Zayden (Zay) POV
Zayden Cross, known as Zay to the world and "the mind" within the Pact — stood on the balcony of his secluded mountain estate, arms crossed, watching the fog roll through the peaks.
The mountain air was thin and sharp, with the scent of pine and snowfall. Zay stood on the terrace of his estate, eyes fixed on the horizon. His hands were tucked into the pockets of a cashmere coat, but it wasn't the cold that left him breathless.
It was her.
Sabrina.
The name rang in his head like a bell he couldn't unhear. A ghost with a thousand voices. A scar with no clean edges.
Preparations were complete. He had ordered the staff to prepare the meeting suite—airtight security protocols, biometric entries, signal jammers, and fresh intelligence briefings. Staff were vetted, rooms assigned, and old surveillance systems reactivated. No cameras would record what was to come—only memory and scars.The Pact would arrive within the day.
Still, Zay lingered outside.
Inside, an engagement ring sat heavy in a velvet box on his desk. Guilt gnawed at him as he rehearsed the words he'd have to say. He loved Anika—truly. But what they did to Sabrina had never been buried, only shelved. And now the shelf had cracked.
Zay inhaled deeply, the weight of leadership coiling in his spine.
He had been the one to finalize the plan that night. The one who overrode her hesitation. The one who told her it was the only way.
And she had followed him and trusted him. And paid for it.
He turned and entered the study, boots quiet on polished wood. The table was already prepped—maps, files, a live-feed screen awaiting Malik's signal, and a digital board tracking all Pact members in transit.
"Sir?" his assistant asked quietly. "Shall I confirm the schedule?"
Zay nodded. "Yes. And tell security: double the perimeter scans. No errors. No assumptions."
He glanced once at the ring again, then shut the drawer slowly.
He would tell them.
About Sabrina. About Anika, his then-girlfriend, still as he would love to believe about everything.
But they could only pay after they looked each other in the eye and remembered the price.
The Pact was reuniting.
And this time, there would be no secrets left behind.
Zay rose from his chair, the weight of the past pressing heavily on his shoulders. Silently, he moved toward the hidden door behind the bookshelf — a passage known to no one else but her. His fingertips brushed the familiar sensor, and with a soft mechanical click, the panel slid open, revealing the room that had once meant nothing more than strategy and solitude… until Sabrina.
His breath hitched as he stepped inside.
The walls were lined with blueprints, surveillance monitors, and soundproofed panels — a fortress within a fortress. But the room felt emptier than it ever had. Years ago, she'd stood right here, her fingertips dancing along the edge of the desk, eyes wide with admiration and concern.
"Zay, this is good… I mean, you can do your private stuff here, and nobody will ever know. I should check into its security," she had said, always concerned about others, with that signature mixture of curiosity and caution.
The memory pulled a rare smile from him, even as it twisted like a knife in his chest. She had never gotten the chance to review the security. Life — and betrayal — had pulled them apart too quickly. But he'd implemented every one of her suggestions anyway. It was the least he could do. A tribute. A whisper of her presence woven into the very circuitry.
He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, remembering more from that day.
She had confided in him that moment — vulnerable, hesitant, but brave. She spoke softly, telling him how exposed she felt, how every step she took seemed watched, and every decision she questioned. A life lived under a microscope.
He had smiled then and tried to reassure her, rushing it off with a casual joke and a comforting hand on her shoulder.
But he hadn't listened. Not the way she needed. Not deeply enough.
And the damage that followed had been… catastrophic.
Now, standing alone in the one place she once felt safe enough to reveal her fears, Zay felt the full gravity of that failure settle into his bones. The room hadn't just been their secret.
It was a promise he hadn't kept.
SABRINA POV
The farmhouse welcomed her with silence.
Her twins played in the glass-covered sunroom, unaware of the storm forming around them. She kissed their foreheads, then walked through the secure hallway to her war room.
There were files, recordings, encrypted tablets, evidence, and pain cataloged like data. But most of all, there was clarity.
They were coming.
She opened her laptop and pulled up a satellite feed. A heat signature bloomed across the mountains.
Zay's compound.
"I hope you're ready," she whispered.
She reached into her purse, pulled out the envelope, and placed it under her palm.
Not yet.
But soon.