DAMIAN.

I crushed the cigarette under my boot, and slid into the driver's seat. The engine roared to life with a low growl that matched the one in my chest. As I pulled out of the driveway, my thoughts drifted to Ava. Impressed didn't cover how I felt knowing others would've chickened out at the thought of being captured, but not my Ava. She'd read her abductor like an open book, turning the tables and saving all our asses from the press hit.Damn, it turned me on, that fire in her.

The drive to Eden's ruins was autopilot. I parked, killing the engine. Stepping out, I picked my way through the blackened beams and shattered glass crunching underfoot, each step a reminder of what I had lost. Eden wasn't just a club to me, but a part of my heart. Its destruction was a wound I hadn't healed.

I reached the private lounge, where Zane and Noah were waiting. I nodded at them before sinking onto a scorched couch. Zane, who was all edges and in a coiled menace, didn't look up from his phone. Noah, stood by the desk, his eyes scanning the room.

"You're late," Zane snapped.

"I needed to make sure Ava was sleeping before I left. Rico's with her," I said, keeping my tone even. Rico was loyal, and would guard her with his life.

"Whatever," Zane muttered, turning to Noah. "Harper's still out there. My order stands as before; we need to take her out."

Noah slammed the desk, the bang echoing. His eyes locked on Zane's, cold as steel. "No. She's off the list."

Zane and I snapped our heads toward him. "What did you say?" Zane's voice was dangerously low.

"You heard me." Noah stepped forward, fists clenched, his lean frame taut with defiance. "Harper's not a threat. Ava's plan worked, and Hale's down. We're clear. Killing her now would be pointless." He shrugged, but there was no ease in it.

I raised my brows, furrowing. "Noah, her story nearly fucked us. She played us all."

"She was doing her job!" Noah shot back, "Journalism, not revenge. She's lost everything, her contract, her home, her future as a journalist. Damian, isn't that enough?"

Zane stepped into Noah's space, towering over him, his shadow swallowing the smaller man. "Her job? She betrayed you, us. In our world, that's a death sentence. You know the rules."

"Rules?" Noah laughed, bitter and loud. "The ones we bend when it suits us? Ava was an outsider, but we used her idea. Harper's not the enemy we think she is, she's just a journalist, not a hitman. Killing her makes us the monsters she wrote about."

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. "She's a loose end, Noah. One call to the feds, and we're back in the fire."

"She won't!" Noah roared. "I saw her last night. We talked. She's broken, man. Give her a pass, or you're just proving her right about us."

"You saw her? Alone?" My voice dropped, a warning. "That's reckless, Noah."

"Reckless?" He whirled on me, eyes blazing. "Like trusting Ava? Harper could be an asset too. She's smart, connected. But kill her? Over my fucking body."

Zane's jaw tightened. "You're choosing her over us, your family?"

"I'm choosing better," Noah spat, his words dripping with venom. "For the first time since we started this crazy, bloody cartel. I've bled for this family. But blind murdering a poor journalist? That's not us. Call it off, Zane. Or lose me."

The room fell silent, the weight of Noah's ultimatum hanging like smoke. Zane's eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak. Instead, he turned and stormed out, the door slamming behind him. Noah didn't wait long, brushing past me with a muttered curse, leaving me alone in the ruins of Eden.

֍

My mind circled back to Noah's standoff as I drove through the city streets. He had slammed the desk, defending Harper like she was his blood with an unshaken conviction. Zane had walked away, leaving me caught between them, wondering which side to choose. Both were right in their own way. Noah saw a chance for redemption, a way to break the cycle of blood we had been drowning in. But Zane's doubts festered in me too. Harper had nearly gutted us with her exposé, and sparing her felt like leaving a loaded gun on the table, safety off.

My phone buzzed, snapping me out of it. Zane's name flashed on the screen. I answered, keeping my eyes on the road. "Yeah?"

"Loose ends," he said. "Harper's off for now, but watch Noah. He's soft on her."

I snorted, weaving through traffic. "He fought for her like a cornered dog. But you're right, Zane. She's a risk."

He paused, the silence heavy. "You backed him. Why?"

I exhaled, my boot crunching glass as I pulled over near a mall. "Because Ava proved it. We have to start choosing brains over bullets. Harper had been neutralized, Killing her now will only make us look weak and reactionary."

"She exposed us," Zane said.

"Exposed bullshit we spun back," I fired, "Ava's play buried it. And since Noah vouches, says she's not gunning for us, why not trust his word?"

Zane laughed, cold and hollow. "Vouches? Like you vouch for Ava? That's personal, Damian. Clouds judgment."

The words hit like a gut punch, my grip tightening on the phone. "Personal? I've buried more for this family than anyone. Ava saved us. If that's clouding, then we're blind without it."

"Watch it," Zane growled.

"Give Noah the same rope you gave Ava," I pushed.

Zane exhaled, long and slow. "Fine. But if Harper slips, Noah cleans it. And you? Keep Ava out of your bed. Or we're done."

"After everything?" I snapped. "My club, Eden, burned for us, Zane. You know that."

"For family!" he roared. "Not your dick."

I hung up, breathing hard, the phone hot in my hand. If Noah saw a fresh start, maybe I did too, for us all. Atlas needed to evolve, or it would crumble under its own weight. But Zane's warning echoed: Ava was a line I couldn't cross, not yet. Not if I wanted to keep the family together.

I tracked Noah to a dive bar on the city's edge, He was in a corner booth, nursing a beer, his eyes scanning the room like he was expecting trouble. I slid in across from him, signaling for a drink.

"You're a hard man to find," I said, keeping my tone light.

He didn't smile. "Needed space. Zane's bullshit's getting old."

I leaned back, studying him. Noah was always the wildcard, the one who felt too much, cared too much. It made him reckless, but it also made him sharp. "You really believe Harper's clean?"

He met my gaze, unflinching. "I know her, Damian. She's not some mastermind. She was chasing a story, not a vendetta. She's got nothing left to fight for."

"And if she flips? Talks to the feds?"

"She won't," he said. "I'd stake my life on it."

I took a long pull from my beer, weighing his words. "You might have to. Zane's not sold."

Noah's jaw tightened. "Then make him. You've got pull, Damian. You backed Ava when no one else did. Do the same for me."

I wanted to believe him, But Atlas wasn't built on trust but blood, loyalty, and hard choices. Still, Noah's fire reminded me of Ava's, and she'd proven the impossible. Maybe he could too.

"Alright," I said finally. "I'll talk to Zane. But you keep Harper in line. One wrong move, and we're all fucked."

Noah nodded, a flicker of relief in his eyes. "Deal."

NOAH

Ever since the encrypted message had come from Zane, it had hit my phone like a gunshot in the dead of night, its cold glow slicing through the darkness of my office. I could still recall the venom I felt as I read out the text and wanting to relieve the rage, I pulled out my phone and read it again, for what seemed like the millionth time in 48 hours.

"Harper West is a loose end. Handle it permanently. Leave no traces."

I was right to be pissed, those words were stripped of warmth, as if ordering Harper West's death was just another transaction in Atlas's billion-dollar ledger. But this wasn't some rival cartel runner or a snitch who had crossed the line. It was Harper West. The journalist who had dared to expose the cartel roots festering beneath Atlas's tech-investment empire, only for me to crush her work with ruthless precision, because I had been a dutiful soldier obeying an order. But not this time.

My fingers hovered over the screen, trembling with rage, as I typed in a few letters to send over to Zane. But I deleted the reply before typing another apologetic word. Pleading again after our brawl in the lounge was pointless. I had already laid my case bare, having begged for the only favor I had ever asked in over ten years of loyalty for Harper to live. His response had been unyielding regardless.

It had been a decade since he had pulled me from my visionless life, given me a stake in Atlas, turned my rogue coding into a multibillion-dollar shield for our cartel operations, yet he couldn't spare her life for me.

Rebellion flared in my chest, its spark igniting after years of loyal obedience. For the first time, I hated Zane. How could he not grant me that one mercy?

"Fine. I'd take it, even if it meant torching the empire we'd built." I whispered to the faint hum of servers tucked behind a glass panel. My reflection stared back from the window. I noticed how my eyes had become dark from sleepless nights. Zane and Harper would be the death of me.

Harper wasn't making this easy. Since Audrey and I had pulled the rug under her exposé, she had been shattered. I had watched her through security feeds my men had in her apartment.

Guilt had gnawed at me every night, giving a replay of how I had blindly chosen Atlas over her, protecting the empire's facade at the cost of the woman who had made me dream of something beyond bloody crimes.

But no more. Zane's refusal had snapped the chains on my loyalty.

I grabbed my keys from the desk, feeling the cold metal against my palm, and strode to the elevator. I pat my pocket to be sure that the USB drive in my inner jacket was still there. The USB contained live recordings of Atlas's darkest secrets, from cartel shipments disguised as AI prototypes to money laundering through venture capital deals, Zane's voice ordering hits in encrypted chats all timestamped, to avoid deniability. It was a leverage I had been compiling, blame it on being paranoid in a cartel world. If the content was ever streamed live, it would have exposed Atlas for what it really was: a cartel front. Zane, Damian, Ethan, Liam, and I would all go down for it too. But for Harper? I would hand it over and watch the flames consume it all.

The elevator hummed downward, the sterile light reflecting my resolve back at me. In the garage, I pulled up to my black SUV, roaring its engine, as I slid into the leather seat.

It had started to rain, and it battered the windshield in furious waves, the wipers slashing frantically as I pulled into the wet streets heading for Harper's apartment.

What was I doing?

Throwing away a decade of loyalty to a woman who had used me as a source? If I gave Harper the drive, our empire would implode, and thousands of employees would also get caught in the fallout. And me? I would become a branded betrayer, hunted by the only family I had known.

Was she worth it? The question clawed at me relentlessly.

My worry gnawed deeper as the traffic crawled on with headlights slicing through the rain . Zane would never forgive me for it. He would hunt me with the same ruthlessness he had used on our enemies.

But just as the wipers cleared the windshield, my doubt ebbed away. Fuck Zane Calloway.

I parked two blocks away from her apartment, killing the engine, and pinned the Glock strap on me and stepped into the deluge. As I moved through backstreets, the rain soaked my jeans in a minute, making me hasten my steps until I broke into a run, while the wind whipped the rain into my face like a lash.

When I got to her window, I paused, my breath formed a fog on the pane. I peeped inside the room. It had a single flickering lamp, making it a bit dim to see clearly. There were tons of takeout boxes, and Kleenex papers almost everywhere. I peeped closer until I saw Harper sat curled on the couch, her knees drawn tight to her chest. Her hair fell in tangled strands to her cheeks, sunken as she kept staring into nothingness. She looked fragile for the fierce journalist who had challenged Atlas.

If I had any doubt about what I had planned to do, seeing her in that state cemented my choice. I felt peace settle over me, dissolving my doubts. This was right. She was worth it.

I rapped on the glass in three sharp knocks.

She jolted, head snapping up with alarm.

Fear flashed across her face until she looked in my direction and, recognizing me, she got up slowly, the blanket slipping to reveal rumpled sweats hanging loose on her frame. She approached the window with cautious steps. I heard the bolt click, and she slid it open.

"Noah?" Her voice was rough, "What are you doing here? Come to gloat? Or finish the job your hacks started?"

I climbed through. "Hello, Miss journalist. I'm here to fix this."

She closed the window, latching it with a sharp click, then leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Fix? What's left to fix?"

I peeled off my soaked jacket, hanging it on a chair, water dripping onto the hardwood. My shirt clung to my skin, cold and heavy, but I ignored it, focusing on her. The room felt smaller with us both in it, "Zane ordered the hit. On you. Loose end, he called it."

I noticed how color drained from her already pale face, but she didn't break. She took three steps to the kitchenette and three back, "A kill order? For exposing the truth? Jesus, Noah, I knew Atlas was dirty, but this..." She stopped, eyes narrowing. "Why tell me?"

I stepped into her path, halting her. "You were right about everything. I debunked your story to protect it. But now? I'm done protecting it."

She searched my face, skepticism battling a flicker of hope. "Why now? What's changed?"

I reached for her hand, but she pulled back. I didn't blame her. "Because I asked Zane to spare you. My one favor after ten years. He refused. For the first time, I hate him for it."

She sank onto the couch after a long pause, gesturing for me to join. I did, since it was not big, our thighs were brushing against each other, sending heat sparking through me. "What now?" she asked.

"Better than hiding away." I pulled the drive from my pocket, holding it up. "This contains live recordings of Atlas's crimes in real time. Stream this live and salvage your career. Expose us all for good."

Her eyes widened, and with trembling hands, she took it, turning it over in her palm like it might burn her. "This... it would destroy you. Zane, your brothers and they would hunt you too."

"Let them." The words came out easily. I cupped her face, ignoring her flinch, my thumb brushing her cheekbone. Her skin was warm, soft against the cold of my hand, "Harper, I choose you. Let Atlas burn."

Tears glistened in her eyes, but she leaned into my touch. "Noah... why? After I used and exposed you?"

"Because you saw me." "I am sorry it took Zane's order for me to realize what a mess I am."

She searched my face, then leaned in, her lips brushing mine. "How will the world believe me now? I lost my platform and credibility,." she whispered.

"You can stream live on my laptop. It is secured."

I pulled away from her enough to reach for my bag and pick the laptop from the bag, setting it on the cluttered coffee table.

I set up the laptop, my fingers flying over keys as I routed through proxies. I played a test clip of Zane's voice ordering a hit,

"Damning. This salvages me," she murmured and I heard the fear in her voice,

"No regrets."

"Okay. Are you sure you want to go down like this?"

"I am, let's do this."

She nodded, patting my hand.

She was worth it. Fuck Atlas.

HARPER.

"Hold on"

I sat frozen on the edge of the sagging couch, the USB drive clutched in my fist like a lifeline, because it actually was. The cold plastic in my palm was a contrast to the burning weight of what Noah had just unloaded. His confession played out on my laptop as he laid it all out. I had known pieces of their atrocities, but hearing it from him, being an accomplice, slapped harder.

The air in the room felt thicker, laden with the scent of his rain-soaked clothes. My heart pounded erratically, each beat a reminder of the chaos he had just invited into my life.

Shock had rooted me to the spot as he spoke. I had dug into Atlas myself, but that confessional would shake the tech world. Noah Bennett had turned on his brothers for... me? It was too good to be true, and it left me at a loss for breath.

By the time he hit stop on the recording, leaning back with a sigh that ruffled his damp hair, I was torn in ways I hadn't anticipated. Admiration for him swelled within me. He had chosen to speak up by handing me the weapon to resurrect my career from the ruins he had helped create.

I wasn't supposed to admire what he had done, knowing he had been the one to hack my files, twist my evidence into lies and stand by as Audrey spun the press narrative that painted me as unreliable. I was supposed to despise him as the enemy who had stolen my life's work. Yet, each second in his presence made my heart skip, a treacherous flutter that betrayed me especially seeing the way his wet shirt clung to his broad chest. I found myself following the rain lines on him with my eyes, remembering how those same lines had softened under my touch in quieter moments.

What was I to do with him?

The drive sat heavy in my hand, holding the power to ruin Atlas and everyone tied to it, including Noah. If I streamed it, his disloyalty would get him killed. I had written enough about cartels' modes of operations to know that men like Zane and the brothers would never forgive a betrayal like that. They would hunt him with the same cold efficiency they'd used on rivals.

And when the news hit the world? They would crucify him for his crimes, complicity in murders, too. There was no way out for Noah.

I held the cards to call the shots, but for the first time in my life, indecision paralyzed me. My fingers itched to plug in the USB drive and hit broadcast and watch my career phoenix from the ashes, yet my heart rebelled against me.

Noah watched me from across the couch, his dark eyes searching mine. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, "Harper? You've been quiet. I know it's overwhelming, but this... this is your way back. Stream it. Let the world see the truth."

I swallowed hard, as I tried to talk. My voice came out quieter than the rain pattering against the window. "Overwhelming? Noah, you just dumped the underbelly of a cartel empire in my lap. I knew bits but hearing it from you... It's like staring into the abyss." I trailed off, shock still coursed through me, leaving my limbs shallow.

He nodded, "I know. I was part of it. Built the firewalls, erased the trails. But I'm done hiding. For you."

Again, admiration flickered in my gut. He had turned on his family and life, for me. My heart skipped a traitorous beat, as I met his gaze. "That's the problem. You're giving me this to salvage my career. It is admirable, really and brave. But I should hate you. You ruined me. Debunked everything I worked for. Yet..." I paused.

"Yet what?" He shifted closer, his thigh brushing mine, heat seeping through the thin fabric of my sweats. His woody cologne filled the space between us, making my pulse stutter.

I looked away, staring at the drive in my hand, turning it over as if it held answers. "Yet each second with you makes my heart race. I fell for you, Noah, even when I knew better. Now it too late to back off now. But using this drive means destroying you too. This will get you killed and the world will hang you for the crimes."

He exhaled slowly, his breath warm on my cheek as he took my hand, letting his fingers interlace with mine. "Then let them. I've lived in that world too long. ]I choose you, Harper. Let it ruin."

The words made my heart skipped again, pulling me under. What was I to do? Stream it and watch him face the consequences? Should I trade his life for my career? Justice demanded it for the crimes he had confessed were monstrous, lives lost in the shadows of Atlas's wake. For the first time in my life, each choice open to me would end up as a loss.

"Noah," I whispered, pulling my hand free to stand, the blanket pooling at my feet. The floor creaked under my socks as I paced to the window. "If I use this, you're done. Hearing what you say now, how can I let that happen?"

He rose, and approached me, his boots leaving faint wet prints. He stopped behind me, his hands resting lightly on my shoulders, "You can because it's right. I am owning up to my crimes, use it to salvage what I took from you."

I turned, facing him, our bodies close in the narrow space, I held my breath as I searched his eyes and saw it held no regret. "That's what confuses me. I admire you for speaking up and turning on them. It's... heroic, in a twisted way. But I can't. Not when being near you feels like this."

"Like what?" He cupped my face, his thumb brushing my lower lip, sending sparks down my spine. The touch was gentle, but it ignited something deep, my pulse quickening in readiness for more.

"Like my heart's betraying me," I admitted. "I fell for you, Noah Bennett. Too late to deny it. If I play the cards I am dealt, you die. If I don't, my career stays dead. Justice or mercy? For the first time in my life, I don't know to do."

He pulled me closer, his forehead resting against mine, his breath fanning my face. "Then don't decide alone."

My stomach twisted as I pulled back slightly, his hands dropping to my arms. "Noah, how can I not hate that part of you?"

"You can hate it," he said, "Hate the man I was. But see the one I'm becoming. For you."

I sighed, realizing the conversation did nothing but stretch my confusion more.

I moved to the kitchenette, as I poured water with shaking hands, the glass clinking against the faucet. "Tell me," I said, sliding him a glass, "Would you mind dying?."

He sipped, his throat bobbing with each swallow, but his eyes never left mine. "No. I would die knowing I chose right."

"But Atlas crashing would crash the stock market. Thousands and Millions would lose their jobs. And you... I can't let that happen. I hold the shots, but firing them feels like suicide."

He set the glass down, pulling me into his arms, "Then don't fire yet. Sleep on it. But Harper, whatever you decide, I'm here."

The embrace was a haven in the turmoil; his love had blurred the lines of justice, leaving me lost in the gray. A reminder that love had complicated everything.