Chapter 7: Bloodlines
771 Words
The silence was thick as concrete.
Lucien stood with the calm of a serpent, gun aimed at Kellan, while Rosa knelt behind him, hands bound, face bruised but eyes burning with stubborn life.
Ari couldn’t breathe.
Her father.
Her real father.
Everything she knew about him flickered like a dying lightbulb—between love, lies, and the monster standing in front of her now.
Lucien c****d the gun. “Put your weapons down. All of you.”
Jax moved first, dropping his pistol. Kellan hesitated a moment longer—then did the same. Ari held her gaze on Rosa.
“She’s alive,” she whispered.
“Barely,” Lucien said coolly. “Had to remind her what betrayal feels like.”
“Funny,” Ari said, slowly stepping forward, “I was going to say the same to you.”
Lucien smirked. “You always had your mother’s fire.”
“You had her killed,” Ari snapped.
His smile vanished.
Kellan stepped beside her. “Let her go, Lucien. You want leverage? Take me.”
“I already had you once,” Lucien said, circling them. “You were a street rat I pulled from the gutter. Trained. Molded. I made you.”
“You used me,” Kellan growled. “I was never yours.”
Lucien turned his gaze back to Ari. “This... thing between you two—it's a fantasy. You think love survives bullets and betrayal? You think it matters now? You're an heiress to a kingdom of blood, Ari. And you're wasting it on a boy who bleeds in alleyways.”
Ari stepped between him and Kellan. “Then I’ll waste it. Every drop.”
Lucien raised the gun.
Jax moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
A flash of silver, a grunt, the gun clattered to the floor.
Chaos.
Ari dove for Rosa. Kellan tackled Lucien, fists flying. Jax caught a punch to the ribs but managed to trip the vault alarm.
Red lights. Sirens.
Guards.
Kellan landed a brutal blow to Lucien’s face, sending him crashing into the server banks. Sparks flew. Lucien slumped—but breathing.
Nova’s voice burst through their earpieces. “What the hell is happening in there?!”
“We’ve got the files,” Ari shouted, grabbing the portable drives from the open case. “And we’ve got Lucien.”
“No,” Rosa coughed. “Leave him. Take the data. He’ll burn without you.”
Kellan lifted her gently. “Can you walk?”
“Barely,” she gasped. “But I’m not dying here.”
They ran—gunfire echoing behind them, the estate beginning to collapse from Nova’s remote sabotage.
Explosions followed them down the hillside.
By the time they reached the van Nova had stashed at the cliff’s edge, the mansion behind them was engulfed in smoke.
Lucien Cross—America’s golden senator—was now the devil on every screen in the country.
And they had the proof.
—
Two Days Later
Ari stood in the courtroom, wearing black.
The press swarmed the steps. Nova leaked the documents. The FBI moved in. Rosa testified from a hospital bed. Lucien was arrested in a dramatic takedown that aired live on primetime television.
The nation was stunned.
Some refused to believe it.
Others had always known.
Damon Virelli’s body was found in a river. Execution-style. No prints. No trail. Message received.
Ari sat in the hallway afterward, alone for a moment.
Kellan found her there, in the silence.
He didn’t say anything.
She looked up. “It’s done.”
“Not yet,” he said softly. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
She blinked. “What question?”
He reached into his pocket—and pulled out a ring.
Simple. Silver. Scarred from years of being hidden.
“I stole this six years ago,” he said. “Told myself I’d give it to the girl who made me believe in something again.”
Her breath hitched.
“I don’t have a home. Or a future. Just this. And you. That’s all I need.”
He knelt.
“Will you marry me?”
Ari stared at him, heart cracking open again.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
They kissed.
This time, there was no urgency. Just truth.
But as they held each other, neither noticed the figure watching from across the street—hidden behind a tinted windshield.
A phone buzzed.
“She said yes,” a voice whispered on the call. “They think it’s over.”
A pause.
Then a reply:
“Good. Let them breathe. The next phase begins soon.”
—
- Writer
