Author’s pov
The tension from dinner still hung in the air as everyone trickled back into the house.
People gathered in the living room, pretending to enjoy fruit platters and small talk, but their attention was elsewhere.
Everyone was thinking the sa thing. What the hell happened upstairs?
About an hour later, Sebastian and Cecilia finally ca down the staircase together.
The shift in the room was instant. Conversations stalled, eyes turned. Even the air felt heavier.
"Feeling better?" Luna Regina asked, her tone pleasant but her eyes sharp as glass.
Cecilia kept her expression calm.
There was no trace of panic, no sign of the emotional storm still swirling beneath the surface.
"Much better, thank you."
"Thank you for your hospitality. Dinner was wonderful, and I truly enjoyed the evening," she added smoothly.
Her voice was polite, practiced-- as if she’d rehearsed every word.
Then ca the pivot.
"It’s getting late. I should head out."
The sentence landed like a cue. Guests began to gather their things, offering hugs, handshakes, and half-hearted goodbyes.
Cecilia stood, her smile tight but convincing.
Relief washed over her like a wave. Social etiquette to the rescue.
Luna Regina walked them to the front door.
"We should set up dinner with your parents soti," she said casually, like she hadn’t just been watching her son and Cecilia with hawk-like precision all evening.
Cecilia blinked. The suggestion caught her completely off guard.
After everything that had just unfolded, this was the last thing she expected from Sebastian’s mother.
"They’re traveling at the mont," she answered, trying not to sound as surprised as she felt.
"When they’re back, then." Luna Regina’s smile returned, soft and unreadable.
Before Cecilia could respond, Sebastian stepped in and gently steered her toward the waiting car.
His hand rested on the small of her back. It was steady, both comforting and controlling.
Three vehicles pulled away from the Black estate, headlights slicing through the quiet night.
As soon as they cleared the estate’s outer periter, the mood shifted.
A black sedan rged onto the road behind them. A silver car joined a block later, keeping its distance.
A drone appeared above them. It floated in the air, quiet and locked onto them.
"Alpha, we’ve got company again," Tang said from behind the wheel.
"Not the sa pattern as before. They’re being smarter this ti."
"Drive steady. Lose them," Sebastian replied, calm as ever.
Seconds later, the silver car gunned forward, headlights flaring as it surged toward them.
Cecilia caught the tension in the front seats and instinctively turned to look.
She checked the mirror, but the shadows blurred too fast to make anything out.
Before she could ask, their car accelerated.
Streetlights blurred into streaks of gold and white as they pushed ahead.
Cassian and Yvonne’s car, which had been right behind them, fell out of sight.
What she didn’t see was the silver car behind them turning aggressive, breaking formation and barreling forward like a missile.
Cecilia grabbed Sebastian’s arm.
"Soone’s following us?"
"Don’t worry about it," he said, pulling her gently into his chest.
His hand covered her eyes, but his voice stayed calm.
"Tang’s got it. Just close your eyes and breathe. We’ll be ho soon."
"But Harper and the others..." Her voice cracked."They’re still back there!"
She reached up, pulling his hand away, her heart thudding. She fumbled for her phone, already dialing.
Then it hit.
A violent crash shattered the night behind them.
The sound ripped through the air. tal twisting. Glass exploding. Her breath caught in her throat.
Her heart lurched, the panic flooding in before she could stop it.
The impact they’d feared never ca. Their car kept moving, gliding smoothly down the road.
But in the rearview mirror, chaos was erupting like a chain reaction. Cars swerved. Horns blared. Headlights scattered across the night like broken glass.
Tang eased off the gas. "We weren’t the target. It’s Cassian!"
Cecilia’s heart slamd against her chest.
She couldn’t get the sound out of her head. That awful crunch of tal slamming into tal.
The image of Cassian’s carefree grin flashed through her mind, now tangled with the thought of him bleeding behind a crumpled steering wheel.
Tears filled her eyes before she even noticed they were there.
Sebastian kept his eyes on the mirror, his face hard and unreadable, carved from stone.
But his stillness didn’t fool her. It was the kind of still only people used when they were barely holding sothing back.
"Turn around," he said.
Tang didn’t hesitate. He spun the wheel into a sharp U-turn, tires squealing on the pavent.
Sebastian’s jaw was tight, his eyes locked forward. Guilt prickled at the edges of his thoughts.
Sebastian hit redial again and again, but Cassian didn’t pick up.
No voicemail. No signal. Just ringing silence.
Without a word, he called ergency services and reported the crash.
In the passenger seat, Cecilia was already dialing Harper.
Her hands trembled, but she kept her voice steady as the line connected.
She needed answers. Now.
Harper picked up almost instantly, her voice breathless and shaky.
"Cassian’s been hit. That silver car ca out of nowhere. It clipped us and crashed straight into him. He’s off the road, sowhere in the woods. His car’s a total wreck. It’s bad. Really bad."
The words rushed out in a panic, one on top of the next, barely giving Cecilia ti to breathe.
And then...
A deafening explosion tore through the connection.
Cecilia jerked the phone away from her ear, her blood running cold.
The blast was so loud it seed to shake the air around them.
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