CHAPTER FOUR: The Morning After—A World Turned Upside Down

I don't sleep.

How can I, when every time I close my eyes, I see storm-gray eyes staring into mine? When I can still feel the ghost of Lucian's almost-touch on my skin? When his warning plays on repeat in my head: Safe from what? From me.

The wedding reception was supposed to happen last night, but Adrian postponed it. Some business emergency that couldn't wait, he'd said over a tense dinner where Lucian's empty chair screamed louder than any conversation. Mom had been disappointed but understanding. She's always understanding when it comes to Adrian.

I'd felt relieved and cheated all at once. Relieved because I wasn't ready to face Lucian in front of a crowd. Cheated because some sick part of me wanted to see what would happen when our eyes met across that ballroom.

Now it's morning, and sunlight streams through windows I forgot to cover. My phone says 6:47 AM. In my old life, I'd still be asleep, dreaming of nothing important. In this new life, I'm staring at the ceiling of a room bigger than my entire childhood, trying to figure out how everything changed so fast.

A knock on my door makes me jump.

"Miss Aria?" A young woman's voice, uncertain. "Mrs. Hayes asked me to help you get ready for school."

School. Right. Because apparently, I'm not just living in a mansion now. I'm attending Lucian's elite academy. Starting today.

I drag myself out of bed and open the door. A girl around my age stands there, wearing the same black uniform as Ms. Chen but with a softer face. She's got kind eyes, and her smile is genuine.

"I'm Sarah," she says. "I laid out some uniform options in your closet. Mrs. Hayes had them delivered yesterday." She pauses, then lowers her voice. "I know this is all overwhelming. If you need anything, just ask."

Something about her kindness makes my throat tight. "Thank you."

The uniform is a navy blazer, white button-down, and plaid skirt that hits just above my knees. It fits perfectly, which means someone measured me without my knowledge. Another reminder that nothing here happens by accident.

Sarah helps me with my tie, shows me how the other students wear them, slightly loosened, crooked. She gives me tips about which teachers to avoid, which hallways get crowded. She's nervous, I realize. Nervous for me.

"Is it really that bad?" I ask. "The school?"

She bites her lip. "It's just, well. You're going to stand out. New students always do, but you're..." She trails off, searching for words that won't offend.

"Poor," I finish for her. "The charity case who married into money."

"I wasn't going to say that."

"But it's true." I check my reflection in the mirror. I look like I'm playing dress-up in someone else's life. "They're going to eat me alive, aren't they?"

Sarah doesn't deny it. That tells me everything.

Breakfast is worse than I imagined. The dining room could seat thirty people. Currently, it seats four. Mom and Adrian at one end, looking like a magazine spread of domestic bliss. Me at the side. And across from me, finally, Lucian.

He walked in thirty seconds after I sat down, and the air changed. Got heavier. Electric. He's wearing the same uniform as me, but on him it looks dangerous. The tie loose around his neck, the sleeves of his blazer pushed up to reveal forearms that have no business being that distracting.

He hasn't looked at me once.

I feel him anyway. Feel his presence like a storm building on the horizon, all that barely contained energy focused on the plate in front of him.

"Lucian will drive you to school," Adrian announces, slicing into his omelet with surgical precision. "It'll give you two a chance to get acquainted."

Mom beams. "That's wonderful! You should get to know each other."

Lucian's fork clenches in his hand. "I have an early meeting with the headmaster."

"Which is at eight-thirty," Adrian says smoothly. "Plenty of time to drive your sister."

Sister. The word lands between us like a grenade.

"Of course." Lucian's voice is flat, emotionless. He finally looks up, but his gaze skates past me to his father. "We should leave soon. Traffic."

"Nonsense, it's only seven," Adrian says. "Finish your breakfast."

The silence that follows is suffocating. I push eggs around my plate, appetite gone. Mom fills the void with chatter about her plans for the day, charity committees and lunch dates with Adrian's colleagues' wives. She sounds happy. She sounds like a stranger.

Finally, mercifully, Lucian stands. "I'll bring the car around."

He's gone before I can blink, leaving behind the scent of cedar and the feeling that I just survived something dangerous.

"He's not much of a morning person," Mom says, apologetic.

Adrian's smile doesn't reach his eyes. "Lucian has always been intense. You'll get used to it." The way he says it sounds like a warning wrapped in pleasantry.

Five minutes later, I'm standing in the circular driveway, backpack slung over my shoulder, watching a sleek black car prowl toward me like a panther. Lucian doesn't get out to open the door. I slide into the passenger seat, and the door closes with an expensive click that sounds like a cage locking.

The silence is immediate and absolute.

Lucian doesn't start driving. His hands grip the steering wheel, knuckles white, and I watch his jaw work like he's chewing on words he can't spit out.

"If you're going to yell at me, just do it," I say finally.

His laugh is sharp, humorless. "Yell at you? For what? Existing?"

"For being here. For ruining whatever perfect life you had before my mom married your dad."

Now he looks at me, really looks at me, and the intensity of it steals my breath. "You think my life was perfect?"

"Wasn't it?"

"No." The word is bitten off, harsh. He tears his gaze away, stares straight ahead. "And you didn't ruin anything. This isn't your fault."

"Then why do you look at me like I'm the worst thing that ever happened to you?"

His hands tighten on the wheel until I hear the leather creak. When he speaks, his voice is low, dangerous. "I don't look at you like that."

"Then how do you look at me?"

"Like…" He cuts himself off, jaw clenched so hard it must hurt. "It doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

He starts the car, the engine purring to life. We pull out of the driveway, through those intimidating gates, onto the tree-lined road that leads away from the mansion. The silence stretches, pulls tight.

Finally, as we merge onto the highway, Lucian speaks. "At school, don't talk to me."

The words hit like a slap. "What?"

"Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. Pretend we're strangers." His voice is carefully controlled, each word measured.

"We are strangers."

"No." The word comes out rough. "We're not. That's the problem."

My heart hammers against my ribs. "I don't understand."

"You will." He glances at me, just for a second, but it's enough to see the war raging behind his eyes. "The students at this school, they're not like you. They're sharks, and you're bleeding in the water. If they see that I…" He stops, swallows hard. "If they see any connection between us, they'll tear you apart just to get to me."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because I'm a Hayes. Because they want what I have, or they want to destroy me, or both." His hands flex on the wheel. "And because if I get too close to you, I won't be able to stop myself."

The confession hangs in the air between us, and I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't do anything but stare at his profile and feel that pull again, that impossible magnetic draw that makes no sense.

"Stop yourself from what?" My voice is barely a whisper.

He pulls into the school parking lot, a sprawling campus that looks more like a country club than an educational institution. Students mill around expensive cars, designer bags, perfect hair and perfect teeth and perfect lives.

Lucian parks in a spot marked HAYES and turns off the engine. The sudden silence is deafening.

He turns to me, and the look in his eyes makes my stomach drop.

"From claiming you," he says softly. "From telling everyone in that building that you're mine. From kissing you until you forget every rule, every reason this is wrong." He reaches out, and his fingers brush my cheek so lightly I might have imagined it. "And that would destroy both of us."

I can't speak. Can't move.

He pulls away, opens his door. "Stay in the car for five minutes. Let me go in first. Then find the main office, get your schedule, and stay invisible."

"Lucian…"

"Please." The word cracks in the middle. "Just do this one thing for me."

He's gone before I can respond, disappearing into the crowd of students who part for him like he's royalty. Because here, he is.

I watch him go, my heart in my throat, my skin still burning where he touched me.

Five minutes. I have five minutes to pull myself together before I walk into a school where I'm supposed to pretend I don't know the one person who makes me feel alive.

Five minutes before my nightmare officially begins.