The quiet click of the upper master bedroom door opening cut straight through the tense atmosphere of the grand foyer. Both Dorrent and Shadron turned their heads toward the grand staircase as the steady, confident sound of high heels began to echo down the marble steps.

Joanne had completely changed her look, coming downstairs dressed to kill. She had discarded her simple travel trench coat for a stunning designer dress that perfectly showcased her exceptional beauty. The deep crimson fabric clung tightly to every single curve of her statuesque body, tracing the full swell of her hips and leaving her long legs exposed as she walked. It was a calculated, lethal outfit explicitly engineered to completely blind any man who looked at her, especially a perverted old dictator like Bellero Boren.

Both Alphas stared at her in silence as she reached the bottom of the steps. Shadron’s eyes locked onto her moving figure, his breath catching slightly in his throat. He simply couldn’t stop admiring her jaw-dropping appearance, a low whistle escaping his lips.

"Good god, Joanne," Shadron complimented her, his voice full of a genuine appreciation as he looked her up and down. "If looks could actually kill, the entire Boren syndicate would be dead before you even step foot inside their front gates. You look incredible."

Joanne’s beautiful lips curled into a confident, satisfied smile, her chest swelling slightly as she felt thoroughly good about herself. She adjusted a golden strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes flicking over to Dorrent’s hard, stony face, hoping for a similar reaction from her boyfriend. But the tech tycoon remained completely frozen like an iron statue, his silver eyes cold and unreadable.

"Thank you, Shadron," Joanne murmured, lifting her small designer clutch from the side table. She looked back at both of them, her expression turning serious and determined. "I am leaving for the Boren stronghold right now. Keep your phones close and do not do anything reckless while I am gone. I promise you I will return with that antidote before the clock runs out."

With one final, elegant turn, she walked out through the double doors of the estate. The grand entrance clicked shut behind her, followed soon by the distant roar of her luxury sedan tearing down the long driveway toward the eastern sectors.

The exact second her car vanished from the property, Shadron turned his head back to his friend, his brow furrowing into a deep line of frustration. He pointed a finger toward the closed doors. "Are you completely insane, Dorrent?! How could you just stand there and let your beautiful girlfriend walk straight into a monster’s den dressed like that? You are basically handing a piece of gold to a starving wolf!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Dorrent finally relaxed his tight posture, letting out a low sigh as he rubbed his throbbing temples. "You don’t understand the underworld structure, Shadron," Dorrent replied flatly, his deep voice carrying no emotional warmth. "I know Bellero Boren very well. He might be a cold-blooded, ruthless Mafia boss who sheds blood without a second thought, but he has an old-school code—he doesn’t physically hurt women. The worst thing he can do to her is realize she’s playing a game and aggressively send her away from his gates."

Dorrent stepped closer to the tall glass panels, his jaw clenching tightly. "And besides that, Bellero is an analytical businessman, not a stupid street thug. He can’t be a fool enough to lay a hand on Joanne. She is the daughter of the nation’s Vice President. If a single hair on her head is harmed inside his territory, the entire federal military grid will descend on the eastern sectors and crush his syndicate to dust. She will be perfectly fine. The pressing problem we have right now is what the hell we are going to do if she fails to get the antidote. We cannot bet Jannah’s survival on a supermodel’s seduction game. We need to have a solid second plan."

Shadron let out a heavy breath, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought through the legal and physical options. "You don’t need to worry yourself to death about that, brother. Think about the basic layout. If Damian is truly Jannah’s boyfriend like he claimed, there is no way on earth he would just sit back and let her die. He is a doctor, and he loves her. He will naturally pressure his father to release that antidote."

Dorrent turned around, his silver eyes swamped with a sudden suspicion that had been rotting his mind since his violent confrontation in the slums. He stepped right into Shadron’s personal space, his winter-frost pheromones flaring with a dangerous, territorial heat.

"What if that is an absolute lie, Shadron?" Dorrent growled, his voice dropping into a rasp. "What if they are both lying about being in a romantic relationship? What if Jannah and Damian planned this entire boyfriend story together just to get me out of the picture?"

Shadron blinked, surprised by the tycoon’s logic. "Why the hell would they fake a whole relationship, Dorrent?"

"Because she hates me to the core for keeping her trapped under my roof!" Dorrent hissed through his teeth, his fists clenching inside his pockets. "I suspect their relationship is not real at all. Jannah is a stubborn, smart girl. She probably asked Damian to play along and pretend to be her man so that I would go slow on her, feel bounded by some moral code, or completely back away from fucking her! She wanted to protect her body from my touch, so she manufactured a lover in the slums!"

Shadron stood still for a long, suffocating beat, processing his friend’s wild, possessive theories. He shook his head slowly, his golden eyes narrowing into analytical slits as he recalled thedetails of the assassination attempt on the lower road.

"Think about the physical data, Dorrent," Shadron said, his voice dropping into a whisper that filled the quiet foyer with an intense gravity. "If the Boren syndicate hitmen opened fire on your car, and that bullet was actually meant for you because you were sitting close to Jannah... then it changes the entire equation. If they attacked your position simply because you had involved yourself with Jannah, then it means she carries a hidden importance to the Boren family themselves. They aren’t trying to help her escape you—they are trying to eliminate whoever gets close to her. We don’t need to worry about her being a fake girlfriend, Dorrent. We just need to find out what secret makes a simple swamp herbalist so important to the biggest Mafia empire in this city."