Hazel didn't sleep that night.
Not even for a second.
She lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, the faint hum of the city filtering through the thin walls of their apartment. Cars passed. Voices echoed faintly from the street below. Somewhere, a dog barked.
But inside her mind was silence.
The kind of silence that comes after something shifts.
Something irreversible.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the small black card still resting in her palm.
She hadn't let go of it.
Not once.
Even when Cecilia had begged her to throw it away.
Even when she had promised and lied that she would.
Hazel turned her head slowly, her eyes drifting toward the other side of the room.
Cecilia was asleep.
Or at least pretending to be.
Her back was turned, her body stiff under the thin blanket.
Hazel knew her too well.
Ce wasn't okay.
And honestly?
Neither was she.
Her gaze dropped back to the card, it was simple, minimal and dangerous.
Just like him.
Richard Vance the name was clearly written.
Even thinking his name felt different now.
He wasn't just the injured stranger she had helped anymore.
He wasn't just the quiet, intense man who looked at her like he saw too much.
He was something else.
Something bigger and darker.
"He owns half the underworld in this city " Cecilia's words echoed in her head again, louder this time.
Hazel swallowed.
"What does that even mean…" she whispered to herself.
But deep down she knew exactly what it meant.
Power control violence and most of all danger.The kind people didn't walk away from.The kind of danger you didn't accidentally invite into your home.She closed her eyes briefly.
She saw his face.
Not the cold one.
Not the dangerous one.
But the moment he had looked at her.
Soft.
Almost human.
Her eyes snapped open.
"No," she muttered under her breath, sitting up suddenly "This is stupid." She ran a hand through her hair, frustrated.
"This is exactly what Ce was talking about."
Getting curious.
Getting involved.
Getting pulled in.
Hazel exhaled sharply and swung her legs off the bed.
"I'm not doing this."
She stood up, pacing the small room.
"He's dangerous. End of story." Pacing around the room confused.
She stopped.
Looked down at the card again.
Her grip tightened.
"…Then why didn't you throw it away?"
Silence answered her.
Hazel clenched her jaw.
Because the truth?
She didn't want to.
And that scared her more than anything.
....
Morning came too quickly.
The apartment felt different.
Quieter.
Heavier.
Cecilia barely spoke.
She moved around the kitchen with a kind of restless energy, making tea, cleaning things that were already clean, avoiding Hazel's gaze completely.
Hazel leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Finally tired of the chaos she looked once more before opening up.
"Okay," Hazel said.
Cecilia froze slightly but didn't turn.
"We're not doing this."
"Doing what?" Cecilia muttered, her voice tight.
"This… silence thing."
Cecilia sighed.
Slowly, she turned around.
And the look on her face?
Still scared.
Still shaken.
"Hazel," she said softly, "there's nothing to talk about."
"There is everything to talk about" Hazel stepped forward.
"You dropped a bomb on me last night and then just went to sleep like it was nothing."
"I didn't sleep," Cecilia snapped.
"Exactly." Hazel answer was sharp. Silence stretched between them.
Then Hazel softened slightly.
"Ce…" she said gently, "just tell me properly."
Cecilia hesitated.
You could see the conflict in her eyes.
Like she didn't want to say it out loud again.
Like speaking it made it real.
But eventually—
She exhaled.
"Richard Vance isn't just some powerful man," she began slowly"He's the man, a man one needs to stay away from"
Hazel frowned slightly."What does that mean?"
"It means," Cecilia said, stepping closer, "people don't say his name casually."
"It means businesses, politicians, criminal everyone answers to him in one way or another."
Hazel's chest tightened.
"That's not possible."
"It is."
Cecilia's voice was firm now.
"And the worst part?"
She paused.
Her eyes locked onto Hazel's.
"You helped him when he was vulnerable."
Hazel blinked.
"…Isn't that a good thing?"
Cecilia let out a small, almost disbelieving laugh.
"In a normal world? Yes."
Her expression hardened.
"But this isn't a normal world, Zel."
Hazel swallowed.
"So what… he's going to come after me now?"
"I don't know," Cecilia admitted.
"And that's what scares me."Silence filled the room again.
Hazel looked away, her mind racing.
Her heart too.
Fast.
Uneasy.
Conflicted.
"He gave me this," she said quietly, holding up the card.
Cecilia's eyes widened instantly.
"You kept it?!" Cecillia froze as she shouted Hazel flinched slightly at her tone.
"I—"
"Hazel!" Cecilia rushed forward, grabbing her wrist.
"Do you have any idea what that means?!"
Hazel pulled her hand back gently.
"Then tell me."
Cecilia stared at her for a long moment.
Then she said, quieter this time
"It means he noticed you."
Something about those words made Hazel's chest tighten again.
Not fear.
Not completely.
Something else.
Something she didn't want to name.
"That's not a good thing, is it?" Hazel asked.
"No"Cecilia shook her head immediately.
But the hesitation before that answer?
Hazel caught it.
And it only made things worse.
⸻
Across the city…
The air inside the warehouse was thick.
Tense.
Heavy with fear.
Three men stood in the center of the room.
None of them spoke.
None of them moved.
Because in front of them was Richard.
He stood with his back to them, his coat draped over his shoulders, one hand tucked casually into his pocket.
Calm.
Too calm.
"You had one job," he said quietly.
No one answered.
The man closest to him swallowed hard
"Sir—" He was stopped midway.
"I told you," Richard continued, his voice cutting through the air like a blade, "not to move him."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Richard turned slowly and the look on his face was cold unforgiving and dangerous.
The same man from last night but worse.
Because here?
This was his world.
And in this world he wasn't holding back.
"Where is he?" Richard asked.
The man hesitated.
Big mistake.
Richard stepped forward.
Not fast.
Not aggressive.
But controlled.
Which was more terrifying.
"I asked you a question." He roared at the man bowing before him.
"H-he escaped," the man stammered.
A sharp exhale left Richard's nose almost most like a quiet laugh but there was nothing funny about it.
"Of course he did." His gaze hardened as he smirked."Do you know what happens when people fail me?" Richard smirked dangerously.
No one answered.
No one dared to.
Richard tilted his head slightly.
"Interesting."
Then, without warning a loud crash echoed through the warehouse as he kicked a metal chair across the room the men flinched.
But Richard?
He was already calm again.
Like it never happened.
"Fix it," he said simply.
His voice dropped lower.
Deadlier.
"Or I will."
That was all.
He turned away again, pulling his phone from his pocket.
For a moment
Just a brief moment
His thoughts shifted.
Not to the escaped man.
Not to the mistake.
But to her.
Hazel.
The girl who looked at him without fear.
The girl who argued with him.
The girl who didn't run.
His jaw tightened slightly.
Annoyed.
Intrigued.
Dangerous combination.
He unlocked his phone and dialed a number.
"Make sure to find out everything about her," he said."No mistakes this time." The call ended without waiting for an answer.
Just after that his attention returned to business to control and power.
But somewhere beneath all of that…
A small part of his mind stayed on her.
And that?
That was new.