LOGIN(Sloane’s POV)I did not go to the hospital. I woke up on the sofa, the world tilting in slow, nauseating orbits every time I tried to fix my gaze on a single point. My head throbbed with a rhythmic, heavy heat, and my throat felt like it was lined with ash.I have been with the Sterling twins since their sophomore year of high school. For years, I have been the silent engine behind their success. I organized their lives and anticipated their needs before they even realized they had them. I was the person Nathaniel Sterling trusted to keep his sons on track. It was a role that required me to be invisible yet indispensable.But for the first time in my memory, I was the one lying down while the room moved around me.Kai was hovering. That was his way. He was the "good" twin, the one who led with empathy because it was the safest path through the Sterling minefield. He was pressing a cold, damp cloth to my forehe
(Sloane’s POV)Day seven arrived with a heavy, mocking brightness.The silence had moved past being a weapon. It was the very atmosphere of the apartment now. It was the air I breathed and the weight on my limbs that made moving feel like dragging myself through deep, freezing water.I wasn't trying to starve myself. I wasn't that poetic. But every time I sat down to eat, my throat felt like it was closing up. I had managed a bit of toast in the morning and a few bites of a protein bar at my desk, but nothing stayed with me. My body felt light and hollow, like a battery that was holding a five percent charge and desperately trying not to shut down.I could feel it in the way my silk gown draped off my shoulders. It didn't hang perfectly anymore; it just looked heavy. My pulse was a thin, thready beat in my neck that seemed to skip every few seconds whenever I heard a door move in the apartment.The Fellowship Ga
(Sloane’s POV)Day four felt like a year.By now, the rhythm of the apartment had shifted into something unrecognizable. The air was thick and stagnant, like the hold of a ship lost at sea. I woke up at 5 a.m. because sleep was no longer a place of rest. It was just a brief, restless interruption to the waking nightmare of being invisible.I stayed in bed for an hour, staring at the ceiling and listening. I listened for the click of a lighter. The heavy thud of boots. I had become a professional eavesdropper, a stalker in my own home, tracking Leon’s movements through the walls because it was the only connection I had left to him.When I finally forced myself out of bed, my reflection in the bathroom mirror looked like a stranger. My skin was sallow, and the dark circles under my eyes were deep enough to hold secrets. I had not eaten a full meal in three days. The thought of chewing made my stomach turn.I walked into t
(Sloane’s POV)The explosion ended not with a big cinematic bang, but with a click.Leon let go of Kai’s collar and stepped back. He did not say a word. He wiped a smear of blood from his lip with the back of his hand and looked at us. It was a long, heavy look that made my skin crawl. Then he turned and walked to his room. He did not slam the door. He closed it with a quiet, final click that felt a hundred times louder than any shout.Kai let out a long, shaky breath. He rubbed his chest where Leon’s knuckles had bunched up his shirt and looked at me, his eyes searching.“Are you okay?” he asked.I nodded, even though my heart was still thumping against my ribs like a trapped bird. I was not sure I was okay. I walked to the window and pressed my palms against the glass. It was cold. Outside, the river was dark and restless, reflecting the city lights in broken, shivering pieces. I felt exactly like that. Fractured.
(Sloane's POV)The apartment felt like it was holding its breath.Leon stood in the doorway, a shadow against the hall light. He’d changed into a dark hoodie and jeans. His hair was still damp from a quick shower, but the water hadn't washed away the restless energy rolling off him.He stayed there, arms crossed. His eyes tracked the wreckage of the evening. The spilled bourbon soaked into the rug. Shards of glass reflected the low light like tiny, cold stars.Leon’s gaze settled on me first. It wasn't the smirk I expected. It was a slow, heavy assessment. He seemed to search for a crack in my composure, a secret written in the flush of my cheeks.He didn't mention the kiss. The one that still felt like a brand on my skin. But the air between us was thick with the ghost of it.Then, he turned his focus to Kai.“You two were gone all day. Again,” Leon said. His voice was low. It carried a dangerous, conversational edge
(Sloane’s POV)By two in the afternoon, the silence of the university library was the only thing keeping me from screaming.We weren’t at the apartment, and for that, I was grateful. Kai had secured a private study suite for his fellowship committee briefing. The air was filtered and sterile, smelling of old vellum and the bitter tang of expensive espresso. It was a vacuum. A sanctuary. A place where the suffocating heat of the living room couch couldn’t reach me.I sat at the end of the long oak table, my laptop humming, a silent engine powering Kai’s ambition. For three hours, I watched him dismantle a room of seasoned academics. He was magnificent. Composed. Brilliant. Untouchably professional. Every time his gaze flicked to mine for a data point, I felt a rush of something dangerously close to pride.This was the plan. This was the “safe” harbor.I had been tending to these brothers since they were in high sch







