~ Ophelia’s POV ~
Chaos in this house didn’t sound like shouting.
It sounded like silence.
The kind that tightens around your throat and waits for something to break.
Ryker moved with purpose down the hallway, his grip firm around my wrist, not painful — just unshakable.
I had seen him angry before, calculated before, but this was different. There was urgency under his calm, a current of fear he was trying and failing to hide.
We turned a corner, and two guards followed behind us.
“Who breached the line?” Ryker asked without slowing.
“One individual. Masked. Moving fast.”
Ryker’s jaw clenched. “Weapons?”
“Unknown.”
He muttered a curse under his breath — quiet but lethal.
We reached a steel door I had never seen unlocked before. Ryker scanned a fingerprint panel, punched a code,
