Blood and Mercy
I’m caring for the man my brother paralyzed.
Kai Petrova doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know my real last name. Doesn’t know I walked into his mansion with a lie on my lips. Doesn’t know that five years ago, my brother drove drunk and killed his fourteen-year-old sister.
He just knows I’m the only caregiver who didn’t quit.
I needed the money. My mother is dying, and this job pays $135,000 for six months of work. I told myself I could do it.
All I had to do was keep my head down, stay professional, get the money and get out.
But then he started to trust me, he started to look at me. And I made the worst mistake of my life: I fell in love with him.
Now I’m trapped. Because every time he touches me, I think about the reason he’s on a wheelchair. Every time he smiles, I see his dead sister’s face on the walls of his studio.
When the truth comes out—and it will—he’s going to hate me.
But the worst part? The accident that destroyed both our families wasn’t an accident at all.
Someone wanted Kai dead. Someone made sure my brother took the fall. And someone is still out there, watching us get closer, waiting for the perfect moment to destroy us both.
I thought the secret I was keeping would kill me.
I was wrong. It’s going to kill him.
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Chapter: Don’t Make me Regret itCassie “I can’t explain it.” He pauses and his hands grip the arms of his chair a little tighter. “But I’m choosing to trust you, Cassie. Don’t make me regret it.” He wheels past me and disappears into his bedroom, the door closing behind him with a soft click that echoes in the sudden quiet. I stand there in the training room doorway and can’t make my body move. Can’t make my feet carry me out into the hallway or back to my room or anywhere at all. His words loop through my head on repeat. ‘I’m choosing to trust you. Don’t make me regret it.’ He’s choosing me. After five years of shutting everyone out, after refusing to let anyone get close, after building walls so high nobody could possibly climb them, he’s extending trust to me specifically. And I’m standing here carrying the one secret that would destroy that trust the second he found out about it. I don’t real
Last Updated: 2026-09-02
Chapter: Another SessionCassieThree days have passed since I stood outside Kai’s studio and lied to his face, and the quiet since then hasn’t been the good kind where things settle and you can finally breathe properly.This is the kind of quiet where you’re waiting for something to break, where every sound makes you jump and you can’t shake the feeling that someone’s watching you even when you’re completely alone in a room.Kai hasn’t said anything, hasn’t asked more questions about Mara or the sidewalk. During meals he’s silent, during our sessions he follows instructions without comment, and in those brief moments when we pass each other in the hallway he doesn’t look at me any differently than he did before.But I can feel his eyes on me anyway.Feel them when I’m setting down his breakfast tray, when I’m opening curtains he’ll close the second I leave the room, when I’m doing literally anything in his presence. Like he’s noticing every move I make, every word I say, storing it all away to examine when
Last Updated: 2026-08-30
Chapter: The lie she tellsCassieThe words die in my throat, but she didn’t push.“You’re stronger than you think, Cassie. I see it even if you don’t. Whatever you’re facing, you’ll find a way through it.”The door closes softly behind her and I’m left sitting in my chair staring at the space where she was, her words echoing in the sudden quiet.I should sleep.I know I should sleep.But every time I close my eyes I see Mara’s face, hear her voice demanding to know if Kai knows what Miles did, and sleep feels impossible.*****It’s past two in the morning when I finally make myself leave my room.The hallway is still dark except for the small lights along the baseboards, just enough to see by without illuminating much of anything. I’m heading toward Kai’s bedroom when I hear movement from his studio, the faint sound of wheels on hardwood. He’s still awake. My footsteps slow and then redirect, carrying me to his studio door instead.I stop outside his studio door and stand there with my hand raised to knock,
Last Updated: 2026-08-24
Chapter: The ConversationCassieI’m pacing my room and the floor feels too small, the walls pressing in from all sides, my brain spinning so fast I can’t make it slow down long enough to land on a single coherent thought.Mara’s face won’t leave me alone. The way she looked at me on that sidewalk, the fury burning in her eyes when she saw the Petrova name on that car, the way her voice shook when she said does he know what Miles did to his sister.And Kai’s window.It was cracked open, just slightly but could sound carry forty feet through city noise or was he too far away, was he distracted, was he even paying attention to two people arguing on a sidewalk?I walk from the bed to the window and back again, my feet wearing a path in the carpet. What did he hear? The question circles through my head on an endless loop and I can’t make it stop, can’t find an answer no matter how many times I replay every second of that scene.He didn’t say anything on the drive back. Didn’t ask a single question. Just sat in th
Last Updated: 2026-08-18
Chapter: Why can’t I let this go..??KaiWhen we get back to the mansion John comes around to help me out of the car. Cassie moves like she’s going to help too but I stop her before she can get close.“I’ve got it.”She steps back immediately, her hands dropping to her sides like I slapped them away.“Thank you,” she says quietly, first to John and then to me. “For coming with me today. You didn’t have to do that.”I don’t respond, just transfer into my chair and head for the entrance. Behind me I hear her footsteps follow for a few seconds before they veer off toward the staff wing where her room is, and then I’m alone heading for the lift that’ll take me up to my floor.My wing is quiet when I get there, the hallway empty and still in that way it always is. I wheel myself to my bedroom and once I’m inside with the door closed I pull out my phone and stare at it.I didn’t hear the full conversation on that sidewalk. Just those fragments. “For the Petrovas” and “Does he know what—” and then something that got swallowed
Last Updated: 2026-08-13
Chapter: QuestionsKaiI’m in the front seat staring at the apartment building and thinking this is the first time I’ve been outside in five years, the first time I’ve left the mansion grounds for anything, and it wasn’t even for myself.It was for a girl I don’t know who got suspended for fighting.It was for Cassie.The realization doesn’t sit well but I don’t have time to examine it because Cassie and her sister are standing on the sidewalk about forty feet from the car and whatever’s happening between them looks like it’s about to combust. I sit here and watch through the window as Cassie tries to calm down a girl who looks like she’s about ready to explode.Mara—Cassie talked about her that night in my studio doorway, talked about her sharp edges and her anger—is standing there with her whole body pulled tight like a wire about to snap. Her arms are gesticulating and even from this distance I can see the fury radiating off her in waves.She reminds me of Lily. Not her face or anything physical, j
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
Chapter: The Mother’s Call“Camille.” Her voice comes through sharp and brittle like broken glass. “Mom, I can explain— there are some things we need to talk about. Things I need to tell you.”“Well I’m listening, Camille. What is it?”I open my mouth but the words stick in my throat.How do I tell her about the pregnancy over the phone?“I just—I need you to understand why I did what I did. It wasn’t some silly fight or me being dramatic. He was—”“Ryan’s mother called me this afternoon,” Mom cuts me off, her voice cooling. “She told me you’re planning to leave him. She said there are some things you need to clarify. What’s going on?”“I already left him, Mom. It’s been over a month. I gave back the ring.”There’s a pause and I hear her inhale sharply.“You gave back a three-carat diamond? Camille, do you have any idea what that ring cost? What kind of message that sends to his family?”“I don’t care what message it se
Last Updated: 2026-09-05
Chapter: Roselyn callsJeremy sets his brush down so fast it rolls off the palette and onto the drop cloth.He’s across the room before I can blink, his socked feet sliding slightly on the hardwood, and then he’s on his knees beside the couch with his hands hovering near me like he wants to touch but isn’t sure if he should.“Where?” he asks. “Where did you feel it?”I move one hand lower, pressing against the spot where I think the movement came from. “Here, I think. It’s hard to tell, it’s so—”It happens again right as I’m trying to explain it and my eyes fly wide. “Oh my god. There. It did it again.”Jeremy’s staring at my stomach like if he concentrates hard enough he’ll be able to see through the layers of clothing and skin to watch the baby moving inside.“Can you feel it from the outside?” he asks, his voice tight with barely contained excitement.“I don’t know, I’ve never—I don’t know how this works.”Without thinking, withou
Last Updated: 2026-09-04
Chapter: The first kickA few days pass and nothing catastrophic happens.No more anonymous texts lighting up my phone in the middle of the night.No more stories about Ryan drunk and breaking things at expensive restaurants.Just quiet, ordinary days where I try to push thoughts of him into a box in the back of my mind and pretend everything is fine.It doesn’t always work.Sometimes I’m washing dishes and my hands go still under the running water because I remember the way Ryan grabbed my wrist at the café.Sometimes I’m folding laundry and I catch myself checking the windows, making sure the locks are turned, listening for footsteps in the hallway that sound too familiar.But mostly I can go hours without thinking about him, can focus on the small ordinary things like what to make for dinner or whether I should finally finish the book I’ve been reading for two weeks.Jeremy helps without even meaning to, just by being here, by filli
Last Updated: 2026-09-03
Chapter: He’s playing the victim cardI nod against his shoulder. “I used to think Ryan was the best guy I knew,” he says, staring straight ahead at the dark apartment. “Loyal and driven and fun to be around. The kind of friend you could count on for anything, the kind of guy who’d have your back no matter what.” He pauses and I wait, not wanting to interrupt whatever he’s working himself up to saying. “But then I met you,” Jeremy continues, and his voice gets quieter, more careful. “And I started seeing things I didn’t want to see. The way he talked about you when you weren’t in the room, like you were a possession he’d acquired. A trophy he’d won. Something he owned instead of someone he loved.” My chest gets tight and I have to force air through my lungs. “Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask. “Because I told myself it wasn’t my place,” Jeremy says, and I can hear regret th
Last Updated: 2026-09-02
Chapter: The vigilThe next morning I find Jeremy in the kitchen making coffee and the smell of it turns my stomach but I force myself to walk in anyway.He looks up when he hears me and whatever he sees on my face makes him set the coffee pot down immediately.“What happened?”I unlock my phone and hold it out to him without saying anything, my fingers tight around the case.He takes it and I watch his face change as he reads the text from the unknown number, watch the way his mouth goes flat and his eyes go cold reading the message.“That’s not Ryan’s number,” Jeremy says, and his voice is tight.“I know.” I wrap my arms around myself. “He’s using a burner or something. A number I won’t recognize so I’ll answer thinking it’s someone else.”Jeremy hands my phone back to me and holds out his hand again. “Give it here.”“What are you going to do?”“I’m blocking it,” he says, and there’s steel in his voice that I’ve never h
Last Updated: 2026-08-31
Chapter: Is this the end or the beginning..??I watch Ryan stare at the velvet box sitting between us on the table and I wait for guilt to hit me, wait to feel bad about hurting him, but there’s nothing.Just relief.Relief that I don’t have to carry this ring around anymore, don’t have to hide it from Jeremy, and don't have to pretend it means something when it stopped meaning anything months ago.Ryan’s hand trembles slightly when he reaches for it and he opens the box, looks at the diamond catching the café lights, and I can see him trying to process this, trying to understand how we got here.“I bought this with my first bonus,” he says quietly, and his voice sounds hollow. “Spent three months’ salary on it because I wanted it to be perfect. Wanted you to show it off to your friends.”“I know,” I say.“And you’re just giving it back? Just like that?”“Just like that.”His hand closes around the ring box and his knuckles go white.“I don’t want
Last Updated: 2026-08-31
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