C11 The cycle

ALARIC

I nearly kissed her again.

God help me, I nearly did.

When Sydney leaned into me in the lobby, her perfume wrapping around my senses, her pulse quickening just beneath that flawless skin, my restraint wavered. I felt it in my bones, the hunger, the need to claim her mouth and taste the heat surging between us.

It would have been so easy. Too easy.

But easy was dangerous. Easy was death.

So I walked away.

I forced my body into the night, into the safety of shadows, every muscle wound tight as a bowstring. But even as I put distance between us, the memory of her lingered. Her voice teasing me, her eyes daring me, her lips just inches from mine—

I stopped in the middle of the street, cursing under my breath.

This wasn’t about a bet. Not for me. Sydney Stallone was more than temptation. She was a crack in my armor, a danger to everything I’d built.

And worst of all… she reminded me of Sophia.

---

Back at the House

Maya was waiting for me, arms folded, her expression already sharp with judgment.

“You’re late,” she said.

I loosened my tie, throwing it onto the chair. “You’ve been keeping track?”

She tilted her head. “You never lose track of time. Unless you’re distracted.”

I shot her a look, but she only smirked knowingly. “How long before you admit it? She’s under your skin.”

I sank into the couch, scrubbing a hand over my face. “She’s reckless. Loud. Infuriating. She has no idea the danger she’s in every time she stands near me.”

“And yet you don’t stay away.”

Her words cut clean. I didn’t answer.

Maya sat across from me, her gaze steady. “Alaric, I know what this is. You think Sydney will end the same way Sophia did. And maybe she will, if you don’t get control of yourself. But maybe…” She hesitated, softening. “Maybe she’s the one who breaks the cycle.”

I laughed bitterly. “The cycle is unbreakable.”

Her jaw tightened. “Not if you stop believing that.”

I turned away, unwilling to have this conversation. Not tonight.

Because I couldn’t admit out loud that when Sydney looked at me, I wanted to believe it too.

---

Later – In My Study

The desk was covered in files again. Reports, names, numbers. Stallone Enterprises’ inner workings.

For years I had followed trails that ended in smoke. Drivers that vanished. Witnesses that swore they saw nothing. Records scrubbed clean.

But tonight, something caught my eye.

An old invoice, yellowed at the edges. A payment authorized the very day Sophia died. Large. Untraceable. And signed… by someone high up in Stallone Enterprises.

My chest tightened as I read the name.

Ross Stallone.

Uncle Ross.

Sydney’s uncle. The man who’d welcomed her into the company. The one she trusted.

I sat back in my chair, fury twisting my gut.

Could it be him? Had he been involved in Sophia’s death? Was the kindness he showed Sydney a mask, the same way my suits and smiles hid the monster inside me?

I slammed the file shut.

One thing was certain. If Ross was guilty, Sydney was in more danger than she could ever imagine.

And if I didn’t keep my distance, I wasn’t sure which one of us would destroy her first—her uncle… or me.