Se connecterPRESENTGRAYSON'S POV:I’d barely lifted my arm to knock when the door swung inward, as if Selene had sensed my presence.She startled, blinking at me as her gaze took me in.“What're you doing here?” She asked finally, her tone sharp as she adjusted the chain strap of her bag and crossed her arms over her chest. “I'm here to pick you up,” I said casually, even as my gaze betrayed me, sliding past her and into the house.She scoffed, not buying my bullshit for a second. “I told Maya there was no need. I was just leaving.”“Oh yeah?” I asked, the edge bleeding into my voice despite my best efforts to contain it. “That's what I heard on the phone, wasn't it? You leaving.”“Is that why you're here?” She asked, eyes narrowed. “To spy on me?”Corey’s voice through the phone echoed in my head and my blood chilled all over again. She shouldn’t still be seeing him. I pushed past her and into the house, our shoulders brushing.“What are you doing?” She snapped, shutting the door behind us an
PRESENTSELENE’S POV:Corey looked like he’d walked straight out of a meeting.I stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind us.“What was so important you had to schedule an emergency meeting?” I asked, gesturing toward the sofa.He had only ever been in my home once—back when we’d struck our deal. During our fake dating, we’d only met in cafés or at Aurum, just to keep up appearances.I watched him tilt his head, taking in the old portraits on the walls, the sweeping staircases, the intricate stonework of Beverly Manor.“Would it be so hard to believe if I said I wanted to see you?” he asked, turning toward me with a half-smile tugging at his lips.I blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift. Even during our ‘dates’, Corey had been strictly professional. He had never touched me unless absolutely necessary, and he had never made a comment that felt out of bounds.I opted for directness as I said, “It would be, yes.”“Then you don’t really know me, Miss Hale,” he said, a
PRESENTSELENE’S POV:I barely had time to register the swish of the curtain sliding aside, the bright morning sunlight flooding my half-asleep brain before a body slammed onto mine.An inhumane shriek left my lips as I sat upright, arms flailing as I tried to make sense of the mess of hair in my mouth.“What the fuck?” I hissed, my heart in my throat as I pushed the intruder away from me with all the strength I could muster.It took me a second to register Maya’s face. The same wide brown eyes, the glinting nose ring and the jetblack curly hair barely held together by a ponytail.“Oh, my God!” I screamed, for all the different reasons now as I launched myself at her.“I thought you were dead or soemthing,” she said but I heard the smile in her voice.“I very well would’ve been with the way you tried to smother me in my sleep,” I said but my voice betrayed my glee.“When did you get here?” I asked her, pulling away from the hug. “Theo said it’ll be another week or so before you manage
PRESENTGRAYSON’S POV:Her words hit harder than a blade. Every apology I’d rehearsed over the years suddenly felt useless.“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “There isn’t a word strong enough for what I did to you. For what I cost you.”She put the glass down on the table hard enough to make it rattle.“Your sorry doesn’t change the past, Vexley,” she said. “Doesn’t change the fact that I suffered for years because of you.”I swallowed hard, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “I don’t expect forgiveness. I just… I needed you to know I never stopped being sorry.”She shook her head, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. “Your words mean nothing to me, Grayson. It’s too fucking late.”“Sel-”“I loved you.” Her voice broke on the word. “I fucking loved you. Do you even realize that?”I flinched, her words stealing my breath. Because it sounded like resignation, like a past she’d never go back to.“I trusted you,” she went on, voice rising. “Again and again. Even when I knew better. Even when you hadn
PastSELENE'S POV:I ran all the way home.I escaped through the secret passage and then I ran until every breath I took burned its way out of my chest and until the pain in my legs blurred every thought in my head.I stopped in front of the wrought-iron gates, feeling the wet tear tracks on my face for the first time.I doubled over, hands on my knees, my mind already buzzing with what my next distraction could be.Because standing still meant thinking about what had happened. And I would've rather torn through the tendons in my legs running than do that.But as soon I pushed the iron gates open, the thought evaporated my mind, replaced by a sinking feeling in my stomach.Something was very wrong.At this time of the day, Beverly Manor was peacefully quiet. A kind of silence that lulled you in.But right now, there was a restlessness within as I crossed the walkway to the front door.The entire staff seemed to be on their feet, flurrying in and out of the house. Their voices carried
PastGrayson's POV Selene was looking at her phone when I stopped in front of her. She looked up, visibly startled at seeing me. She’d been desperately trying to contact me the entire past week. The uncountable missed calls on my phone were proof enough that she’d lost sleep over me more than she’d done over her admissions.“Grayson-” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat. “What…Are you okay?”She stood up from the edge of the fountain and I took a step back. Distance was everything I had or I would have shattered.She stared at me and it took her barely a second to recognize the look on my face. She’d seen it before. She was acquainted with it all too well.It was the look of destruction and it was all the warning I could afford.I also knew - painfully, aching - that she would not heed it.“You don’t have to do this, Vexley,” she said softly. “You don’t have to do anything he told you to.”“But I do,” I said. My voice sounded flat, unfamiliar. “I want to.”She opened her
PRESENTGRAYSON’S POV:“So?” Selene demanded the second she crossed the threshold of my office, arms folded over her chest so tightly like she wanted to weld them there forever.“Take a seat,” I said with every ounce of patience teenage Grayson would’ve burned through in a second.She rolled her ey
PRESENTSELENE’S POV:“Hale!” Grayson’s voice made my skin erupt in goosebumps and I swallowed down the sudden burst of fear that crawled up my throat.The girl I was chatting with stood up straighter, her wide eyes darting towards the door of his office, where Grayson stood, thunder etched into e
PAST SELENE’S POV:Zoey picked up my call on the second ring. My world could be falling apart but I knew I could always count on her to always be meticulously consistent.“Oh, my God, finally!” Zoey exclaimed, her face popping onto my screen. Her dark almond eyes shone with mischief, her dark hair
PASTGRAYSON’S POV:“Dude!” Nate exclaimed from the bed behind me, tossing his controller aside. It bounced twice before landing on the edge of the mattress.I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as I whirled around in my chair to face him.“You clearly cheated,” Nathan said with a ro







