Page 136 of Knot Heirs: Serenity's Reign

The vulnerability felt foreign on his tongue, like speaking a language he barely remembered. Billions in assets, power that stretched across continents, and yet here, kneeling before his sister's grave, he was simply a man with regrets.

~SERENITY~

Serenity stepped closer,her golden eyes with those unusual red flecks catching the sunlight.

For a calculated woman who navigated business deals with surgical precision, there was something surprisingly genuine in her expression now.

"I'm here for you, Lucian. Whatever you need." Her voice was soft but firm, without the saccharine pity he'd come to expect from others. "Support doesn't always mean speaking. Sometimes it's just... being present."

Her words settled over him, an unexpected weight lifting from his chest. Lucian studied her face, searching for themanipulation, the angle—there was always an angle in his world. Yet he found nothing but steady resolve in those unique eyes.

Could I actually tell her everything?The thought surfaced unexpectedly, dangerous in its allure.

"Whatever I need?" he echoed, rising to his full height, towering over her smaller frame. "Be careful making promises you don't understand, little Omega."

Serenity crossed her arms, tilting her chin up defiantly. "I'm not some delicate flower who needs protecting from reality, Blackthorn. I'm the daughter of Marcus Vale. Heir to an empire built on blood and cocaine."

"And yet there are things even Marcus shielded you from."

Lucian's fingers twitched at his side as he carefully arranged the flowers one final time, each stem aligned with military precision. "I was saying a prayer for her," he admitted. "That's all."

"I gathered as much." Serenity nodded, unperturbed. "And I meant what I said. I'll support you. In any way."

"Anyway?" His tone shifted, became sharper, testing the edges of her resolve.

"Yes."

The simplicity of her answer caught him off guard. One syllable, delivered with such certainty. Such dangerous, foolish certainty.

"I've been keeping something from you, Serenity." The confession emerged before he could reconsider. "Something I'm not certain you're equipped to handle."

Her eyes narrowed, a flash of irritation cutting through her composed demeanor. "I'm not some weak, cowering Omega. I've been handling things since before I knew what the Vale name meant." She stepped closer, the scent of her growing stronger—sweet honey undercut with something fierce. "And if I'm goingto be your permanent Omega after this hunt is over in two days, you better get used to not keeping secrets."

Lucian's amber eyes darkened. Most would have backed down, sensing the alpha pheromones that now radiated from him like heat waves. Serenity Vale simply stared back.

"You really believe that?" he asked, voice dangerously soft. "You think you're ready to see every shadow in my world?"

"I don't just think it. I know it." She tapped her temple. "MBA in Finance and Business Management. I understand risk assessment, Lucian. I'm making an informed decision."

Despite everything, a smile tugged at his lips. So fucking brilliant, this woman. So goddamn dangerous to his carefully constructed walls.

"If that's the case," he said finally, offering his hand to her, "we have one more place to go to."

Lucian's fingers entwined with Serenity's as they left his sister's resting place behind. Her hand felt small in his, but there was nothing fragile about her grip—it matched his intensity, promising something he hadn't expected to find in an Omega. Equality.

The walk back to his Aston Martin was silent, fallen leaves crunching beneath their shoes. Overhead, clouds had begun to gather, threatening rain and casting the world in premature twilight.

"Where are we going?" Serenity asked as he opened the passenger door for her.

"Somewhere that will tell you more about me than words ever could." Lucian slid into the driver's seat, the engine purring to life beneath them. He glanced at her profile, memorizing the curve of her jaw, the steady resolution in her eyes. "You can still change your mind."

"I won't."

His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "You might, after."

He drove them away from the manicured lawns of the cemetery and toward the industrial district on the city's edge. The tension in the car grew as familiar landmarks disappeared, replaced by abandoned factories and chain-link fences topped with razor wire. Lucian's mind raced, calculating probabilities, weighing outcomes. The look on her face when she saw—would she run? Would that fierce intelligence turn to disgust? Would she see the monster beneath the billionaire's veneer?

"Your scent changes when you're worried," Serenity observed, breaking his spiral of thoughts. "Like thunderstorms and burnt amber."

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