ログインI got home late, my whole body running on the kind of exhaustion that made even simple tasksfeel distant and slow. I made tea without thinking much about it, the same routine I’d followed a hundred nights before, and collapsed onto my mattress still half-dressed shortly after, my phone slipping from my hand somewhere in the dark.I don’t remember anything after that. Not until I woke up in a hospital bed, an oxygen maskfitted loosely over my face, Sebastian gripping my hand so tight it almost hurt.“Hey.” His voice cracked on the word. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re okay.”“What happened?” My throat felt raw, my head thick with something heavier than ordinarytiredness.“Gas leak. Your stove.” He pressed his forehead briefly against our joined hands, breathing hardlike he was still catching up to whatever fear he’d been carrying. “I couldn’t reach you tonight.Called twice, no answer, and something just felt wrong, so I drove over.” His jaw tightened. “Thesecond I got off the elevator
Elena sat across from a man she hadn’t spoken to in over a decade, in a private booth in the back ofa restaurant chosen specifically for its distance from anyone who might recognize her.“You look well,” he said, though his tone carried more calculation than compliment. “I need something handled.” She kept her voice low, controlled, the same voice she used with Jaeevery time she smoothed his collar or pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Quietly. Carefully.”“This about the boy?”“This is about protecting what’s left of my family.” She said it evenly, like reciting somethingshe’d rehearsed enough times to believe it herself. “Things are becoming complicated. Archer’sattention on him.The business dealings tangled up in all of it. Jae doesn’t understand what he’s stepped into, andif he keeps pulling at threads, he’s going to unravel something none of us can afford unraveled.”“So you want him gone.”“I want him safe.” The correction came sharp, immediate. “Removed from the situation. The
The house went quiet around midnight, the last of the guests retreating to their rooms, staff footsteps thinning to nothing more than the occasional distant creak of floorboards settling.I lay awake anyway, George’s words circling with Robert’s warning, neither one letting me rest. Eventually I gave up pretending sleep was coming and slipped out of bed, easing my door open with the kind of care that came from months of sneaking around Sebastian’s apartment, Archer’s office, every corner of my life that required silence to survive.The hallway sat empty, dim, the steel door waiting exactly where I’d left it in my memory.I crept closer than I had the first time, close enough now to hear something I hadn’t expected: voices, muffled behind the thick door, low enough that I had to hold my breath to catch fragments.“…the Castillo situation…”Robert’s voice. Unmistakable.“…contained until after the weekend, that’s all I’m asking…”A second voice, unfamiliar, responded too quietly for me
I woke before sunrise, the unfamiliar quiet of the property pressing in around me until I couldn’t lie still any longer.The house stayed mostly asleep this early, staff moving through the halls with quiet efficiency, and I slipped past them toward the back terrace with an excuse already prepared in case anyone stopped me. Nobody did.George was there, alone, a coffee cup steaming in front of him instead of last night’s drink, staring out at the grounds like he hadn’t slept much either.“Didn’t expect company this early,” he said, not looking over.“Couldn’t sleep.” I sat across from him without waiting for an invitation. “I wanted to ask you about what you said last night.”His jaw tightened, some of last night’s looseness gone entirely from his face. “I talk too much when I’ve had a few drinks. Shouldn’t have said anything.”“Please.” I kept my voice steady, even though everything in me wanted to push harder than that.“It’s my father you were talking about. I need to know.”He was
The property sat at the end of a long gravel drive, gates closing behind the car before the house even came fully into view stone and glass, lit low along the edges, bigger than anything I’d stood in front of before.Camille met me at the door herself, dressed for the evening already, though it wasn’t clear yet what the evening actually required of me.“You’ll stay in the east wing,” she said, leading me down a hallway separate from the sound of voices and music drifting faintly from somewhere deeper in the house. “Away from the main gathering until we need you.”“Need me for what, exactly?”“Tonight, nothing beyond an introduction. Tomorrow, more.” She stopped at a door and pushed it open into a room larger than my entire apartment. “Rest a little. Someone will come get you when it’s time.”She left before I could ask anything else, heels fading down the hall. I stood there a moment, taking in the room: bed too big for one person, a window overlooking dark grounds I couldn’t fully mak
Elena’s apartment smelled like it always did: cinnamon and old coffee, some candle she’d had burning since before I moved out, and for a second, standing in the doorway, I let myself pretend none of the last few months had happened at all.“You look exhausted,” she said, the second she got a good look at my face, pulling me into a hug before I could argue otherwise. “Come sit. I’ll make tea.”“I can’t stay long. I’ve got somewhere to be tonight.”“You always do lately.” She said it without accusation, just tired observation, setting the kettle on anyway. “Sit, Jae. Five minutes won’t kill whatever’s waiting for you.”I sat. The kitchen hadn’t changed in years same chipped mug, tree by the window, same crooked photo of the three of us from before everything fell apart, my father’s arm slung easy around both our shoulders. I hadn’t looked at that photo properly in a long time. I didn’t look at it now either, not really, just let my eyes slide past it the way I always did.“Where’s home t
I couldn't sleep all night.I lay on that mattress with the ceiling staring back at me, replaying every word Sebastian said.I must have checked my phone a hundred times. No texts from him. No damn explanation.By the time the sun came up, I had made two decisions.One: I was going to school. First
"I will take you home. You're badly injured."I pushed myself up from the pavement I'd been sitting on. Everywhere in my body hurt… my ribs, my elbow, my fucking soul… and I hated that Sebastian seemed to have noticed all of it."What were you doing out here?" I asked. "Following me?""I was leavin
Sebastian didn't reply.I checked my phone about 10 more times before falling asleep but there was nothing. Just that fucking read receipt glaring at me.I slept off.By morning, I'd decided it didn't matter.So what if my stepbrother saw my bare chest? It wasn't like I had anything impressive up t
"You think I'm stupid?"The words came first, and then his hand landed harshly on my cheek and my back hit the freezer door before my brain caught up… Manager Cole's fingers tight in my collar."I didn't touch the register." My voice came out steady and firm. "I promise you, I wouldn't take your mo







