The days following the incident with the Hollow Society operative had been tense. Alaric spent most of his time in meetings, strategizing, and refining his plans. The world outside his safehouse had grown more volatile, and the lines between allies and enemies were starting to blur.

  Balen had set up a temporary base of operations in an abandoned office building just outside the city center. It wasn’t much—bare walls, flickering fluorescent lights—but it was secure. For now, that was all that mattered.

  Alaric sat in the center of the room, a detailed map of the city sprawled out before him. Each pin marked a potential target, each line a possible route to take. The Hollow Society had been watching him, but now, it seemed, their grip on the city was loosening.

  The phone on the table buzzed, breaking his concentration.

  It was a message from Celeste.

  “I need to see you.”

  Alaric stared at the screen for a long moment, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. It had been days since their last conversation, and the silence between them had been deafening.

  Finally, he typed a response: “I’ll be there.”

  The air was thick with tension as Alaric made his way to the Linwood estate. The grandeur of the mansion had always been a symbol of everything he had once thought was out of reach—wealth, influence, power. But now, as he walked through its grand halls, he felt a sense of distance, of something lost.

  Celeste was waiting for him in the library. She was sitting by the fire, her fingers lightly touching the rim of a glass, but her eyes were focused elsewhere. When Alaric entered, she didn’t look up at first.

  “I’ve been thinking about everything,” she said, her voice quiet. “About you. About us. About what you’re doing.”

  Alaric remained standing by the door, unsure of what to say. There was so much he wanted to explain, but something told him this wasn’t the time for words. Not yet.

  Finally, Celeste looked up, her eyes searching his. “I’m not the same person I was when we first met. Neither are you.”

  “I know,” he said simply.

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  “You’ve changed,” she continued. “And I think I’ve been trying to hold on to the man I married—someone I could trust. But I don’t know who you are anymore. I don’t even know who I am in all of this.”

  Alaric stepped closer to her, his heart heavy with the weight of her words. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

  “I know you didn’t,” she replied. “But it feels like you’ve been building something without me. And I’m scared. I’m scared that you won’t need me anymore. That I’m just a pawn in your game.”

  Alaric reached for her hand, gently cupping it in his. “You’re not a pawn, Celeste. You’re everything to me. But I can’t stop now. I have to do this. I have to protect everything we’ve built. Everything we could still have.”

  The silence stretched between them, both of them feeling the weight of the conversation hanging in the air. Alaric knew that what he was asking of Celeste—to stand by him as he took on the world—wasn’t easy. But he didn’t know how to do this without her.

  “I don’t want to lose you,” Alaric said, his voice softening. “But I can’t stop.”

  Celeste sighed, looking down at their joined hands. “I know. And I don’t want to lose you either. But I need to understand where you’re headed. What kind of person you’re becoming.”

  Before either could say anything more, the door to the library creaked open. Balen stepped in, his face grim.

  “Alaric,” he said, his tone urgent, “there’s something you need to see.”

  They followed Balen out of the room and into the small makeshift command center. Alaric stared at the screen in front of him, where a live feed of Kendrick’s estate played out. The camera was positioned high, looking down on the estate grounds. Several black SUVs were parked at the front gate. A meeting was taking place—one that Alaric didn’t recognize, but the presence of a few familiar faces sent a chill through him.

  “Who are they?” Alaric asked.

  “It’s the Hollow Society,” Balen replied. “They’re working with Kendrick. Looks like the next phase of their plans.”

  Alaric’s hand clenched into a fist. The Hollow Society had been waiting for the right moment to strike. But now, it seemed, they were making their move. They were going after his allies, going after his influence. This wasn’t just a battle for power anymore—it was a battle for survival.

  “We need to act fast,” Alaric said, his voice low. “This isn’t just about Kendrick. This is about sending a message.”

  The hours that followed were a blur of planning, preparation, and execution. Alaric couldn’t afford to hesitate. The Hollow Society had made their move, and now he had to show them what it meant to underestimate a Vane.

  As the night fell, Alaric and his team moved swiftly through the streets, their mission clear: to send the Hollow Society a message they wouldn’t forget. They infiltrated the Kendrick estate with surgical precision, taking down any obstacles in their way without drawing attention.

  In the shadows, Alaric could feel the weight of everything he was becoming—every choice he made pushed him further into the world he had promised to reclaim. But he couldn’t stop now. Not when the stakes were this high.

  By the time the mission was over, the Kendrick estate was nothing more than a smoldering wreck. Alaric stood among the wreckage, his eyes cold and unblinking.

  “This is just the beginning,” he muttered to himself.

  He had sent his message. And now, the Hollow Society would have to decide whether to face him... or disappear.