Chapter 86: The War That Comes From Within

The city outside was quiet in the way only a city could be—restless but waiting, alive but eerily still, like something was building just beneath the surface, something sharp, something inevitable. Kian stood at the edge of the room, staring out at the skyline he had spent his life conquering, at the empire he had built from nothing but ruthless ambition and the corpses of men who had underestimated him. The whiskey glass in his hand was untouched, the ice melting, condensation pooling against his fingertips, but he barely noticed. Because for the first time in years, Kian wasn't thinking about his enemies. He wasn't thinking about control, wasn't calculating his next move, wasn't searching for the next war to fight. Instead, he was thinking about Adrian.

And that? That was a problem.