The rain fell like shattered glass against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Morgan mansion.
Inside, the air was heavy—thick with silence, tension, and the kind of fear that no one dared to speak aloud.
Ayesha sat on the edge of the massive velvet couch in Raiyan's private office, her fingers trembling over the ultrasound report in her hand.
Her heart was racing.
Not because she was afraid of the baby.
But because she was afraid of him.
Raiyan Morgan.
The king of the underworld.
The man people whispered about in fear.
The man whose enemies disappeared without a trace.
The man who, somehow, had become the one place her broken heart still ran back to.
She stared at the black-and-white image in her hand.
A tiny life.
A tiny heartbeat.
Their baby.
Tears burned her eyes.
She had imagined this moment a hundred times. Maybe he would smile. Maybe for the first time in months, the darkness in his face would break. Maybe he would hold her and promise that no matter how dangerous their world was, he would protect them both.
But tonight…
Tonight felt wrong.
The mansion guards were restless.
Phones kept ringing.
The lights flickered once.
And Raiyan hadn't returned.
She stood and walked toward the window, her hand instinctively moving to her stomach.
It was still flat. Too early for anyone to know.
But she knew.
And somehow, a strange warmth had already begun growing inside her—along with a terrifying new fear.
The office door burst open.
Ayesha gasped.
Raiyan stepped in, drenched in rain and blood.
Her breath caught in her throat.
His white shirt was stained crimson at the shoulder. A cut ran across his cheek. His dark eyes—those cold, lethal eyes—searched the room until they landed on her.
Then something in him softened.
"Ayesha."
She rushed toward him. "Ya Allah, Raiyan—what happened?"
He grabbed her wrist before she could touch the wound.
"Don't." His voice was low, rough. "It's not mine."
She froze.
Not his.
That should have made her feel better.
It didn't.
His jaw tightened. "Zayan betrayed me."
The name hit her like a slap.
Zayan.
Raiyan's closest friend. His right hand. The only man Raiyan had ever trusted completely.
"No," she whispered. "That's impossible."
"I saw it with my own eyes." Raiyan's voice turned deadly calm—the kind of calm that came right before a storm. "He gave our shipment route to Malik Qureshi."
Ayesha's blood ran cold.
Malik Qureshi.
The ghost of the underworld.
The man who had disappeared years ago after Raiyan destroyed half his empire.
The man rumored to be dead.
But rumors were lies in their world.
And the dead never stayed buried.
Raiyan moved toward the liquor cabinet, pouring himself a drink with one hand. Even injured, even bleeding, he moved like a predator—controlled, elegant, terrifying.
"He ambushed us at the docks," Raiyan said. "Twelve men dead. Two of mine missing."
"Missing?"
He looked at her.
And for the first time, Ayesha saw something that made her heart stop.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
"He knows about you."
Ayesha's fingers went cold.
No.
No, no, no.
Raiyan set the glass down without drinking it.
"I moved you here because I thought these walls could protect you." His voice darkened. "I was wrong."
Before she could answer, an explosion ripped through the night.
The mansion shook violently.
Glass shattered.
Ayesha screamed as the lights went out.
Raiyan lunged for her, pulling her into his arms just as gunshots erupted downstairs.
The sound was deafening.
Chaos exploded around them.
Men shouting.
Bullets tearing through walls.
Footsteps pounding up the staircase.
Ayesha's body shook.
"Raiyan—"
"Listen to me." He cupped her face, forcing her to look at him in the darkness. "There's a hidden passage behind the bookshelf. Go down, follow the tunnel, and wait at the safe house."
"I'm not leaving you!"
His thumb brushed her cheek, rough and desperate. "You will do exactly what I say."
The bookshelf slid open with a low mechanical sound.
The secret tunnel yawned open.
Gunfire got closer.
Ayesha's chest tightened. She wanted to tell him.
About the baby.
About the life growing inside her.
But before she could speak, the office doors blasted inward.
Masked men stormed in.
Raiyan turned into something else.
A monster.
A king.
A weapon.
He shoved Ayesha toward the tunnel and fired without hesitation.
The room erupted in bullets.
She stumbled backward, tears blurring her vision.
"Raiyan!"
"GO!"
The last thing she saw before the bookshelf closed—
Was Raiyan standing in front of her like death itself, blood on his face, gun in hand, shielding her with his body while the world burned around him.
And then—
Darkness.