LOGINI couldn’t go out the way I came in; the hallway was too open and the stairs were too visible from the foyer. But fortunately for me the study had a secondary narrow door, almost hidden behind the floor-to-ceiling shelves on the east wall that connected to the private corridor leading to the service stairs. Gage had installed it years ago for “discreet meetings,” which everyone knew meant mistresses and shady business partners. I’d used it exactly once as a teenager, sneaking out after curfew to meet some girl whose name I couldn’t even remember now.I moved toward it, every step measured so my boots wouldn’t squeak on the hardwood. My good hand stayed braced against the bookshelf for balance; the sling kept my left arm pinned uselessly across my chest. Pain ripped out from my shoulder in hot, vicious fucking waves, but adrenaline was screaming louder, drowning the shit out of it.The secondary door was concealed behind a false panel that looked like just another section of shelving
NOAH°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:・ I stepped back into the penthouse, the door closing behind me with that heavy thud that always sounded too final. The place was too fucking quiet for my liking, pressing against my eardrums and making me hear my own pulse louder than anything else in the room. No Mrs. Harlan puttering in the kitchen, no faint clink of dishes, no soft radio playing those old boleros she loved. Just the low hum of the HVAC and the distant city drone leaking through the glass.Lucky, my father wasn’t home.Lucky, Thea wasn’t here either.The silence felt almost obscene after everything that had happened.I stood in the foyer for a long moment, coat still hanging off one shoulder because getting both arms into it hurt too much, sling digging into my neck like a noose I’d tied myself. My boots left wet smears on the marble but I didn’t fucking care. I didn’t have the energy to care about floors or messes or anything that wasn’t the burning need to get this over with.They had been very cl
Dr. Harlan wasn’t that type of person.The thought hit me so hard I almost laughed. Hilarious wasn’t it.Here I was, standing in his ex-wife’s driveway, watching her scream about how he “collected broken girls” and “enjoyed talking to them,” and all I could think was how fucking wrong she was. He wasn’t a predator and he certainly wasn’t a collector. He was… good. Quietly, stubbornly, infuriatingly good. The kind of good that sat with my worst days for fifty minutes at a time and never once made me feel small. The kind of good that had let me fall apart in a park and still tried to hold the pieces. I trusted him.Even now—especially now—I trusted him.And that trust made Lisa’s accusations feel like nothing but a ugly static, loud, but a far cry from the truth.I stepped forward, putting myself between them without thinking. “You don’t know him,” I pressed on, looking straight at Lisa. “You think he’s some kind of predator because he listens to women who are hurting? Because he
“Experience?” “Yes,” he let out quietly, almost reluctant, like the word itself tasted bitter on his tongue. “Lisa was five years older than me.” I frowned so hard my forehead hurt. The math wasn’t mathing at all. “Caleb is twenty-nine,” I said slowly, like maybe he’d misheard the year or forgotten how numbers worked. “That means… you were seventeen when he was born.” He didn’t flinch. Didn’t bother to deny it. Just looked at me with those steady eyes. “Is Caleb your biological son?” I pressed, voice dropping lower because the question felt too big and impossible to fit into the space between us. “Yes.” My frown deepened until it felt like my whole face might crack. “That doesn’t make sense. You were seventeen!” He stayed silent, eyes fixed somewhere over my left shoulder like the neighbor’s fence had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. “You were groomed!” I exclaimed, the words bursting out louder than I meant them to, raw and furious and horrifie
Hearing him curse felt like watching a statue crack open and bleed. He then sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair, tugging hard enough that strands stood up in spikes. With a soft exhale, he glanced through the window behind us, checking for shadows moving inside, for anyone who might be watching or listening—then grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the porch railing. “Come on,” he muttered. “Not here.” He dragged me around the side of the house, down the narrow path between the porch and the neighbor’s fence, until we were out of sight of the windows, tucked against the brick wall where the wind couldn’t reach us as easily. The Christmas lights from the street still blinked red and green across his face, painting the bruises on his throat in festive colors that made my stomach twist harder. Then he let go of my wrist, stepped back half a pace, and ran both hands through his hair again. “Look, I’m not angry at you,” he breathed out. “I’m angry at myself for letting
“So you’re in a relationship with Caleb,” he murmured, voice so low it almost disappeared into the wind. I opened my mouth to explain—to spill the whole ridiculous, humiliating truth—but he cut me off before the first syllable could escape. “Did you know?” I blinked. “No… No! I swear I didn’t know he was your son. We broke up months ago. It was nothing serious—” “Like every other relationship,” he finished for me, the words slipping out quiet, almost reflexive, before he seemed to realize what he’d said. My stomach dropped. “What?” He bit his lower lip, then released it slowly, the skin blanching white for a second before color rushed back. “I’m sorry,” he said immediately, voice softer now, contrite. “That was uncalled for. I shouldn’t have… I’m at least relieved that you’re the way you are. It’d make it easier to forget that ever happened.” Easier to forget what happened… because of the way I am? Wasn’t that just cruel. He took a small careful step back like he was trying
The ride to campus felt longer than usual, even though traffic was light. I spent most of it staring out the window, watching the snow-dusted streets slide by, my mind stuck in an endless loop and by the time the car pulled up outside the economics building, I was exhausted all over again. Finals
Mia drove me home after our second round of coffees turned into lunch at the campus diner. She didn’t ask if I wanted a ride; she just said, “Get in, I’m taking you,” and I was too drained to argue. Mia’s old Honda fishtailed once on the way out of the parking lot, but she handled it with a mutter
NOAH 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟The elevator opened at noon, and both of them stepped out at once, Lex carrying a brown paper bag that smelled like greasy burgers, Ellis trailing behind with two large coffees and that restless energy he always had when gossip was involved. They’d clearly run into each other
My breath hitched. Heat flooded me, pooling low and fast. I arched into his hand, silently asking for more, and he gave it—rolling my nipple between his fingers, tugging, twisting until it ached in the best way. His other hand slid down my stomach, under the waistband of my leggings, fingers dippi







