Page 35 of Havoc

Storm, quiet up until now, finally spoke. “Havoc’s right. We’ll find the pressure point and drive it home. He’s not going to get away with this.”

Zoe, ever the truth-teller and watchdog for the corrupt, crossed her arms and added, “You need to have Hacker dig into him. Deep. We can’t rely on surface-level info anymore.”

Storm nodded. “We looked into him when he arrested Havoc and our prospects. He came up clean, but…”

Zoe finished his sentence. “But now we know he’s not. The fact that he felt comfortable assaulting Riley in public means he’s confident—maybe even protected.”

Storm turned to Dae, who had been sitting quietly beside Zoe. “What’s her deal? Did he go after her too?”

I answered, “She caught part of the attack on video, she told him she was live-streaming it. He threatened to kill them both if it ever got out. I brought her with us because I didn’t want to leave her unprotected.”

Riley was quick to add, “And she’s my best friend.”

Storm nodded. “That makes her a friend of the club.” He turned to Dae. “Welcome to the Dark Slayers’ clubhouse. You have our protection, if you want it. No one here will harm you. If anyone’s out of line, come to me or Zoe.”

Dae gave a small nod. “Thank you. I appreciate it, and yes—I accept your protection.” Her voice shook, but she said it with conviction. “I don’t know how much of the video is useful. I was too far away to catch the sound, and I couldn’t get the camera to zoom properly.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “You have video footage of the attack?”

Dae nodded and handed over her phone. “I don’t know how good it is. I got his face at the start, but then the camera went out of focus.”

Riley added in a whisper, “We watched it once. I nearly threw up. His face… it’s burned into my mind.”

Zoe’s mouth set into a hard line. “You won’t have to watch it again. I’ll send it to Storm and Hacker. We’ll handle it from here.”

“Thanks,” Riley murmured.

Storm turned to her one last time. “Anything else you want to add?”

Riley took a deep breath and went over everything—how Slater randomly appeared in her life, the slow, unsettling buildup, and how it all culminated into what happened this morning. Her voice shook, but she got through it. And the more I listened, the more convinced I became that Slater wasn’t just unstable—he was dangerous on a whole other level.

When Storm and Zoe left, Dae retreated into the bedroom, leaving Riley and me alone in the suite’s sitting area.

I turned to her. “Are you okay? Do you need space? Or rest?”

She shook her head. “Maybe. But I’m not about to climb into bed with my best friend—and no offense, but this sofa is not it.”

A faint smile tugged at my lips. “We could crash in my room. Just sleep. No pressure.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You sure you’re up for babysitting a wreck of a woman?”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

She nodded once. “Alright. But if you snore, I’m kicking you.”

I chuckled. “Fair enough.”

We stood together, the atmosphere between us was the stress of what just happened, but still humming the strong undercurrents of mutual attraction. For now, that was enough.

If I were a true gentleman, I’d have offered her my bed or gone searching for an empty room she could claim for a few hours. I should have done that. But the truth was, I didn’t want to be separated from her right now. What happened earlier had kicked every protective instinct I had into overdrive. I wanted—no, I needed—to stay close. I needed to hover, to monitor, to make sure she didn’t spiral. I needed to be there in case she needed anything at all.

“We could build a pillow fort,” I offered gently, my voice quiet in the stillness between us, “and I promise to stay on my side of the bed, until you’re feeling frisky again.”

She glanced towards the closed bedroom door where her friend had disappeared minutes earlier. After a long pause, she finally nodded. “I guess that would be okay. If all you want is sleep. I’m not up for more than that right now.”

I gave her a soft, honest look. “I’m Havoc, not Slater. You can be guaranteed I won’t try anything while you’re vulnerable. I won’t even think about it—unless you decide otherwise and send a clear message that you want me to.”

Her lips twisted faintly, somewhere between amusement and exhaustion. “Yeah, okay. Not sure how you can control the thoughts that pop into your head. I can’t even manage that myself.”

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