaze. “You always had a taste for small things.”

Noah didn’t close the door behind him; he stayed alert in case he needed to act.

“What do you want?”

Sebastian smiled slowly.

“What a polite way to receive a guest. In any case, you already know why I’m here. Revenge, as always,” he replied. “But not in the way you imagine.”

He took a few steps into the apartment, while Noah kept his distance.

“I looked for you for years,” Sebastian continued. “I protected you from things you don’t understand. And even so, you ran.”

Noah looked straight at him.

“I didn’t run, and you didn’t protect me from anything,” he said. “I just survived. I already told Damien that.”

Sebastian frowned.

“Yes… he mentioned something. But you were wrong, you made so many mistakes. Even so, you weren’t easy to track down.”

“Yes,” Noah admitted. “I made many mistakes, and here I am.”

That stopped him.

“I was afraid,” Noah continued. “Afraid of becoming my father. Of his threats against yours when he wanted to fire him because you and… I were together. But also… afraid of not being enough. Afraid of losing the little I thought belonged to me. I hurt you. I was a coward. I used bullying to push you away, I never told you the truth, I was never honest with you.”

Sebastian remained silent. For the first time, listening to his victim.

“Under different circumstances,” Noah added, “I would have stayed with you. Maybe… I would have endured more than I should have.”

Sebastian’s smile returned, twisted.

“Then you still…”

“No!” Noah interrupted. “Not now. Not anymore.”

Sebastian tensed, visibly irritated.

“You’re still mine.”

Noah shook his head.

“I wasn’t when you controlled me,” he said. “And I won’t be now that I’ve learned to defend myself.”

The man with the intimidating blue eyes took a step forward.

“You think you’ll be saved? Even with his help?” he asked, referring to Nicholas.

But Noah didn’t step back.

“I don’t need to be saved,” he replied. “I need to be respected, and Nicholas does that.”

The silence was absolute.

Sebastian looked at him as if he were seeing a stranger.

“This doesn’t end here,” he finally said.

“I know. But I’m not going to run.”

Then his stalker walked toward the apartment door. Noah took a few slight steps to the side —not out of cowardice, just analyzing his movements.

“I’ll be waiting for you at the gym. Although… Nicholas isn’t there.”

Noah’s eyes widened. The urge to demand answers rose in his throat, but he restrained himself. He knew he had to act with caution —he had no choice.