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**Chapter Two — The Name That Shouldn’t Be**

**Aiden**

The world narrowed to a single point—the name on her skin.

*Aiden Hayes.*

His full name. Not just the first. Not a variation. His. Exact. Name.

His breath hitched. His fingers twitched at his sides, itching to reach out, to trace the letters that matched the ones on his own chest. But the look in her eyes—wide, panicked, like a deer caught in headlights—stopped him.

“You’re Lyra,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

She flinched.

That was answer enough.

She yanked her hoodie back up, covering the name as if she could erase it with fabric alone. “I just need it gone.”

Aiden’s pulse hammered. Twenty-two years of searching. Twenty-two years of being told he was cursed. And here she was—standing in front of him, asking to remove the one thing that tied them together.

“Why?” The word came out rougher than he intended.

Lyra’s mismatched eyes flickered to the door, then back to him. “It doesn’t matter. Can you do it or not?”

He should say no. He *always* said no. Erasing a soulmate’s name was sacrilege, a rejection of fate itself. But the desperation in her voice, the way her fingers dug into her arms like she was holding herself together—it made him hesitate.

“Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the chair.

She didn’t move.

“I’m not doing anything until you tell me why.”

Her jaw tightened. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

For a long moment, she just stared at him, rain dripping from her sleeves onto the floor. Then, in a voice so quiet he almost missed it:

“Because it’s a lie.”

Aiden’s chest burned. *His* name was a lie?

Before he could respond, the shop’s phone rang, sharp and jarring. He ignored it.

“Names don’t lie,” he said.

Lyra let out a bitter laugh. “Mine does.”

The phone stopped. Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Then, the bell above the door chimed again.

Aiden barely had time to register the figure stepping inside before Lyra went rigid. Her face drained of color.

“You,” she breathed.

A man stood in the doorway, tall, with a sharp suit and an even sharper smile. His gaze locked onto Lyra like a predator spotting prey.

“Did you really think running would change anything?” he said, voice smooth as venom.

Lyra stumbled back, colliding with the counter. Aiden instinctively stepped between them.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded.

The man’s smile didn’t waver. “Someone who’s been looking for her for a very long time.” His eyes flicked to Aiden. “And you must be the unfortunate name on her skin.”

Aiden’s blood ran cold.

Lyra grabbed his arm, her fingers ice against his skin. “Aiden, *don’t*—”

But it was too late.

The man reached into his coat.

And the world exploded into chaos.

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**End of Chapter Two**

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