เข้าสู่ระบบRenataI was still breathing hard when Marcus finally stormed off, and Drent's eyes landed on me, intense and searching."Are you alright?" he asked. "Did he hurt you?"I forced the fear off my face and nodded quickly. "I'm fine.""Then why are you breathing hard, Peach?""What do you mean?" I asked, though I already knew exactly what he meant."He just threatened you," Drent said, his voice low, dangerous."He threatened me with my mom, Drent. You have no idea what this feels like."He didn't respond right away, and that was when I saw it, the pain flickering sharp across his face, his body swaying slightly as he reached out to steady himself against the wall. He wasn't fully healed. The punch he'd taken for me, the fight he'd just had, it had cost him more than he was letting on."I'm sorry," I said quickly, guilt flooding through me. "I didn't mean to stress you out.""I'm fine," he said, though his jaw was tight with the effort of standing upright.I moved closer and held him stea
MarcusI froze the moment I saw him standing in the doorway.I had been so certain that the accident would finish what it started, that Drent would either die quietly in that hospital bed or spend the rest of his life confined to it, out of the way, out of the picture entirely. But there he was. Alive. Standing. His curly hair damp and pushed back, bandages visible beneath the collar of his shirt, clearly nowhere near fully healed, and yet standing all the same.Why wouldn't he just die."Brother," I said, and though the shock rattled through me, I refused to let it show on my face. I straightened my spine, forced my expression into something composed. All my effort, every calculated move to make Renata back down and hand over what was rightfully mine, and now she had gone and brought him back. Drent.He stepped further into the room, his eyes cold and unblinking. "Save it, brother.""You're supposed to be resting," I said, a slow smirk curling at the edge of my mouth despite the unea
DrentI sat alone in the hospital room while the nurse administered another dose into my IV, the cold rush of it spreading through my arm."How did I even survive this," I asked her, more to myself than to her."You were lucky, sir," she said, not looking up from the monitor. "The accident didn't damage any of your vital organs. Still, you need to rest. You haven't fully recovered, and any strain or unnecessary movement could put you in a wheelchair permanently. Or worse."I sat with that for a moment, refusing to let the fear show on my face. "How long have I been out?"She hesitated before answering. "Close to a month, sir."I froze.A month. A full month gone, swallowed up while I lay unconscious in a hospital bed. A month during which I had given Renata every right to stand in my place, to run things so Marcus couldn't get his hands on what wasn't his. And yesterday, when I'd tried to ask her how everything was going, she had run out of the room without a single word.I remembered
RenataHis hair was still as long as mine, pulled back into a loose bun. A few dark strands had escaped near his ear, curling messily against his jaw, and I hated how much I noticed it.His cologne reached me before he did, and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it until it filled my lungs and made my chest ache.His eyes hadn't changed. Still dark, still intense, still sweeping over me the way they had the very first day we met, like he was memorizing something he was afraid to lose.The tattoos across his chest were visible where his hospital gown hung open, sprawling and inked deep into his skin, and God help me, even now, even here, they looked good on him.What was I doing. Standing here lusting after a man who had barely survived, a man I had waited on for hours just so I could see him and then walk away, back out, protect myself the way I always did.A man who might be the only person alive who could stand between me and Marcus. The only one who could maybe save my mother."
Renata"Renata." Edwina was already moving toward me, her eyes narrowing the way they did when she was reading me like a book she'd memorized years ago. "What happened?""Nothing." The word came out too fast, too thin. "I'm fine.""You're not fine. Is it your mom? Did something happen with her?""I said I'm fine, Edwina." I tried to step past her, toward the hallway, toward anywhere that wasn't this conversation, but her hand caught my arm and held it with a gentleness that somehow hurt worse than force would have."Something is wrong. Talk to me."And that was when it cracked open in my chest, all of it, the fear and the exhaustion and the helplessness I'd been carrying since the moment Marcus had smiled at me across that boardroom table. It came out of me in a voice I barely recognized as my own."I don't know!" I nearly screamed it. "I don't know, Edwina, I don't know anything anymore!"Her face fell. I watched the hurt land in her eyes, watched her flinch back like I'd struck her
RenataI hadn't seen my mother in two full days, and the not knowing had become its own kind of torture. I hired one of Drent's private investigators, a man named Jey, to track her down, and he called me the very next afternoon."Hey, I've got a lead," he said. "Call me back by three. Let's talk."I could not stop glancing at my phone after that, watching the clock crawl forward far too slowly, willing the hands to move faster so I could finally call him back. I needed to know if my mother was alright, needed some kind of proof that she was still breathing somewhere out there.I had no real clue who had taken her, no name to attach blame to, only suspicion and dread tangled together. But I had decided I was done waiting. I was done sitting in fear, letting whoever was behind this dictate my next move. This time, I was going to find whoever took her and bring her home myself.Every hour that passed without her felt like a small betrayal of the promise I had made at her bedside, the pro
DrentThe applause soon faded, the unexpected kiss between me and Renata had amused everyone. I didn't know we had the attention of everyone, and most especially, my father, who seemed to stand from afar with a smile of approval.That alone made me feel so close to getting the company than ever, bu
RenataAfter three straight days in the hospital, I had not taken calls from anyone. I had stayed off social media, away from school, and away from everything else. Just sitting beside my mom and watching over her, hoping she would be alright.I had applied for a job at Tinnies, a fast food spot ne
RenataI waited for Edwina outside the class. I had stared at the flyer for so long that if someone handed me a computer, I could recreate it without looking.The bell rang and the students pushed through, rushing out. My eyes strained as I searched for Edwina. When she finally appeared, I dragged
Renata"You will never be a boxer, Renata." The coach screamed it so loud that it echoed through the hallway. My heart sank. This had been my dream since I was six, to be a professional boxer. But the school system seemed dead set on the fact that it was a male sport, and it had always been."Wait,







