Velmora looked better at night.

Cleaner. Quieter. Like the city knew how to hide its worst parts under neon and smoke.

Rafael preferred it that way.

The docks at Port Aurelian were alive—engines growling, money moving, people pretending they had control over things they didn’t understand. Oil-stained concrete, flickering lights, the smell of fuel thick enough to taste. This was where the real city breathed.

He stood by his car, cigarette balanced between his fingers, the faint glow of it cutting through the dark. Matte black Porsche 911 Turbo S—low, lethal, and already warmed up. He didn’t check it. Didn’t need to.

He already knew how the night would end.

“Still taking bets against you,” Kairo muttered somewhere to his left, amused, counting cash that wasn’t his a minute ago.

Rafael exhaled slowly, smoke curling upward. “Let them.”

It made the win better.

His gaze shifted lazily over the crowd—and then paused.

Not because he was looking for anything. But because something... didn’t belong.

Not loud. Not desperate. Not trying

She stood just off the center of the chaos, surrounded but not part of it. Not loud like the others, not desperate, not trying to prove anything. Just there. Watching.

Too composed for a place like this.

Just standing there like she for too good for a place like... and didn’t cared about the fact it was

He watched as one of her friends—loud brunette maybe stacy, if he caught the name right—nudged her shoulder, already arguing odds with someone. “Come on, don’t play safe now. That one—” she pointed toward Lucan , revving his engine like noise could replace skill, “—he’s winning this.”

Rafael almost smiled.

She didn’t answer immediately. Just looked toward the track... and then briefly at him.

A mistake.

She mumbled something that his ear couldn't catch between the roars of the engine, she put the wad of cash on the hook on lucan Throne

Kairo snorted under his breath. “That’s a new one.”

Rafael flicked ash to the ground, gaze still on her. Now she was more amusing than the race itself

The race didn’t take long

It never did

The moment the signal dropped, everything else became irrelevant—the noise, the people, the bets. Just speed, control, precision. Lucan pushed hard, aggressive, loud.

Rafael didn’t.

He drove like the outcome had already been decided.

By the time the finish line came into view, Luca was already behind. Not far enough to look embarrassing—just far enough to make it clear.

It wasn’t even close.

The crowd erupted. Money changed hands. Kairo laughed like he’d expected nothing less.

Rafael stepped out of the car, rolling his shoulder once, cigarette already back between his fingers.

And then he looked at her..

She wasn’t loud about it. Didn’t throw a fit. Didn’t argue.

But her expression—

tight jaw, narrowed eyes, that flicker of disbelief turning into pure irritation was better than anything the race had offered

He walked closer, slow, unhurried, stopping just enough distance away to make it deliberate.

“Bad call,” he said lightly. Just to add fuel to the fire that was already buring in her eyes

She turned away from him like his existence insulted her, sharp, immediate. No hesitation Rafael let out a quiet breath of smoke, studying her walking away, properly now. “Only when someone makes it this easy.”

Kairo, somewhere behind him, let out a low “oh, that’s not going to—”

Rafael ignored him

For a second, it was just silence. Charged. Sharp.

And then—sirens.

The shift was instant. Noise breaking, people scattering, engines starting in panic.

“Cops—move!”

Kairo swore under his breath. “We’re leaving.”

Rafael didn’t move.He watched the chaos instead, expression unchanged, cigarette burning slow between his fingers.

“...You’re not serious,” Kairo muttered.

Rafael glanced at him, almost bored. “Why not?”

“She called them,” Kairo said, low. “Pretty obvious.”

Rafael’s gaze flicked back to where she left

A slow smile touched his lips.

“Then I’d hate to waste the effort.”

The arrest was uneventful. Hands on the car, voices raised, routine questions. Rafael didn’t resist, didn’t argue. Let them think they had control for a few minutes.

It made things more entertaining.

He barely made it inside 'Velmora Central Holding' before it ended.

“Sign.” The officer sounded annoyed.

Rafael didn’t even look at the paper before doing it.

Dante was already there, leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting long enough to get bored.

“You look pleased,” Dante said as Rafael stepped past him.

“I am.”he said flatly

“Over a race?” Dante added

Rafael paused just enough to glance back, faint amusement still in his eyes “Not the race.”

Dante didn’t asked further, He didn’t need to

Outside, the air felt colder.-Quieter.

Rafael walked toward his car—and stopped. His gaze dropped to the hood.

A clean, deliberate scratch ran across the surface. -Consider us even- Not deep enough to ruin it. But enough to ruin the paint-enough to make a point.

For a moment, he said nothing, Then he laughed.--Low. Soft. Genuine.

“...I see.”

Morning came too bright.

Velmora Heights was the opposite of the docks—clean streets, quiet buildings, people who believed their lives were normal.

Rafael leaned against his car outside Ardent University, sunglasses low, cigarette resting between his fingers, the scratch still visible under the light.

He didn’t wait long. People like her left trails.

The moment she stepped through the gates, he saw her.

Same posture. Same composure.

Different setting.

Didn’t change anything.He straightened slightly, just enough to catch her attention enough that Her gaze landed on him—and then on the car. Recognition hit almost instantly

“Morning,” he said, voice smooth, casual, like they were continuing a conversation instead of starting one.

Two months

That’s how long it lasted.Not that Rafael was counting. He didn’t need to. It was routine now.

Rafael didn’t keep track, but Velmora did. The city had patterns, and lately, most of them seemed to circle back to her.

Showing up where he wasn’t supposed to be. Sitting across the café she liked before she even arrived, It started at Café Aurelian, a quiet corner spot in Velmora Heights where sunlight hit too clean and conversations stayed soft. Not his kind of place. That didn’t stop him from taking the seat across from her before she even arrived, espresso already going cold by the time she noticed.

He didn’t speak at first. Just watched.

Her friends—stacy, always too loud for a place like this, and Rhea , observant in a way that bordered on cautious—noticed him before she did. Their reactions were predictable. Hers wasn’t

More interesting that way.

Rafael preferred reactions. Irritation. Anger. Anything that proved he was getting under someone’s skin.

With her, it came in fragments. Controlled. Brief. Never enough.

So he pushed.

Kairo had called it unnecessary once.

“Over a scratch?” he’d said, leaning against the bar, unimpressed. “You’ve done worse for less.”

Rafael hadn’t disagreed.

“It’s not about the car.”

Kairo had raised a brow.“Then what?”

Rafael had taken his time finishing his drink. “She hasn’t learned yet.”

And that was the problem. No matter what he did—she didn’t react the way people were supposed to. Like he was just an inconvenience- then inconvenience it is He had her car towed outside Orion Plaza, midday traffic thick enough to guarantee inconvenience. She didn’t argue. Didn’t call anyone. Just walked, like it didn’t matter.

He blocked an entire stretch of Velmora Central Boulevard during peak hours, a quiet instruction passed through the right people, the right amount of money. Cars stalled. People complained. She sat in the back of a cab, unmoving, gaze fixed on her phone like a spoiled princess, like the delay wasn’t worth acknowledging.

That should have been enough.some part of him didn't wanted it to be enough

On her birthday, he booked out Velours, the only restaurant she had a standing reservation at. Every table. Every staff member. Doors closed under the excuse of a private event.

He sat inside anyway, glass of scotch untouched, watching through the tinted windows as she stopped outside.

Sitting alone at a table meant for twelve, glass of scotch untouched, watching through the tinted glass as she stood outside for a moment.

Not angry. Not even surprised. Just... still. Typed something on her phone and went to the next restaurant

That had annoyed him more than anything else.

“She’s not normal,” Kairo muttered once, watching the same scene unfold from a distance.

Rafael’s gaze hadn’t left her. “No.”

“Then why keep going?”

A pause.

Rafael leaned back slightly, fingers tapping once against the glass.

“Because I can.”

It wasn’t entirely true. But it was enough.

Kairo didn’t argue, but the look he gave him said enough. Rafael ignored it.Because it wasn’t about the car anymore. It hadn’t been for a while.

It was about the limit.

Everyone had one.

He just hadn’t found hers yet. He expected to. He always did. Almost like an obsession

It happened at Café Aurelian again. Same table. Same time. Same quiet that didn’t belong to him.

Rafael took the seat across from her like he had every other time, setting his keys down with a soft, controlled sound. The faint scratch on the hood of his car outside was still visible through the glass, catching light every time he looked.

“Still ignoring me?” he asked, tone easy, almost bored.

He liked the way her composure cracked—just slightly—when pushed far enough.he knew She was trying so hard to not to give him the reaction her ached and that made it more thrilling, The brief flash of irritation in her eyes before it disappeared again.

He liked testing the limit.

Rafael was getting bored of half-reactions. Brief flashes of irritation, controlled and gone before they meant anything. Not enough to hold.

So this time, he made it deliberate.

Velmora Galleria was bright, crowded, controlled—exactly the kind of place that pretended nothing ugly could happen inside it. He spotted her easily, moving through the upper level with the same composed distance from everything around her.

His phone was already in his hand. A few quiet instructions. The right people. The right amount of money.

He watched her step into the elevator alone. Perfect.

The doors slid shut. A second later, the lights cut cleanly. The display above the doors froze between floors. Two. Stop.

Rafael didn’t move. Didn’t rush. Just leaned against the railing, cigarette between his fingers, watching the stalled numbers like they were part of a plan already finished.

Thirty minutes would be enough. Enough to irritate, to crack that control, to finally get something real out of her.

“That’s excessive,” Kairo muttered through the earpiece, more curious than disapproving.

*Rafael exhaled slowly. “Let maintenance take their time.”

Time stretched. People passed, complained, forgot. He stayed exactly where he was, already imagining the outcome—anger, sharp and immediate, maybe louder this time. Maybe she’d finally give him something worth keeping.

The elevator jolted. Power returned. The numbers flickered back to life. Rafael straightened slightly.

The doors slid open.

She stepped out—and for a second, the reaction he expected didn’t come.

Pale. Too pale. Her breathing uneven, fingers clenched tight, gaze unfocused in a way that didn’t match irritation.

Rafael’s amusement didn’t disappear. It stalled. He stepped forward, slow, deliberate, watching for it—the anger catching up, the sharpness returning. Some snarky remark- anything

It didn’t.

She moved quickly, not frantic, just needing to leave. she walked past him.

Rafael didn’t turn immediately. Didn’t stop her. For a second, something about that look—or the lack of it—sat wrong.

“That didn’t look like your usual result,” Kairo said quietly.

Rafael’s eyes followed her as she disappeared into the crowd, slower than before.

“No,” he said

Because this time, she hadn’t fought him. Hadn’t snapped, hadn’t resisted. She’d just... left.

And for the first time since this started, Rafael wasn’t sure if he’d pushed her to the edge—or past it.

A few days passed, and Rafael couldn’t get that look out of his head. Or rather, the absence of it

It lingered in ways it shouldn’t have. Followed him through meetings at Noctryn Logistics Tower, through late nights overlooking the docks at Port Aurelian, through every quiet moment that used to belong to nothing.

It was almost laughable. How something so small—so insignificant—had started to stay. He told himself it was irritation. Unfinished business. A reaction he hadn’t gotten yet.

It sounded convincing enough.

He sent flowers.

At first, it was calculated. A single arrangement delivered to her residence in Velmora Heights, expensive, precise, impersonal.

She didn’t respond

So he sent more.

Different kinds. Different styles. Orchids, lilies, roses—things he didn’t care to learn the names of, only that they were rare, expensive, excessive. Every morning, something new arrived at her door.

Still nothing.

He sent coffee next.

From Café Aurelian, the same order she always picked, delivered at the exact time she usually arrived. It came back untouched.

Rafael told himself to stop. But He didn’t

He started showing up instead.

Not with intention—at least, that’s what he let himself believe. Just... passing through. Timing things poorly on purpose. Catching glimpses of her on Velmora Central Boulevard, outside Ardent University, near the quieter streets where she walked alone.

It was almost ridiculous.

The way he adjusted his route just to cross her path. The way he slowed down without reason. The way he watched for that same look, that same absence, like it owed him something.

Kairo noticed.

“Getting desperate,” he said once, leaning against the car, unimpressed.

Rafael didn’t look at him. “I don’t chase.”

Kairo huffed a quiet laugh. “Whatever helps you sleep.”

It didn’t help.

Because every time he saw her, it was the same. No anger. No sharp edge. No reaction worth holding onto. Just that quiet distance like he’d already stopped mattering.

It got under his skin in a way nothing else had. Slow. Persistent. Unacceptable. Almost like an obsession

By the fourth day, Rafael stopped pretending it would fix itself.

She was taken outside Ardent University, just past noon when the streets were busy enough to hide it and quiet enough not to question it.

Clean. Efficient. No mistakes.

By the time she regained awareness, she was already inside his villa on the cliffs above Velmora—the one place no one reached without permission.

The basement was colder than the rest of the house. Not unfinished, not careless—just stripped of anything unnecessary. Concrete walls, dim overhead lighting, a faint metallic scent that never fully left. A single chair bolted to the ground, restraints unused but visible. A steel table lined with tools that weren’t meant for display.

It wasn’t a place people walked out of unchanged. She was seated there, wrists free, blindfold still in place.

Rafael stood a few steps away, watching. For a moment, he said nothing. Did nothing. The door behind him closed quietly as his men left. No hesitation. No questions.

Silence settled in.

He stepped forward and reached out, fingers brushing the edge of the blindfold before pulling it away. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the dim light.

Rafael watched for it.

The anger. The fear. Anything. Still Nothing.

That same quiet distance stared back at him. Something in his chest tightened, sharp and immediate. Wrong.

He let out a breath that didn’t feel controlled anymore.

“...say something.” It came out lower than he intended.

Rafael laughed once, short, humorless, dragging a hand back through his hair like he could shake the feeling off. “This isn’t how this works.”

He took a step closer, then another, until the distance between them felt too small and still not enough.

“I pushed you,” he said, voice uneven now, the edge of something unfamiliar slipping through. “That’s the point. You push back.”

Silence.-It cracked something.

Rafael dropped his gaze for a second, jaw tightening, like he was trying to piece something together and failing.

Then, without thinking—without planning it—he moved- Down. His knees hit the cold concrete with a dull sound. For a moment, even he didn’t seem to understand what he’d just done. A quiet, almost disbelieving breath left him, something close to a laugh but not quite.

“...look at me.” Nothing changed "please" he added

His hands rested loosely on his thighs, fingers curling slightly like he didn’t know where to put them. The position felt wrong. Beneath him. Unfamiliar.

he didn’t get up

“Be angry,” he said, softer now, the words slipping out without control. “Say something. Do something.”

Rafael let his head dip slightly, a faint, strained smile pulling at his lips like he could still pretend this was amusing.It wasn’t.

“Punish me then,” he murmured, quieter, almost rough.Rafael realized this wasn’t control anymore. And whatever this was—it made him look... pathetic. He just didn’t know how to stop