Chapter 5

“What are you doing hiding in your room? The party’s not over. Get downstairs with me, now!”

My mother, Evelyn, frowned, her sharp gaze sweeping over me.

I scrambled to shove my phone under my pillow and stood up, feeling a flush of guilt.

“I wasn’t feeling well, so I came up to rest,” I mumbled an excuse.

She snorted, not pressing the issue, just telling me to touch up my makeup and get back downstairs.

It wasn’t until the party was completely over that I dragged my exhausted body back to my room.

I locked the door and immediately grabbed my phone.

On the screen, Rowan had sent two more messages.

Even through the screen, I could feel his suppressed frustration.

“Why do you always say no? Am I not your boyfriend?”

“Is meeting me really that hard for you?”

Those two questions exposed his domineering nature all over again.

I looked at my phone, thinking back over all the details of our conversations from the past two years.

His bossiness and need for control had always been there, plain as day.

He demanded I report my whereabouts every day.

He interrogated me about every friend I had.

For my birthday last month, despite my firm refusal, he insisted on sending me a priceless set of antique jewelry.

He was always like that, invading my life with this high-and-mighty attitude.

I took a deep breath and finally found the courage to reply.

“Rowan, are we equals in this?”

“I’m not your subordinate, and I’m not your pet. I don’t want you arranging my life from on high.”

“I need respect.”

After sending it, I tossed my phone aside.

This time, he didn’t reply instantly.

By the next morning, the screen was still dark.

I felt a pang of disappointment, but also a sense of relief.

“Carrie! Hurry up! You’re going to be late for your piano lesson!”

My mother’s voice boomed from outside the door.

I quickly got dressed.

As I was picking out accessories at my vanity, my eyes fell on a velvet box.

It was a diamond necklace, the most understated piece in the mountain of jewelry Rowan had sent.

Tiny diamonds formed the shape of a crescent moon. It was delicate and subtle.

On an impulse, I picked it up and fastened it around my neck.

I opened the door and followed my mother down to the main hall.

Just as we reached the entrance, we ran right into Louis, who was on his way out.

He was wearing a dark gray trench coat today, his posture ramrod straight, still radiating that keep-your-distance coldness.

“Louis, good morning. Where are you off to?” My mother immediately put on a fawning smile and greeted him warmly.

Louis didn’t even spare her a glance and walked straight out.

My mother froze, embarrassed, and quickly pulled me back to make way for him.

As she did, the silk shawl on my shoulder slipped.

I instinctively reached up to fix it.

Just then, Louis, who had already reached the door, suddenly stopped.

He turned his head.

His gaze swept past my mother, over my hand on the shawl, and then locked onto the diamond necklace at my throat.

The air seemed to freeze.

His focus was intense, a dangerous current swirling in his dark eyes.

It was a predatory, possessive gaze.

As if the necklace, or maybe the person wearing it, was the prey he had been hunting for a long, long time.

His stare was so hot.

So hot it made me snatch my hand back, my heart starting to pound uncontrollably.

Louis stared at the necklace for a long time.

Then, he slowly raised his head.

His gaze traveled up, inch by inch, finally stopping on my face.

It was the first time I could remember ever making direct eye contact with my cold stepbrother.

His expression was a mixture I’d never seen on him before—searching, yet laced with a hint of absolute certainty.

Louis looked at me for a long time, so long that even my mother noticed something was off.

Then he finally strode to his car. The tinted window rolled up, hiding the storm brewing in his eyes.