RUINED BY THE RIVAL: THE CAPTAIN’S SECRET SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 3: BURNING TOUCH

RUINED BY THE CAPTAIN

“Get away from that window.”

I barely hear him over the rain hammering thick against the glass, drowning out every other sound in the penthouse. I’m leaning against the frame, forehead pressed to the ice-cold pane, watching neon signs bleed pink and blue through the downpour, fogging the street below. The city looks soft from up here, harmless, like all the sharp edges have been washed clean. But I know better. I know what lurks in the dark corners of this league, this city, this life I walked back into.

His voice cuts through the hum of rain—sharp, urgent, like he’s just spotted a fuse burning down.

I don’t move right away. My breath fogs the glass. “It’s just rain, Kael. No one’s out there.”

He crosses the room in three long, heavy strides, boots hitting the floor hard enough to echo over the storm. He grabs my arm—gentle but unyielding, fingers wrapping firm around my forearm—and pulls me back so fast I stumble right against his chest. His grip is rough, calloused, hot enough to burn through my thin shirt, sending a jolt straight up my spine that makes my breath hitch sharp in my throat.

“Nothing is ever ‘just anything’ right now,” he growls, staring down at me, eyes dark and blown wide, pupils swallowing the storm-grey I used to know so well. “They watch. They wait. You stand in the light like that, you’re handing them exactly what they want. A clear shot. An easy target.”

I yank my arm free, but my feet stay planted. We’re so close our chests brush with every breath. I can feel his heart hammering against his ribs, fast and wild, matching the frantic beat of my own.

“Who are they?” I snap, anger coiling tight in my gut, tangled up with something hot and heavy I refuse to name. “Why won’t you just say it? Why do I have to guess every damn thing like I’m still the girl you threw away five years ago?”

He lifts a hand like he’s gonna brush hair off my face, knuckles hovering inches from my skin, then drops it fast like he’s touched fire. His jaw clenches so hard I can see the muscle jump under stubble. “Because if you knew the full truth… you’d run straight into the middle of it. And I can’t lose you again.”

“Lose me to who? You?”

The words hang thick between us, sharp and jagged. His gaze drops to my mouth for half a heartbeat—hungry, raw, desperate—then snaps back up like he’s forcing himself to look away. He steps closer, crowding me back until my hips hit the windowsill, nowhere left to go. The air shifts, thick and heavy, smelling like rain and cedar and ice and something wild that’s purely him, wrapping around me like smoke.

“You think I wanted to ruin you?” His voice drops low, rough as broken glass, vibrating through my bones. “Every harsh word, every lie I told, every mile I put between us… it was all to keep you breathing. Every single damn thing.”

My pulse races so fast I can hear it thrumming in my ears. I look up at him—at the scar through his eyebrow, at the dark circles under his eyes, at the way his hands shake like he’s holding back a storm. I remember him sitting cross-legged on the floor outside my door last night, gun loose in his lap, eyes never closing. I remember the press conference five years back, how his hands shook on the podium, how he looked sick to his stomach while he tore Liam apart. I reach deep into my pocket, fingers brushing the crumpled note I’ve carried every single day since then—Stay away. Trust no one. Ink faded, edges frayed, a warning I obeyed without ever knowing who sent it.

“Prove it,” I whisper.

For a second he just stares at me, weighing every word, every risk, every ghost breathing down his neck. Then he moves. One hand comes up to cup the back of my neck, fingers tangling slow in my hair, calloused pads brushing the sensitive skin at my nape. His thumb drags slow across my jaw—once, deliberate, sending fire racing through every vein in my body. His touch is everything he never let himself be: gentle, hungry, aching, like he’s touching something he thought he’d lost forever.

“Ember,” he breathes my name like it hurts to say. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

His lips crash against mine and the whole world tilts. It’s not soft or sweet or careful. It’s five years of silence and hate and buried love pouring out all at once—frantic, burning, desperate. He tastes like mint and cold ice and something sharp that’s only him, and I kiss him back just as hard, fisting both hands in his shirt, pulling him closer until there’s no air left between us at all. My skin lights up everywhere he touches—his other hand sliding firm around my waist, dragging me flush against him, his thumb pressing hard into my hip like he’s marking what’s his. This isn’t what enemies do. This is what people do when they’ve been starving for something they thought they could never have.

He presses me back against the wall, body heavy and solid, shielding me from everything outside this moment. His kiss slows, deepens, turns achingly tender, and I feel something wet hit my cheek—tears I didn’t know he had, tears I feel stinging my own eyes before I can stop them. He pulls back just enough to rest his forehead against mine, breathing ragged, chest heaving.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he says, voice shaking raw. “I can’t drag you into this mess. It’s not your war to fight.”

“Too late,” I whisper, and I see it hit him—the flicker of hope fighting the fear in his eyes. “I’m already here. And I’m not leaving.”

A sharp, heavy knock hits the front door.

Kael freezes instantly. All softness vanishes in a heartbeat. His hand flies to his waist, to the gun tucked low in his belt, and he steps solidly between me and the hallway before I can even shift my weight. His whole face hardens—cold, deadly, the captain everyone else fears.

“Stay back,” he mouths, barely a breath. His voice drops to a growl so low I almost miss it. “No matter what happens… don’t make a sound.”

CHAPTER 3 END