"Selene… I think… something is wrong." Mariah whispered, clutching her stomach.
She suddenly staggered, her gaze though, still brimming with anger. Selene rushed to her side. Not a single person in the hall looked surprised.
And then, it dawned on Selene.
'They were not just taking care of her injury!'
"What did you do?" Selene demanded, glaring at Bianca.
One of the officers, the one closest to them, was the first to move. He was tall, almost built like a mountain, and without a word, he clamped his heavy hand on Selene's shoulder.
Bianca smiled softly, "Don't be hasty, love."
Selene's expressions turned dark.
"Touch me again," she said, turning her head toward the officer. Her voice was calm. Too calm. "And I'll make you the reason our family lawyer needs therapy."
The officer froze. His hand was still clamped around on her shoulder. His smirk died so fast it qualified for resurrection.
Then—
Crack.
Selene's body moved like a reflex. She twisted, flipped him over her shoulder with mechanical precision, and the cop slammed into the marble floor so hard the house practically hiccuped.
Alfred gasped. A priceless vase gave its life in solidarity. Bianca shrieked, "Stop them!" in her best soap opera villain voice.
Selene didn't hesitate. She grabbed Mariah's wrist and took off running.
Ding!
[Agility Buff Active]
[Escape Probability: +25%]
[GPS Activated. Calculating Fastest Route...]
'Great,' Selene thought. 'Now if only the System could calculate how not to die.'
"Left," the System chimed.
She veered right—because apparently her brain hates survival—and slammed into a suit of armor. It crashed down, metal ringing like a bell.
"Move!" Mariah yanked her forward as footsteps pounded behind them—cops, servants, maybe even Bianca herself, screaming bloody murder.
Behind them: shouts, gun-clicks, designer heels stomping like war drums.
Outside the mansion, a sleek black car screeched into view—like it knew this was its Fast & Furious audition. Selene stumbled and crashed into the fender, her body slamming into it with a solid thud.
The system's voice sounded in her head before she felt the flaring pain.
[Impact Detected.]
[Emotional Suppression: Active.]
Selene whispered, "What?"
The pain dulled instantly—not gone, but distant, like it was happening to someone else. A cold numbness seeped into her chest. Since when does the System do that?
Mariah helped Selene back to her feet, "Are you alright?? Don't be so reckless!"
Selene absentmindedly rubbed her forehead. Her eyes flicked to the driver. An old man.
Mariah gripped her hand tighter, "Selene! Look around…"
Only then did Selene return to reality. Behind them, the shouts, the footsteps, everything had stopped. The leader of the cops was staring at the car. His eyes nervously fixed on an owl symbol as he beckoned his officers to not make a move.
'What the hell?'
Mariah tensed beside her. "Get in. Now."
Selene didn't argue. She pulled open the door and shoved Mariah inside. Then, slid in after her.
"You hit me," she said to the driver, panting. "So now you're legally obligated to help. Hospital. Now."
The locks clicked shut.
But the car didn't move.
Selene turned—and locked eyes with the man in the passenger seat.
Tailored black shirt. Disinterested expression. A coffee cup held lazily between long fingers.
Aaron Wolf.
Her heart stopped for a whole second.
When she was just a girl obsessing over Chronova, there were a few times when she had stumbled on articles written about the company's evasive founder—a young man who was known as a genius for creating such a revolutionary game at the age of 20.
Aaron coldly glanced at her.
He didn't even blink. He just stared at her, impassive, a coffee cup resting between two fingers.
In his tailored black shirt and disinterested gaze, he looked like the kind of man who'd step over a corpse in a boardroom and still be offered a raise.
Selene's heart did a small, traitorous backflip.
"Seatbelt," Aaron said, voice like velvet scraped against steel.
Selene blinked. "Seriously?"
He didn't had the car drive only because of a seatbelt?
She sighed to herself, fumbling with the belt like a kid caught sneaking candy.
The driver spoke up from the front. "Young Master Wolf. What are your orders?"
Young Master?
Selene stilled.
There was no exceptional family named Wolf… and there were rarely any rich families in Euronova that still used "Young Master" as a title…
Her curious gaze flicked to Aaron as she strapped the seatbelt.
Aaron didn't answer immediately. He sipped his coffee, then said quietly,"Drive."
The car pulled away smoothly, leaving behind a trail of stunned cops and a fuming Bianca. For some reason, not one of them dared to make any move.
Selene's thoughts briefly went to the black owl. It was an odd symbol.
But she knew nothing about that, so she said nothing.
The silence that followed was boring.
Selene kept checking up on Mariah, and then, sneaking glances at Aaron. Wasn't he supposed to be broke? What was with the stupidly expensive car and a personal driver?
Worse.
'What about the kittens?'
Mariah groaned beside her, "I swear to God, if you're worried about those kittens again—"
Selene looked at her seriously, "Your condition is worse. I'm not thinking about anything else, nanny!"
Mariah scowled.
Selene sighed inwardly.
But she could only think about the kittens. Bianca was as rotten as one could be… what if she does something horrible?
She glanced at Aaron.
What was he hiding?
Aaron did not look like anyone ordinary…
How could the Monteverde family actually do something against Aaron if he was indeed from a family so wealthy that they were using medieval titles?
Selene bit her lips.
Aaron certainly didn't act broke. He sat like a man who owned the street, the city, hell—maybe even the moon.
Selene licked her lips again, trying to figure out how to ask without sounding suspicious.
"So," she said brightly, "You're… the CEO of that bankrupt gaming company, right? Aren't you supposed to be broke?"
Aaron turned his head slightly toward her, raising a single, judgmental eyebrow.
"I am," he said dryly.
Selene blinked.
He wasn't even trying to lie convincingly.
Her gaze darted to his wrist, where a cufflink glinted—the same black owl symbol. Family crest? Syndicate? Mafia? Very, very expensive fashion choices?
"Sure you are," she muttered.
Aaron ignored her.
Mariah groaned softly, stirring in her seat. Selene focused on checking her injury, cheeks burning as she reminded herself not to steal glances at the handsome man.
The driver spoke up again. "Young Master, your family's request—"
"Ignore it," Aaron said.
Family. Requests. Obligations.
Selene's brain whirred. He spoke the word "family" like it was an ugly scar he kept covered.
Noted.
But she didn't ask for more. Not yet. She had enough chaos boiling in her lap.
The car slid through back roads, heading toward the city's private hospital wing.
Selene caught herself sneaking glances again—at the relaxed way Aaron held himself, at the flicker of weariness he tried so hard to hide.
She knew that exhaustion.
The kind you wore like a second skin when you grew up having to fight every day to stay human.
Her chest twisted unexpectedly.
Stop it, she told herself.
She was escaping cops. She didn't have time to catch feelings—or worse, curiosity—for a maybe-mafia prince with anger issues hidden under godly looks.
The car slid to a stop. Outside, the hospital loomed—quiet, sterile, mercifully empty.
Selene hesitated with her hand on the door handle. She turned.
Aaron watched her with that same infuriating calm.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
He said nothing.
Selene rolled her eyes, helping Mariah enter the hospital.
Aaron watched the doors long after they swallowed her up.
Why? He had no answer.
The air grew heavier, quieter.
Finally, his phone buzzed, cutting through the silence like a knife. He answered without looking, lifting it casually to his ear.
"Nova," he said.
"Wolf," chirped a woman's voice, half static, half adrenaline. "Tracked that shady billion-dollar transaction you flagged."
Aaron's fingers tightened minutely around the phone. His jaw tensed, though his voice remained a calm drawl.
"Where?"
Nova laughed, a sound too wild to be comforting.
"Signals are weak as hell. Someone wanted it erased badly. Ghosted faster than a scammer on payday. But guess what?"
Aaron's eyes narrowed.
"The source? It pinged from inside your car," Nova said, her voice dripping with disbelief.
Static crackled, an eerie, stuttering buzz.
The line went dead.
Aaron lowered the phone slowly.
The soft hum of the engine filled the silence as his gaze flicked to where Selene had disappeared.
Sharp. Thoughtful. Dangerous.
The game had officially begun.