Author's POV

The water drop rang into the night air, smashing against the ground, mixed with

A faint smell of mud shatters all around.

Her hand trembled, but her face was hard as stone. Her hazel eyes were reflecting a storm of emotions: hopelessness, sorrow, anger, sadness, hatred. Everything at once.

Water dripped from her hair and clothes, soaking her completely, but Iris didn’t shiver. She didn’t care about the icy night wind flowing through the half-open window, brushing against her sensitive skin.

The police station around her was alive with chaos. Officers moved hurriedly from one desk to another, like something very important was going to come, but Iris, it all sounded distant, like she was trapped in a world far away from there.

“Here, ma’am,” a soft voice broke through the loud noise. “Please change into these, or you’ll get sick.” A young woman in formal police officer attire stood before her, holding out a neatly folded set of clothes.

As if the voice didn’t reach her, she gave no response.

The girl hesitated. She had her own duties, but something in Iris’s stillness tugged at her heart. Sympathy softened her expression as she set the clothes gently beside her.

Then, with careful hands, she offered a steaming cup of coffee.

“Please, drink this. It will make you feel better.”

Still nothing. Iris didn’t move, didn’t blink. She sat like a shell, her body present, her soul absent.

The girl set the coffee down on the table and, after one last glance filled with pity, walked away, leaving Iris alone with her silence.

One by one, every voice died, and silence swept the place.

The atmosphere inside the station shifted as heavy footsteps echoed through the room.

The bodyguards came, forming a line, their presence swallowing into the air. Their faces were hard, carved with discipline.

Everyone’s eyes were downcast, not even daring to blink or look up.

It was as if the entire place was holding its breath.

Then he came.

Xavier.

As soon as he entered the station, a police officer came towards Xavier.

The officer's stare was down, and the fear was clear in every step he took towards Xavier.

He was afraid to speak, worried that his words might offend him, and next he would be found on the floor in a pool of blood.

“Sir, we found ma’am sitting on a bench on the bus stand in the heavy rain.”

As soon as he delivered his message, his heart jumped into his throat when Xavier gave no response, and he quickly moved away from him.

Xavier's cold eyes are fixed only on Iris.

But Iris remained motionless, still staring at nothing, her body dripping wet, her skin turned white against the cold air.

His sharp brown eyes instantly stayed on Iris. She sat there like a lifeless statue, drenched, her clothes clinging to her skin.

Her eyes, those hazel, empty eyes, never moved from the floor to look up.

He strode forward, stopping in front of her. For a moment, he just simply stands there, towering over her, waiting impatiently, but she doesn't even blink or respond.

His patience snapped in a second. His hand shot out, clamping painfully tight around her arm, with a harsh force jerking her from the bench.

Finally, her eyes lifted from the harsh force. Her hazel eyes meet his brown, full of rage.

They stood there and the hatred she had for him was clear in her eyes.

His grasp tightens with every passing heartbeat, veins pop, cutting off her blood flow, and her skin on her arm starts to turn pale.

Still nothing, not a sound, not a flinch, not a hiss of pain.

The silence in the station was sharply thickened with every second.

Everyone was present there, they could feel the storm brewing but not a single person dared to lift their eyes and look up.

Not even thinking in their wildest dreams to look up to her because most of them know Xavier and his craziness about the thing he wants.

He pulled out the gun from his waistband, eyes locked onto her sharp and consuming, capable of making anyone tremble in fear to their core.

“You have no idea how angry I am right now.” His breath slammed against her face, hot and dangerous. “Tonight if anyone dies, it will be because of you.”

A single shot shattered the thick silence in the air.

The bullet tore through the officer’s chest, ripping flesh and spilling raw blood across the cold ground. His body collapsed.

Her eyes didn’t move from his, but her whole body trembled as screams rang out in the silence.

Her hatred dissolved into trembling tears that slowly formed in her eyes, traveling down to her cheeks. Her hands shook as her vision blurred.

Another shot rang out. Then another. Screams filled the room as people scattered in panic.

The bodyguards rushed in, grasping everyone in place, but her eyes stayed locked on him, not daring to look at the pool of blood he had created on the floor.

As the blood crept toward her feet, tears slipped down her cheeks.

Her heart was beating so fast that, if he weren’t holding her, she would have collapsed to the floor.

Now, tears freely flowed. His eyes didn’t leave her face, not for a second continuously watching, grabbing every emotion reflecting on her face.

His face was hard as stone.

His hand remained there, gripping tightly with just a little more pressure and it wouldn’t take him long to break her bones.

He turned on his heels as he pulled her with him, literally dragging her. Her steps stumbled with every step; she nearly hit the floor, but he yanked her harshly forward.

Outside, after turning everything inside into a storm, he dragged her out of the office. Rain poured mercilessly in the dark night, and rainwater flowed on the ground, washing the blood that had clung to her feet.

In his hand, the gun was still there deadly. The world around them was blurred in water and fear.

The faint light from the outside lamp flickered, catching the outline of their faces sharp, hardened by fury, her pale and hand trembling, face soaked in tears.

The silence between them was louder than the thunder.

Every step he took echoed with authority and with danger. The air felt thick cold air like even the rain was afraid to fall between them.

The bodyguards appeared, forming a line before him.

None dared to meet his eyes.

A man from them stepped forward hesitantly, his voice shaking under the we

Right of Xavier’s presence.

“Sir... Everything is ready for the marriage”

The words cut through the rain like a knife.