Twisted Veil of Devotion

Part 10

You haunt, you hunt, but now I see
The strength you sought to take from me
Was always mine; it grows each day,
While shadows fade, I find my way.

So step in close, I will not run,
This war you've started, I have won.
Your grip is lost, your chase is done;
I am no prey. I am the sun.

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Zane POV:

The anger sat in my chest like fire.

I stood at the head of the conference table, watching my men avoid my eyes. They could feel it. The shift. The quiet. The kind of rage that didn't explode — it planned.

For weeks, I'd been getting whispers. Movements. Shadows. Nothing solid.

Everyone thought she was gone.

Hidden.

Safe.

They forget who I am.

"I'm done waiting," I said, my voice calm and cold. "She thinks she's disappeared. They think they can outsmart me. They're wrong."

No one spoke. Smart.

I leaned forward slightly, my fingers pressing into the polished wood.

"I want pressure on every law enforcement channel. Every politician. Every organization we know they rely on."

My men exchanged looks but stayed silent.

"Freeze accounts. Shut down supply lines. Pull favors. Quietly."
I paused. "Make the people responsible feel their lives getting smaller."

Still silence.

Good.

"If anyone is helping hide her," I continued, "their families lose protection. Their businesses get audited. Their secrets leak. Their worlds... break."

I wasn't shouting.

I didn't need to.

Fear did the work for me.

"I don't want noise. I don't want bodies piling up and drawing attention. I want control."

My jaw tightened.

"She needs to understand something very clearly. Every hand that touches her life, every person who thinks they can shield her... starts to feel consequences."

I straightened.

"And she will know it came from me."

One of the men finally swallowed. "What message do we send, sir?"

I looked at him.

"Simple. Bring Stella home... or watch everything you depend on fall apart."

Silence filled the room again — heavy now, shaped like dread.

This wasn't chaos.

This was war.

My war.

And I wasn't losing.

STELLA POV

It had been three months since we came to the safe house, and in that time, life had settled into a strange, almost peaceful routine. The tension that had been our constant companion seemed to ease with each passing day. There had been no word from Zane, no threats, no signs of trouble. The FBI and police were still working tirelessly to find ways to capture him, but for now, there was calm.