🖤 MARKED BY MIDNIGHT

CHAPTER ONE: Marked The gunshot split the night. Eliana froze on the sidewalk, her tote bag slipping from her shoulder and spilling one of her notebooks onto the wet pavement. She didn’t even move to pick it up. A man collapsed ahead of her, blood spilling like ink into the rain. A black car door opened. Not rushed. Not panicked. Just… deliberate. A man stepped out—tall, impossibly calm, the dark of his suit swallowing the streetlight. Something about him felt heavy, like the air shifted to make room for him. His eyes found her instantly. Not the body. Not the gunman disappearing into the alley. Her. Eliana’s breath snagged in her throat. “I—I didn’t see anything.” He walked toward her in slow, measured steps. Shadows clung to him like they knew him. When he stopped in front of her, he lifted a gloved hand and pushed a strand of wet hair behind her ear. “Don’t lie to me,” he murmured—voice deep, controlled, almost too soft for the moment. “You saw everything.” Eliana stumbled back, her shoe slipping on the rain-slick concrete. “Please, I won’t say—” His hand slid to her jaw. Not rough. Not threatening. Just steady, as if anchoring her in place. “Look at me.” He waited until her eyes met his. “There are only two ways this night ends for you, Eliana.” Her stomach dropped. “How… how do you know my name?” A ghost of a smile curved his lips. Midnight-dark. Quietly dangerous. “I know everything that matters.” Thunder rolled across the sky. His thumb brushed her cheek—slow, almost absent-minded, like he was memorizing the shape of her. “You want to live?” he asked. She nodded, barely breathing. “Yes.” “Then you come with me.” His voice lowered. “As of midnight, you’re under my protection.” Her pulse hammered in her ears. “Protection from who?” He leaned in, his breath warm against her chilled skin. “From everyone who wants you dead now. Including the man who fired that bullet.” Her knees wobbled. “Why me?” His eyes darkened. “Because you’re the only witness,” he said softly. A beat. “And because you’re mine now.” He took her hand—firm, sure—and the night swallowed them both.