CHAPTER SIX

Clause’s POV

I didn’t hear the door open.

I didn’t hear the footsteps.

But I felt it.

That eerie shift in the air, like the universe had hit pause. The sudden tension pressing into the room, making the air sharp and brittle. Even Gary’s breath changed, stilling against my collarbone. A single exhale, caught mid-motion. We both turned instinctively, like prey sensing the predator before seeing it.

And there he was, Alvin. Frozen at the doorway.

His eyes were wide, shock stretching them so far they looked nearly hollow. There was no rage yet, no yelling or accusations. Just… stillness, and disbelief. It was that painful kind of silence where someone’s entire world fractures and they don't even know where to begin putting it back together.

His gaze swept the room slowly, like a camera scanning a crime scene. From Gary’s bare chest to the crumpled sheets. To my shirt on the floor. His eyes flicked to my hand still half-curled in the cotton fabric of Gary’s now half-buttoned shirt. To the trail of flushed skin. He didn’t speak. His lips trembled slightly, but not a word passed through them.

It wasn’t anger, not yet aleast.

It was heartbreak. Betrayal. A collapse of everything he thought he understood.

I sat up straight, adrenaline shoving me out of the dreamy post-afterglow fog. “Alvin wait,” I blurted, reaching for the edge of the bed. “It’s not what it looks like.”

He didn’t move, didn't speak, but I saw it.

That subtle movement. His hand slipping into the pocket of his coat.

I should’ve known.

He pulled out his phone with a mechanical slowness. Almost as if his body was moving on autopilot.

He lifted it.

Hit record.

A chill stabbed through my chest.

My blood froze in my veins. “No, Alvin stop!” I stumbled out of bed, not even sure if I was dressed, if I cared. “Please, let me explain.”

Gary had sat up behind me, breathless, stunned. But he didn’t say anything. His eyes were fixed on Alvin, like a man watching his executioner.

Still no words from Alvin.

He blinked once, then twice, then took a step back.

Then another.

The silence was louder than any scream.

“I swear,” I choked out, stepping forward. “Please. Just hear me out.”

But he turned. Not a word. Not a question. Just a sharp twist of the doorknob and then, BANG.

The door slammed shut.The sound echoed like a thunderclap.

My heart was thundering in my ears. I bolted forward, yanking the door open, sprinting into the hallway.

Empty.

No footsteps.

Just shadows and the buzz of electricity in the air.

“Alvin!” I screamed, feet pounding against the floor. “Wait!”

No answer.

Panic clawed at my throat.

I raced to the balcony at the end of the hall, my hands slamming onto the iron railing.

After a short while, I saw Him, Alvin.

Striding toward his car, parked just beneath the glow of the streetlight outside the bar. His shoulders were tense, fists clenched at his sides. His phone was still in his hand.

Gary burst past me, his shirt barely clinging to his body as he ran. “Alvin!” he shouted. “Please, just listen!”

He didn’t even look back.

Gary thundered down the stairs, disappearing from view.

I couldn’t breathe.

My entire body felt like it was suspended in one long heartbeat. I watched helplessly as Alvin reached his car, yanked the door open, and slid in. Gary was seconds behind. Racing across the pavement, jumping into his own car without hesitation.

Tires screeched. First Alvin’s, then Gary’s. Like two storms crashing away into the night.

Then silence.

Just me.

Shaking on that balcony like the world had just ended.

Because maybe it had.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to call or how to stop what had already begun. Alvin had a video. A recording that could ruin Gary. Could ruin me. Could burn both our families to the ground.

My phone buzzed, dragging me out of the haze.

Gary: Meet me at the family house. Now.

That was all I needed.

I didn’t even think. I just moved.

Threw on clothes and took whatever I could grab. Shoes, Shirt, Jacket. I practically flew down the elevator and into my car, engine roaring to life as I tore out of the parking lot like the world was chasing me.

Because in a way… it was.

The Smith Family Mansion looked almost too calm when I arrived. Like nothing had happened. Like the night wasn’t smoldering with secrets.

The lights were dim in the windows. The gates opened slowly. The butler didn’t ask questions when he saw me. He just nodded, eyes distant, lips pressed tight like someone trying to keep from drowning in the gossip boiling beneath the surface.

He probably knew that something was fishy.

I followed the quiet voices echoing from down the main hall. Every step echoed louder than it should’ve, as if the house itself was listening.

The sitting room door was open.

Gary stood at the center, arms folded across his chest. His jaw was clenched, brows furrowed, his whole posture unreadable but tense. So tense.

Alvin sat across the room on one of the leather couches, legs spread like he owned the world. His phone was still in his hand. His eyes lifted as I entered, and the look he gave me was nothing short of venomous, Cold, Sharp, Deadly.

“Clause,” Gary said, his voice low and tight. “We need to talk.”

I ignored him.

I looked straight at Alvin.

“Please,” I said. “Just let me explain.”

Alvin didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. His face cracked into a short, humorless laugh. “Explain?” he echoed, holding the phone up loosely between two fingers. “You want to explain how you’ve been fucking my brother?”

My stomach dropped.

The words cut like glass.

Gary tensed beside me. “Alvin!”

“No!” Alvin snapped, shooting up to his feet. “Don’t even try to talk. You stood at my sister’s funeral. You gave a speech about how much she meant to you. You cried, Gary. You broke down in front of everyone. And now, this?”

Gary looked away, jaw twitching. “I did love her. I grieved her. I still do.”

Alvin stepped closer, anger radiating off him like heat. “Then explain why her brother is the one you’re climbing into bed with!”

“It’s not that simple,” I said, stepping between them. “It didn’t just happen. We didn’t plan this”

“Bullshit,” Alvin spat. “You had plenty of time to stop. And you didn’t.”

He lifted his phone again. “But don’t worry. The world will judge for itself.”

Gary’s face paled. “You wouldn’t.”

Alvin tilted his head, slow and deliberate. “You think I won’t? You think I’ll sit back and let the two of you disgrace her memory like this?”

I took a deep breath, chest heaving. “You’re angry. I get it. But this isn’t about betrayal, Alvin. This is about two people who didn’t expect to find comfort in each other.”

“Comfort?” he scoffed. “You’re calling this comfort? My best friend and my brother?”

“I’m still your best friend,” I said softly. “Even now. That hasn’t changed.”

“Yes, it has!” Alvin roared. “It changed the second you touched him.”

Gary moved forward, slipping beside me.

His fingers brushed against mine.

And I didn’t pull away.

Even as Alvin’s eyes narrowed into slits, his lips twitching with rage.

We stood together.

For the first time, we didn’t hide it.

For the first time… we faced it.

Even if it was already too late.