The archives were silent—too silent. A sterile maze of metal shelves, flickering fluorescent lights, and dust-heavy air that clung to Aria’s lungs. She came down only because Rina demanded old ledgers, and Damian had been in a meeting long enough that she thought she might have a sliver of peace. She was wrong.
A heel clicked behind her. Slow. Deliberate. Mocking.
“Well, well,” Sabrina purred, voice sliding like poison along Aria’s spine. “Look who thinks she’s part of the empire now.”
Before Aria could turn, Sabrina shoved her forward, slamming her shoulder against the cold metal shelving. Pain exploded down her arm. Aria gasped, stumbling, but Sabrina pinned her easily, nails digging in like claws.
“I warned you,” Sabrina hissed, breath hot at Aria’s ear, “that Wolfe is not a man who loves. He breaks. He ruins. And you—” she yanked Aria’s hair harshly, forcing her head back “—you are making him forget who he is.”
Aria’s pulse hammered. She tried to pull away, but Sabrina only pressed harder, her knee pinning Aria’s thigh, the dagger she always carried grazing Aria’s collar.
Sabrina smiled. “Look at you. Bruised. Frightened. Playing the victim like a professional whore. And he’s buying it.”
“I’m not—” Aria gritted out, voice trembling with anger.
“Oh, please.” Sabrina’s laugh was sharp and ugly. “You open your eyes wide and shake just right, and Damian starts acting human.” She leaned closer, whispering venom onto Aria’s lips. “But he’s not human. And you’re ruining that.”
Aria shoved back this time—not enough to break free, but enough to shock Sabrina.
“You think I want his attention?” Aria spat, chest heaving. “You think any of this is something I asked for? You don’t know anything about me.”
Sabrina’s expression cracked—just for a breath—revealing something unhinged, desperate. Then her lips curled.
“My sweet girl,” she whispered, “I don’t need to know you. I just need you gone.”
She slammed Aria into the shelf again. Books toppled. Metal rang. Aria cried out as the corner of a binder scraped her cheek. Sabrina raised the dagger, pressing it lightly to Aria’s ribs.
“Damian is coming apart because of you,” Sabrina snarled. “And the only way to fix him is to cut you out of the picture.”
For the first time, Aria snapped.
She lunged forward, grabbing Sabrina’s wrist with both hands, fighting the blade away from her skin. Sabrina’s eyes widened in shock as Aria twisted, shoving her off balance. It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t trained. It was pure survival.
“You’re not touching me,” Aria hissed, panting violently, pressing Sabrina back into the opposite shelf.
Sabrina snarled, swinging wildly. The dagger skimmed Aria’s arm, slicing through skin. Pain flared, but Aria didn’t stop. She elbowed Sabrina in the side, throwing her weight forward. Sabrina stumbled, furious and breathless.
“You little bitch,” Sabrina spat, hair falling out of place for the first time Aria had ever seen. “You think you can fight me? You’re nothing. You’re still the frightened Navarro girl playing hostage.”
“No,” Aria said, shaking but firm. “I’m done being prey.”
Sabrina’s smile twisted. “Then die like a wolf.”
She lunged—blade first.
Aria had no time to react.
But someone else did.
“DROP THE KNIFE.”
Jaxon’s voice burst through the archive like a gunshot. His boots thundered across the floor. He tore Sabrina off Aria with enough force to rattle Sabrina’s teeth. The dagger clattered across the tiles. Sabrina screamed in rage, kicking and swinging, but Jaxon overpowered her easily, pinning her arms behind her back.
“You’re insane,” he growled into her ear. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What he doesn’t have the spine to do anymore,” Sabrina spat back, still thrashing.
Jaxon shoved her against a pillar, face twisted with disgust. “Touch her again and I swear to God, Knox, I’ll bury you under this building.”
Sabrina’s breathing heaved, wild and hateful. She stopped struggling only when she caught her reflection in the strip of glass on the shelf—hair ruined, lipstick smeared, eyes feral. Her voice dropped to a low, venomous whisper.
“When Wolfe realizes how far he’s fallen,” she said, “it’ll be because of her. And he will regret every second he spent choosing a Navarro.”
Jaxon didn’t answer. He grabbed Aria gently, inspecting her shaking body, the cut on her arm, the bruises blooming. His jaw hardened.
“Damian needs to see this.”
“No,” Aria whispered instantly, panic rising. “He’ll kill her.”
Jaxon didn’t smile. “That might be the point.”
He escorted Aria out, ignoring Sabrina’s shrieking threats echoing behind them.
Damian found out before they even reached the elevator.
He appeared at the end of the hall like a shadow being pulled forward by a storm. His eyes landed on Aria’s bleeding arm, her torn blouse, her shaking hands.
And something inside him detonated.
“Who touched her?” he asked quietly.
Jaxon didn’t need to say anything.
Sabrina was thrown through the double doors by two guards seconds later, wrists bound, still screaming.
Damian barely looked at them.
His gaze was locked on Aria.
On her blood.
On the bruise already forming along her jaw.
Then the world went silent.
Damian moved faster than she had ever seen. One moment he was across the hall—next he was in front of Sabrina, slamming her back into the wall with enough force to make the lights flicker.
“You put your hands on her,” Damian said, voice low enough to freeze bone. “You touched her skin.”
Sabrina smiled through the pain. “She’s destroying you.”
Damian’s hand tightened around her throat.
“I should destroy you.”
“Then do it,” Sabrina snarled. “Kill me, Damian. Prove you’re still the Wolfe they fear.”
He didn’t kill her.
He did something worse.
Damian leaned in, so close Sabrina’s eyes shook.
“You’re done.”
She stiffened. “You wouldn’t—”
“I strip you,” Damian said, voice cold and lethal. “Of your rank. Of your territory. Of your protection. Of your Syndicate privileges.”
Sabrina’s face drained of color.
“No—Damian, don’t—”
“You are forbidden from Wolfe Tower,” he continued. “Forbidden from my men. Forbidden from my name.”
Sabrina’s breath hitched, breaking. “Damian—please—”
“Consider yourself exiled,” Damian said. “Effective now.”
The guards dragged her away kicking and screaming, her cries echoing through the marble halls.
“You’ll regret choosing her!” Sabrina shrieked. “SHE WILL DESTROY YOU!”
The doors slammed shut.
Silence. Damian turned to Aria.
He didn’t touch her. He didn’t speak.
He just stared at her with a look that made her heart twist—a look full of rage, fear, possession, and something darker, something fragile.
Something dangerously close to love. And that was what terrified him most.