INICIAR SESIÓNSYLVIE'S POV I pressed my ear flat against the wall and held my breath.Nothing.Five seconds. Then ten. Then a full minute of heavy, dead silence that pressed back against me like the house itself was daring me to keep listening. Eventually my muscles started aching from holding so still, and I pulled away, staring at the blank stretch of wall in the dark like it owed me an explanation."You're just losing your mind," I whispered to myself.I rubbed my arms which were cold, even under the covers and crawled back to the center of the mattress. I pulled the comforter up to my chin, squeezed my eyes shut, and willed my brain to go quiet.It took hours before I dozed off.The sun came in through the windows sharp and bright, burning away the shadows of the night. But it did absolutely nothing about the memory of Kael's mouth on mine.I stood up from the bed and willed myself to forget about it and then I went into the bathroom. I thought my lips would be swollen because I have read too
SYLVIE'S POV The kiss had ended, but the shock hadn't.I couldn't move. I just sat there, small and stunned, my back pressed against the bed as I was trying to put as much distance between myself and what had just happened as humanly possible. My heart was going absolutely crazy inside my chest — loud, messy, embarrassing and I was almost sure he could hear it.Kael hadn't moved away yet either.He was still hovering over me, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating off him, and the look on his face was nothing like the man I'd come to expect. His dark eyes were wide and wild, blown open in a way that made him look almost unrecognizable, like something underneath the surface had cracked and he hadn't figured out how to seal it back up yet. His breathing was ragged and uneven. The warm air of it kept brushing against my cheeks in these short, shallow puffs that made my skin tingle in a way I really, really didn't want to think about.I hated how small I felt underneath hi
SLYVIE'S POV The moonlight cast a light across the floor, but the rest of the room was drowned in shadows. I hadn't moved from the bed since Vivian left. I remained a mess of tangled sheets and bruised pride, my skin still crawling with the ghost of the word 'acquisition.' I was staring at the door, waiting for it to become a monster, when the handle finally turned.There was no warning, just the soft, expensive click of a well-oiled mechanism.Kael didn't step into the room so much as he invaded it. He stood at the threshold and had a cold, intimidating presence that made you feel like he was about to explode. He stood in the dark, ignoring the light switch. You could hear his deep, steady breathing, each breath slow and heavy, like he was counting down the seconds until he finally lost it."You didn't come down for dinner, Sylvie."He didn't raise his voice, but the low mumble of it seemed to vibrate right through the floor. He hung back by the door, just standing there, making the who
SYLVIE’S POVThe front doors groaned shut behind us, a sharp, creaking sound that usually meant safety but the way Kael’s body went rigid against mine told a different story.He didn't slow down nor even adjust his grip. I bunched my fingers into the expensive fabric of his shirt, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his chest. Every step he took up the stairs sent a jolt of white-hot pain through my ankle, pulling sharp, jagged breaths from my lungs. I wanted to tell him it hurt, but the heat of his skin and the sheer, terrifying focus in his eyes kept the words trapped in my throat.He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at him.In the foyer, a man leaned against the sideboard, swirling a crystal tumbler as if he owned the air we were breathing. He looked like a ghost from a past Kael had never mentioned predatory, cool, and dangerously comfortable."Well," the man’s voice drawled, the clink of ice sounding like a death knell. "This is a side of you the world hasn't seen. Qu
KAEL'S POV"What are you doing here?"The question snaps out of me the second the front doors hiss shut.I didn't slow down or hesitate. With Sylvie wrapped in my arms and her fingers bunched into the fabric of my shirt, I surged toward the stairs.I feel the hitch in her breathing against my neck. Every step pulls a sharp inhale from her—the pain in her ankle but the heat of her skin is a distraction I can’t afford; the moment I spot him, my world narrows to a single point of cold, hard focus.He’s leaning against the sideboard in the foyer, cradling a crystal tumbler like he’s been there for years or he's even welcomed here, and he'd gotten past my security. Thomas, my stepbrother.My grip on Sylvie tightens just enough to feel the solid reality of her against the sudden ghost of my past. Thomas straightens, his eyes traveling over us with a slow, predatory leisure. He lingers on the way I’m holding her, his gaze lingering and tracing the line of her legs, a lopsided smirk spreadin
SYLVIE’S POV“Sylvie”The voice sliced through the silence just as I reached out to touch the latch. I froze, the air turning to ice in my lungs. Slowly, I turned around.And there he was, Kael. I watched him walk toward me, slow and deliberate, like he knew I wasn’t going anywhere else. Two buttons of his shirt were undone, just enough to draw my attention to the warm stretch of skin beneath, and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing forearms that were tattooed and tensed with every step he took.My breath caught somewhere between my chest and my throat as he got closer, his eyes fixed on mine steady, intense, and impossible to escape. The air shifted around us, thick and charged, and I felt it settle under my skin, leaving me rooted in place as he closed the distance.Why is he here? I'm sure he went out after breakfast and —“Sylvie, what are you doing here?” His voice cut through my thoughts."I... I was just walking around. Yes, I was looking for a new place to explore since you s
DARIAN’S POV Two weeks. It has been fourteen days of silence in a house that used to feel alive just because she was in it. You would think a man like me would be used to emptiness, I built an empire in quiet rooms, I signed deals in silence, even destroyed competitors without raising my voic
SYLVIE POVThe dream was a blur of cold rain and the sound of something heavy scraping against concrete. I was running, but my legs felt like lead. Every time I turned around, the shadows grew longer, reaching for my throat. I tried to scream, but my lungs were filled with water, heavy and suffocat
KAEL'S POV The drive to my estate was silent, save for the low hum of the engine and the ragged rhythm of Sylvie’s breathing. She sat pressed against the passenger door, as far away from me as the leather interior would allow. My suit jacket swallowed her whole, making her look even smaller than
Darian's PovThe phone rang while I stood at the foot of the bed, staring at the hauntingly empty space where Sylvie should have been. Her pillow remained untouched, a mocking reminder of her absence.The faint, floral trace of her perfume lingered in the air, barely there now, like a memory stubbo







