LOGINThe ride was short.Damian and Celeste talked the entire way and listening to them, it was almost impossible to miss that they were related. They had the same brightness and tendency to fill every quiet space with something. Sunshine and rainbows, the two of them, even when the rest of the car sat in a tense silence.Noah didn’t say much. Neither did Riley. I kept my eyes on the window for most of the drive, watching the trees thin out and the road open toward the coast.When we finally pulled up near the beach, Celeste was already unbuckling her seatbelt before the car had fully stopped.“Come on,” she urged, reaching back to catch my wrist and Riley’s at the same time. “Changing rooms are this way.”She didn’t wait for agreement and just started walking, pulling us along with the same effortless energy she’d had since she walked into the house. Riley went without resistance so I followed, the sand already soft under my shoes, Celeste’s voice filling the short walk with plans about
I had to swallow hard against the sudden burn behind my eyes, forcing my face to stay perfectly still. For a moment I couldn’t even look at either of them—I just stared at the floor instead.He said it like it was nothing.Like I was nothing more than a liability he was forced to keep close.“Um… this is awkward.”The voice came from the doorway.Only then did any of us notice the small group that had appeared there — Celeste standing at the front, Damian a step behind her, Riley off to the side with another staff member I didn’t recognize. The energy in the room flipped so abruptly it almost felt physical.Celeste’s gaze moved between Noah and Mr. James, then settled on awkward silence still hanging in the air.“Enough of this,” she said, already waving a hand like she could physically clear the atmosphere. “I don’t like this energy at all. And it’s even worse because I came with such good news.” She gave a little swirl of her wrist, the gold bracelets on her arm catching the light.
I had always assumed Kai was tied to something smaller like a street crew, a local gang that dealt in threats and intimidation on a limited scale. Dangerous, yes, but contained. Something that stayed in the shadows of the city and didn’t reach much further than the people it directly touched.This was different.We were talking about an Italian organization and a Don who’d been itching to strike at my dad for years, held back purely by political weight. Now, Kai’s death—an event linked directly to me, this location, and Noah—was the exact leverage he’d use to come straight for my neck.The full weight of it settled in my chest with a slow chill that made the room feel suffocatingly small while the silence stretched tight with everything we were all avoiding saying.I looked at Noah, then back at Mr. James."I had no clue," I breathed out, my voice barely carrying across the room. "I thought..."Mr. James shook his head."This isn't your fault, Miss," Mr. James reassured me. “We didn’t
SARAPHINA °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:・I watched her for a second longer, the leftover food cooling on the table beside me, and wondered what — or who — had put that look on her face.Then our eyes met.Riley’s expression shifted the moment she realized I was looking. She offered a quick, thin smile that didn’t reach her eyes at all, then pushed off the pillar and walked back toward the side entrance without lingering. The set of her shoulders stayed tight the whole way.She really did look paranoid.I sat there a moment longer, still watching the empty space where she’d been, before finally turning back to the plate in front of me. Whatever was going on with her, it wasn’t something I could figure out from a window. I picked up my fork again and kept eating, though the quiet unease settled a little deeper in my chest.When I finished, I slipped downstairs to the kitchen, where even the soft clink of my plate in the sink cut right through the quiet house. I rinsed everything quickly and left it in the
By the time I stopped speaking, my lungs felt squeezed tight and my face was on fire. James watched me in stunned silence. His eyebrows pulled together, studying the mess I'd just made as he tried to piece together what had triggered me.Then he exhaled."I don't know what you're talking about," he said, his voice still quiet, and entirely too calm for how fast my heart was racing. "There hasn't been a single moment where I thought of you as a liability."I pulled back, searching his eyes for any sign of a lie. "What about the cabin?""Not even at the cabin," he answered without hesitation.That actually took me aback that I couldn’t find my words."And second of all," he continued, leaning in just enough that I couldn't look away, "this has nothing to do with Celeste. If I’ve been bringing her up too much lately… then I apologize.”Only then did my brain finally catch up, and my whole face went up in flames.Oh my God.How completely childish and ridiculous must I have sounded? Sta
I shook my head, my fingers tightening around the rim as I readjusted the basket on my hip.“Don't worry about it,” I muttered, staring down at the pile of linen. “It’s not like I’m doing any real work anyway. My whole role here is literally just to sort it, fold it, and deliver it. It’s nothing.”Lia studied me for a second longer, then nodded.“Okay.”And with a brief, practiced smile, she backed off, leaving me alone with my pile of clean linens. I stood there swallowing down the truth, suffocating under the quiet weight of everything I was too proud to put into words.Then I turned and headed back inside.An hour later, I was still caught in the dull routine of sorting and folding when I stepped outside with a fresh basket. That’s when I saw them.James was standing near the edge of the rose garden, speaking with Noah. Noah looked like he had just finished a stretch of work with dirt on his hands, a few stray leaves stuck to his shirt, and was resting against the low stone border







