Se connecterAdrian’s POVI violently swept my arm across the mahogany desk, sending every single file, ledger, and coffee cup crashing onto the floor.Paperwork exploded into the air, fluttered down, and scattered across the hardwood. A ceramic mug shattered against the baseboards, hot coffee soaking straight into the rug."Two trucks in forty-eight hours, Ronan!" I roared, the sound tearing out of my chest with absolute, unbridled rage.I paced the length of my private club office, my heart hammering against my ribs, my hands balled into tight fists. The calm, refined academic mask I wore on campus was completely gone, ripped away by the sheer fury of watching my empire bleed out right in front of me.Ronan stood near the heavy wooden door. He didn't jump when the mug shattered, but his face was completely drained of color. He looked exhausted, his leather jacket dusted with gravel from the scene he had just come back from."I just got off the radio with the highway unit," he said, his voice fla
Nirvana’s POVI pulled the heavy passenger door of Jesse’s rusted Honda Civic shut and immediately pressed down on the plastic lock button.Jesse jumped slightly in the driver's seat. He paused with his hand hovering over the gearshift, looking over at me with a completely baffled expression. He reached out and turned down the volume knob on his cracked stereo, cutting off the loud indie rock song playing through the speakers."Okay, you're officially acting like a fugitive," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Are we robbing a bank? Because my car tops out at sixty miles an hour, so we are not going to win a high-speed chase.""No bank," I replied, forcing a small, tight smile. I tossed my canvas bag onto the floorboards, carefully keeping my head ducked low below the window line. "I just need a favor, Jess. A really quick one."I had spent the entire morning formulating this plan. After the massive argument with Adrian last night, I knew I was completely out of time. Adrian was tearing
Nirvana’s POVA scream ripped through my throat, completely shattering the quiet silence of the dark bedroom.My hands clawed frantically at the comforter, twisting the fabric into thick knots as I kicked out violently against the mattress. The suffocating weight of the nightmare clung to my chest, stealing all the oxygen from the room. I could still see the tattooed thug from the campus gates, standing in the shadows, tapping his watch. His rough face morphed into Professor Miller’s mocking smile, whispering into my ear that I was just a liability waiting to be discarded."Nirvana! Hey, look at me."Large, warm hands grabbed my shoulders, pinning me firmly against the mattress to stop my thrashing.I gasped, my eyes snapping open to the dark ceiling of the master suite. My chest heaved as I dragged air into my burning lungs. The shadows in the corners of the room slowly stopped spinning, settling back into the familiar shapes of Adrian’s heavy oak furniture.Adrian pulled me straigh
Nirvana’s POVI walked slowly down the carpeted steps of the lecture hall. My sneakers didn't make a sound against the floor. By the time I reached the bottom row, the large room was completely empty, the chaotic noise of departing students entirely gone.Professor Miller was standing behind her wooden podium. She didn't look up when I approached.She was deliberately taking her time, tapping a stack of graded papers against the desk to align the edges perfectly. She slid them into a manila folder, closed it, and slowly clicked her pen shut. She was making me wait. It was a quiet power play designed to make me feel small.But I didn't fidget. I didn't shift my weight, and I didn't look at the clock on the wall. I just held the heavy strap of my canvas bag and stood there in silence."Take a seat, Nirvana," she finally said, snapping her leather briefcase shut."I'd rather stand," I replied evenly. "I have a ride waiting for me outside."Evelyn looked up, her sharp eyes studied me for
Nirvana’s POVI pressed my pen so hard against the thin paper of my notebook that the tip actually tore right through the page. I cursed under my breath, flipping to a fresh sheet, but I didn't write anything down. I couldn't focus. My afternoon literature class had started twenty minutes ago, but my brain was still stuck in the art studio. I couldn't stop thinking about the cup of paint water hovering in the air. I couldn't stop thinking about Davis.The quiet, weirdly intense guy in the back of the room had stepped in to help me, but nothing about it felt like a favor. The blank, dead look in his eyes when he grabbed Sienna's wrist kept flashing in my mind, merging with the terrifying voicemail from the New Orleans thugs. My entire life felt like it was actively crumbling at the edges, and I was just sitting in a hard plastic chair, pretending everything was perfectly normal."The tragedy isn't that he becomes a monster," Professor Evelyn Miller said, her voice cutting sharply thr
Nirvana’s POVDavis slowly uncurled his fingers, dropping Sienna’s arm as if holding her for a second longer was a complete waste of his energy.He didn't shove her away, and he didn't say a word. He just let go.Sienna scrambled backward instantly as her high heels caught on the linoleum floor, making her stumble again, but this time she didn't fake a gasp. She was genuinely terrified. She rubbed her wrist, her eyes wide as she stared at the quiet guy who usually sat in the back of the room. Bright red finger marks were already starting to form on her pale skin."You're completely crazy!" She sputtered, her voice high and trembling. Her face was flushed a deep, humiliated crimson.She didn't wait for him to respond. She turned around and ran down the aisle, her shoulder clipping the edge of an empty easel. She pushed through the heavy double doors of the studio and disappeared into the hallway, entirely abandoning her expensive leather tote bag sitting by her stool.I stood frozen
Adrian's hands were large and hot, anchoring me against the glass door while he kissed me like he was trying to swallow my breath. I let out a low moan against his lips. Every part of me felt wired and sensitive. The calloused texture of his palms against my waist sent a jolt through my spine that
The penthouse was exactly how I expected a billionaire's place to look. All glass and stone, polished grey floors, matte white walls. After all the noise in New Orleans, the silence here felt expensive. Ronan dropped my bags by the door and looked around, his shoulders dropping an inch. "It's yo
My heart wouldn’t stop thumping against my ribs. It was a fast, erratic rhythm that made my chest ache. I stared at the photo on my laptop screen until my eyes burned. It looked like a crime scene. I looked at the window. It was pitch black outside. It couldn't be real. Adrian was in New York. We h
"What is peace?" I typed the caption. "What, who, or where do you regard as your peace? Inspire me.” The glow of my phone was the only thing lighting my dark bedroom. I sat on the edge of the mattress, staring at the painting I’d just uploaded to my art profile. It was a piece I’d finished at 3 o’







