[Chapter 1] Mine to Keep, Mine to Break scene 1

The the whole city of New Haven knew two things for absolute certain:

First — Serena Voss was the most dangerous person alive. At twenty-two years old, she was the sole heir to the Voss crime syndicate, a woman who had inherited her father’s cold ruthlessness, her mother’s striking beauty, and a reputation that made grown men tremble. She was beautiful in the way a blade was beautiful — sharp, polished, and deadly. Her expression was almost always one of bored, icy disdain; her words were short, rude, and cutting; and her mercy was something she gave to absolutely no one. Anyone foolish enough to cross her, or even look at what belonged to her, usually ended up dead or wishing they were.

Second — The terrifying Ice Queen of the Underworld belonged entirely to one person, and that person was the complete opposite of everything she was.

His name was Liam Hale. He was twenty-one years old, exactly one year her junior, a final-year literature student at the city’s prestigious university, and the sweetest, softest soul to ever walk this earth. He was the kind of boy who apologized when someone else bumped into him, who fed stray cats behind the library, who spoke in a gentle, quiet voice, and who blushed bright pink if anyone so much as paid him a simple compliment. He was an Omega — soft, pliant, naturally submissive — and he wore his heart openly on his sleeve. And from the moment Serena had first laid eyes on him, lost and looking for a classroom in the university hallway during her rare visit, she had decided one thing with absolute certainty: He is mine. Every part of him. Forever.

No one understood it. How could the woman who ordered executions without blinking, who tortured traitors with her own hands, who ruled the criminal underworld with an iron fist, be so utterly, hopelessly devoted to a shy, polite college boy who couldn’t even hurt a fly? But anyone who dared to question it or — worse — tried to get too close to Liam, quickly learned the painful, bloody answer.

Serena was possessive to a terrifying degree. It wasn’t just a feeling for her; it was a fundamental law of the universe. Liam belonged to her. His smile, his laugh, his time, his body, his attention — every single piece of him was her property, and no one else was allowed to touch, look at, or speak to him more than strictly necessary.

She had installed cameras all over his apartment and even discreetly around the university campus. She paid off his professors and his classmates, making sure everyone knew the single most important rule: Liam Hale is under the protection of Serena Voss. Do not touch him. Do not flirt with him. Do not keep him talking for too long. If you value your life, remember who he belongs to.

Most people obeyed instantly. They saw the way Serena looked at her boyfriend whenever she picked him up from class — cold, predatory, eyes burning with dark ownership — and they backed away quickly. But sometimes… sometimes people were stupid.

To be continued....

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