The black envelope lay on the desk like a curse. Darius hadn't moved in minutes, his jaw tight, his shoulders coiled. Aria hovered a step away, the open ledger still whispering secrets between them.
"Who sent it?" she asked softly.
His eyes snapped to her, sharp and unyielding. "That's not your concern."
Her chest tightened. "Not my concern? You brought me into this world the moment you put that ring on my finger."
Darius's nostrils flared. For a flicker of a second, something like regret flashed across his face, but it vanished under the weight of his control. "You think you want answers, Aria. But once you have them, you'll wish you could go back to ignorance."
She lifted her chin. "I'd rather choke on the truth than starve on your lies."
The silence that followed was thick, alive, broken only when one of his men re-entered, murmuring into Darius's ear. Whatever was said shifted his posture from fury to calculation.
"Victor," he muttered under his breath.
Aria's pulse jumped. "Who?"
But Darius didn't answer. He dismissed the man with a nod, then finally turned to her. "You're not safe here anymore."
Her laugh came out sharp, incredulous. "Safe? You think I've felt safe for even a second since you dragged me into your den?"
He stepped closer, shadows carving the lines of his face into something fierce, something dangerous. "Listen to me. There are wolves circling. They don't care who you are, only that you're mine. And that makes you a target."
For the first time, fear slid cold through her veins. Not because of Darius, but because in his voice she heard something new — not arrogance, not command, but warning.
"I won't be hidden away," she whispered, though the defiance trembled on her tongue. "If I'm already a target, I need to know what I'm up against."
His hand lifted, hovering near her cheek before he pulled it back, curling it into a fist. "You'll know soon enough. But for now—" His eyes hardened, decision made. "—you don't leave my side."
Aria's breath caught, tangled in equal parts fear and something else she didn't want to name.
Outside, the city hummed with ordinary life. But inside Darius's den, the ground beneath them had shifted. And both of them knew: nothing would be the same after this.