Sky Island
The ship had now stopped near the middle of the shore. Everyone onboard was preparing to disembark. On the other side, all members of the Violet Devils stood, silently waiting. At a glance, no one's face carried any visible anger or emotion everything looked calm... maybe too calm.
Aryan, Raghav, and Ruhel stood a little behind.
And at the very front... stood Aaron Warner.
He wasn't just standing he was owning the moment.
Dressed in a sharp grey formal shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and matching grey trousers that hugged his tall, lethal frame Aaron looked like a walking storm. The kind of man you didn't dare approach unless invited. His jaw was clenched tight, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes...
Those cold, dangerous eyes that always held anger
Today, they held something else too.
A strange unrest, like something had already begun inside him, like he was waiting for blood.
On the ship, the leader of the Blue Wings team stepped forward slowly. His voice was low, gritted, almost like he was whispering something deadly.
"You all know what we have to do.
Tonight, Aaron Warner and his gang must be destroyed.
If we fail... our boss will finish us himself."
He said that while looking directly at Aaron who was already watching him.
A soft smile played at Aaron's lips. Not kind.
That was the kind of smile that said: You're already in my graveyard. Welcome.
As soon as their leader gave the order, the men started unloading some boxes. Heavy. Dangerous. And one of them raised a flag right in front of Aaron
a silent announcement:
The cocaine has successfully arrived on their island.
Seeing that flag wave, Aryan leaned in slightly and muttered under his breath,
"Aaron... what exactly are we waiting for?
Don't you think we should just blast their ship already?
You really think they came here for peace?
We both know they're not Blue Wings. They're infiltrators."
He kept talking, voice rising with frustration,
"They're here to enjoy our air, our land while plotting against us?
And we're just going to let them?"
As Aryan kept going, Aaron finally raised his eyes and looked at him.
That single look...
And Aryan went quiet.
Because in that one cold, piercing stare
Aaron didn't just answer him.
He warned him.
He reminded him exactly who the hell he was.
And with that, silence returned to the shore.
But this wasn't peace.
It was the silence right before the storm.
And Sky Island had no idea... how deadly Aaron Warner's storms could be.
Far from the chaos at the front, tucked behind rusted crates and steel boxes, Kiara was asleep breathing slow, calm, unaware of the hell unfolding outside.
But something stirred.
A faint sound.
Boxes shifting. Footsteps.
And... voices.
Her brows furrowed as her sleep broke. She blinked slowly, and for a second, forgot where she was. But then she looked ahead, beyond the wooden railing...
And her breath caught.
They were no longer at sea.
In front of her was a sight that made her doubt her own eyes
an island.
But not just any island a vision straight out of fantasy.
Waves crashing against violet cliffs.
Fog curling like smoke through dense green.
Stone towers hidden under moonlight.
A place no book she had ever read could've imagined.
Her eyes widened. Her heart pounded.
Was this real? Or just some haunting dream?
She had no answers. Only more questions.
But before she could think any further
She felt it.
People. Close. Too close.
Kiara gasped softly and ducked behind the crates again. She peered through a gap
And what she saw shattered her calm completely.
Tears welled up in her eyes
not from pain, but from sheer shock.
Several men in blue and white uniforms were being dragged out like animals.
Beaten.
Thrown into the ocean.
Some didn't even move.
Dead.
The rest screamed, but no one listened.
Kiara slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping too loud. Her entire body froze.
She had just stumbled into a war.
Front Shoreline
Aaron stood like he always did unreadable, unmoved.
Watching.
Calculating.
His gaze fixed on the ship.
Aryan turned toward him, confused.
His voice low, tense.
"Wait... does that mean some of those men were ours?"
Aaron didn't answer immediately.
He pulled out a cigarette. Lit it. Took a long, unbothered drag.
His jaw clenched, eyes cold.
"You know what happens when you idiots are too busy catching up on sleep?"
"Aaron Warner plans the entire fucking game."
"So maybe stop thinking altogether. You'll hurt yourselves."
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to.
The weight of his words hit harder than any bullet.
And then with nothing but a look, he gave a silent order.
A nod.
A flick of his fingers.
Within seconds, half the people on the ship were executed.
Shot.
Thrown into the sea.
No mercy.
The other half?
Shackled. Chained. Dragged.
Raghav, standing beside him, narrowed his eyes.
"Why not just kill them all?"
"They're infiltrators. Spies. Not worth the risk."
Aaron turned his head slightly toward him, then looked back ahead — his voice a little slower, darker.
"Atlantis needs a gift."
"And what better gift... than their own people?"
"Turn them against their masters... and use them as weapons."
"Let them rot for the same empire they served."
His voice was ice. Calculated. Twisted.
And Raghav couldn't help but smile.
Because once again
Aaron Warner wasn't just playing the game.
He was the game.
Where the world's plans ended
his plans began.
Kiara sat huddled in a dark corner of the ship, knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her heart was pounding.
Every creak of metal.
Every footstep.
Every muffled voice felt like it would swallow her whole.
She didn't know where her Maapi had sent her.
But if this was safety...
then she would've rather stayed locked up in that dark cellar back home.
At least there, people didn't die in front of her eyes.
She was lost in that spiral of fear when a sharp, commanding voice echoed nearby clear, cold, lethal.
"Search every corner of the ship."
"The President wants nothing left behind."
That voice didn't sound like a mere order.
It sounded like a verdict.
Kiara's breath hitched.
Her pulse raced.
They were coming.
And this time... they weren't going to spare her.
"Maapi said the people there would protect you..."
"She said they were kind..."
Lies.
All of it.
Because right now, she was trapped in the middle of a blood-soaked warzone.
And the kindest thing these people might do was kill her quickly.
Kiara tightened the shawl over her shoulders and adjusted the black mask across her face.
She tried to stay quiet. Still.
But then
she heard it.
Footsteps.
Slow. Heavy. Unforgiving.
She peeked between the crates, only to see chaos unfolding
men running, screaming, some begging.
But no one escaped.
The devils at the shore weren't letting anyone leave.
And Kiara was next.
She stood up quietly, heart hammering in her ears.
She took one hesitant step forward. Then another.
But before her foot could touch the third
a rough hand yanked her back.
"Boss," the man growled, gripping her arm tight,
"Look at this one...
The girl was trying to escape
Aaron Warner had been silently scanning the ship, like a lion bored of watching its prey squirm.
But the moment he heard those words
"Trying to escape..."
His eyes froze.
Icy. Focused. Deadly.
Escape?
No one escaped from his island.
Not alive.
Not ever.
To even try it...
meant the person either had a death wish
or had no idea who the hell Aaron Warner was.
A smirk curled on Aaron's lips.
That slow, twisted smile that made men flinch without knowing why.
He turned slightly, voice low, lethal.
"Bring her to me."
"And do it gently. I want to see what kind of fool tries to outrun the Violet Devils."
The guard nodded. His grip tightened on Kiara's arm as he practically dragged her down the ramp toward the sand.
Her blanket slipped off her shoulders and hit the ground but still shielded most of her frame.
Her mask stayed on hiding her face, hiding her identity.
But Aaron...
He already sensed something strange.
He didn't know who she was.
But whatever it was about her
it had just shifted the air.
And when Kiara's trembling form was finally thrown in front of him...
Aaron took one slow step forward.
And stared.
Aaron's eyes didn't blink.
The girl was dragged and thrown at his feet like a ragdoll her form completely covered, only a glimpse of her hair and the faint shimmer of her avocado-green eyes visible beneath the veil.
She curled into herself like a trembling petal under a storm. The guard, furious, reached for her hair, yanking her up roughly
Bang.
The gunshot echoed so loud, so sudden, the ocean itself seemed to pause.
The bullet had torn straight through the guard's chest leaving silence and blood behind.
Kiara screamed.
Not out of courage but instinct. Pure, helpless terror.
Her hands flew to her ears as she shrank back, and her eyes wide, wet filled with silent sobs she could no longer hold in.
Aaron hadn't moved. His arm was still outstretched from the shot. His gun still hot.
Now... his gaze lowered.
And locked on her.
He reached down, grabbed her arm, and yanked her up with such force her breath caught.
"So," he muttered darkly, "you've got guts."
His voice wasn't loud. But it cut like a knife dipped in ice.
She was shaking in his hold, her breath shallow, skin pale yet those goddamn eyes still stared back. Still lifted to meet his.
No one ever did that.
Not to him.
Not Aaron Warner.
His jaw clenched. His grip on her wrist tightened like a vice.
"Put. Your. Eyes. Down."
She didn't.
For a second longer, she looked straight at him.
Then suddenly closed her eyes.
And that
That made him snap.
"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF?"
His hand gripped her face now, roughly turning it toward him, his breath burning against her skin.
"Open your eyes when I speak to you!"
His voice roared through the silence, thunder in the bones of everyone around. Even Aryan, Raghav, Ruhel they watched in stunned disbelief.
No one had ever stood there like that.
No girl.
No one with eyes like hers.
Aaron's voice turned venomous.
"You think you can walk into my island like this, dressed like a lamb, and fool me? You thought you'd melt into the shadows, sweetheart?"
His fingers dug deeper into her jaw, bruising.
"Atlantis really sent you? Cute plan. But here's the fucking problem..."
He leaned in, so close their foreheads nearly touched.
"I don't lose."
The words didn't just burn. They branded.
All around them, soldiers stood still. Frozen. Like they were watching something sacred... or suicidal.
Aaron's eyes bore into her, boiling with rage, something untamed flickering underneath.
And yet...
He hadn't hurt her.
Not yet.
Why?
Even he didn't know.
He hated the way she trembled.
He hated the way she cried.
But most of all he hated that despite all of that...
She didn't beg.
And that made her dangerous.
Aaron's eyes burned with cold fury as he spat,
"Remove your mask."
His voice wasn't loud, but it hit harder than a bullet.
Kiara didn't move.
Not a blink. Not a breath.
But her body had already betrayed her she was trembling, visibly.
Because standing in front of Aaron Warner... wasn't just intimidating.
It was like standing at the mouth of hell.
Before Aaron could repeat himself, Aryan's patience snapped.
He stormed forward and ripped the mask off her face, his grip rough, his movements brutal.
He too had started to hate her silence.
And just like that, her face was exposed.
And it felt like the air itself paused.
Her avocado-green eyes, still glossy with tears.
Those soft, cherry-blushed lips trembling.
Her pale skin flushed from crying, and that small nose red from the cold and fear.
The cloak that once shielded her modesty had dropped to the floor.
Her soft brown hair framed her face like a broken painting.
And that white gown soiled and torn but still hauntingly beautiful.
She looked... unearthly. Like something that didn't belong here.
Everyone stared.
Everyone thought the same thing:
How is this girl even real?
Where does someone like her come from?
But Aaron?
Aaron didn't blink.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't feel.
His gaze stayed locked on her like a loaded gun, until he slowly stepped forward, twisted his fingers into her hair, and sneered
"Great fucking job."
"So now Atlantis sends me this? A girl? Hoping her beauty would melt Aaron Warner?"
His voice was venom. Calm, but thick with threat.
Kiara's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't understand.
Who was this man?
Why was he talking like this?
Her mother had promised she'd meet someone kind... a woman... not this monster.
She missed her dungeon.
She missed her locked room.
At least back there... the monsters didn't talk.
Aaron saw her going numb. And it pissed him off more.
Aryan barked, his tone cold as steel:
"Atlantis really thinks the Violet Devil is that pathetic? That a girl with a pretty face could trap him?"
Raghav's voice followed, dark and mocking:
"Trained well, too. Must've been told to keep that mouth shut. Now standing here like a doll thinking we'll melt at her silence and her sad little face?"
Aaron was quiet but the silence was louder than any scream.
He ran the cold metal of his gun across the side of his head.
Then looked at Kiara like she was the mistake the world should've never made.
"So that was the plan?"
He laughed under his breath cold and cruel.
"You thought you'd fuck me, gain my trust, and steal my secrets?"
He stepped closer.
The air between them dropped ten degrees.
Aaron grabbed her gown and yanked her toward him like she weighed nothing.
Then he shoved the barrel of the gun into her lips and snarled
"You like working for someone else, huh?
You like sneaking into my island with those rats?
You want to play spy with Aaron Warner?"
"Don't worry, sweetheart...
I'll make sure your little fantasy comes true."
He leaned in closer, his breath brushing against her cheek.
"Next time before walking into my hell
learn who the fuck you're dealing with."
Aaron said in a terrifyingly calm voice, "Because if you'd known more, you would've never dared to come here."
His tone turned colder.
"Now look at you... ruined your life for nothing."
He sounded terrifying.
But Kiara?
She wasn't scared of him anymore.
All she wanted... was to go home.
Aaron clenched his jaw as she stayed silent. His patience wore thinner.
"What's your name?" he demanded, anger laced in every syllable.
But Kiara only lifted her avocado green eyes to him and whispered,
"I want to go home."
That one line.
Aaron stared at her in disbelief.
What kind of girl was this?
His hand instinctively moved to raise the gun ready to shoot without another word
but before he could pull the trigger...
Kiara collapsed into his arms.
Will Kiara survive the wrath of Aaron Warner?
Or will the devil break the only girl who was never his enemy?
Find out in... Darling, You're Mine.
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