SYNXED

Chapter Two: Back when we were gods

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POV: Nyx Kade

Five years ago, I believed in Lucien Kross the way a sinner believes in salvation—blindly, desperately, dangerously.

The embassy’s ballroom had been a cathedral of power that night—gold chandeliers dripping light over marble floors, the air thick with perfume, lies, and the kind of money that could buy countries. And I had walked in on his arm, the perfect wife, the perfect distraction.

Our mark was three glasses of champagne away from surrendering the neural chip that could rewrite global defense grids. Lucien had whispered the plan into my ear as his fingers traced the inside of my wrist, the same way he did when he wanted me focused—and obedient.

It had been our op.

Our score.

Our future.

But somewhere between the second waltz and the back exit, I felt the shift.

His hand slipped from mine. His eyes—once my safe place—were steel.

“Change of plan,” he murmured, pressing the chip into his jacket.

“What plan?” I whispered back, scanning his face.

The answer came in the chaos—gunfire slicing the air, glass shattering, my body shoved hard toward the corridor. My ribs screamed as I hit the wall.

“Run,” he said.

Only he didn’t run with me.

I remember the sound of my heels on the marble as I turned back, just in time to see the bomb detonate at the far end of the hall. The ceiling collapsed, stone and fire raining down. And in the last sliver of light before the world went black, I saw him walking away.

Not looking back.

Not saving me.

Just… leaving.

The taste of smoke in my throat was the last thing I remembered before waking up three days later in a safehouse, half my ribs broken, a bullet dug out of my side.

Lucien Kross had stolen the chip.

And he had stolen me from myself.

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POV: Lucien Kross

I never should have let her in.

Nyx Kade had been the best thing I’d ever touched—and the most dangerous. I taught her how to break into systems no human should touch. She taught me that control wasn’t about fear—it was about trust.

And I destroyed hers.

The Cairo op was never supposed to go down like that. I’d planned to get the chip, extract Nyx, and burn every trail. But the moment I saw the sniper in the mezzanine—my sniper—I knew the deal was compromised.

I had seconds.

The bomb was already armed. My men were already dead. And if I went back for her—if I took that one step toward her instead of toward the exit—we were both dead.

So I did the thing I swore I’d never do.

I walked away.

And I told myself she was gone.

Because believing she lived would mean believing she’d hate me.

And hate from Nyx Kade… would ruin me

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