LOGINIt made sense in theory, a kind of twisted logic that painted my self-removal as something noble, but now, sitting in this silence, I wasn’t so sure it had been the right call.Because all it really did was create distance.And that distance had grown faster than I anticipated.Rowan had shut himself off almost immediately, pushing everyone away in a way that made it clear he didn’t want to be reached, no matter how often I tried. I told myself I was giving him space, that it was what he needed, but there were times I wondered if that was just an excuse to avoid pushing too hard.Frank took the opposite route, throwing himself into anything that required action—anything that kept him moving and occupied, so he wouldn’t have to sit still and feel the weight of everything that had happened. He still checked in when he could, still showed up in little ways to remind me he was there, but even those moments had become less frequent over the past few days.And that left me here.Alone in a
Atlas’s PovThe house had finally settled into a kind of quiet that didn’t feel stifling, which was odd considering how chaotic everything had been just days earlier. Outside the gates, the reporters lingered, their presence like a bad odor that just wouldn’t go away, although the amount of them had reduced over time.Those occasional camera flashes still pierced the evening light whenever someone walked by a window. The police were stopping by less often, but they hadn’t completely vanished, and the staff still whispered when they thought nobody was listening, their hushed voices filled with disbelief as they tried to make sense of what had unfolded.And inside my room, though, there was a fragile calm that I hadn’t felt in quite a while.Millie was sprawled on my bed, curled up with one arm tucked beneath her cheek, breathing softly in a way that made the whole space feel quieter. She had insisted on staying over earlier, saying she wouldn’t leave me alone in this house, and honestl
Third Person POV Frank blinked, caught off guard by his bluntness. "That’s... not something I needed to know, Asshole." Rowan shrugged slightly. "I’m telling you anyway," he said. "Because Atlas wouldn’t. He was too busy worrying about everything else." Frank’s expression softened just a bit. "Worrying about what?" "About ruining everything," Rowan replied simply. "About hurting you, the whole stepbrother thing, what it would do to the family even though it was already a mess." He let out a breath, shaking his head. "He was the one holding back, not me." Frank frowned, processing that. "And you didn’t care?" he asked. Rowan let out another quiet laugh, this one more bitter. "At first, yeah, it felt weird," he admitted. "I’m not insane; I knew how messed up it looked." He paused, his gaze drifting back to the court. "But after I told him how I felt... after that, I stopped caring." Frank studied him closely. "Just like that?" "Just like that," Rowan confirmed. "All I knew was
Third Person POVRowan’s expression remained unchanged, but something flickered in his eyes.Frank let out a breath, rubbing his hand over his face. "You really didn’t think that was something I should know?"Finally, Rowan turned his head, his gaze meeting Frank’s with a calm that didn’t match the tension."It wasn’t about you."Frank let out a short, humorless laugh. "Right. Because I just happen to be the guy standing here who also—" He cut himself off, exhaling sharply. "Forget it.""No," Rowan said quietly. "You should go on."Frank locked eyes with him, his expression noticeably sharper."I said it’s messed up," he repeated, voice tense. "You and him, sneaking around like that behind my back. And yeah, things were complicated, but that doesn’t make it any less messed up."Rowan didn’t reply right away.Frank let out another breath, shaking his head. "I’m not even getting into the whole stepbrother thing now because that’s a whole different level of weird, but seriously... you co
Third Person POVBy the time basketball practice wrapped up that evening another week later, the sky was already starting to darken. The fading light stretched long shadows across the court as players made their way out of the gym, chatting and laughing in groups.Usually, the energy after a good game was contagious, but Rowan felt somewhat apart from it, intentionally so, as he picked up his bag from the bench and slung it over his shoulder.He had settled into a routine over the past week.Show up. Play hard. Leave.No lingering, no unnecessary conversations, no offers to hang out afterward, even though they often came his way. At first, his teammates had tried, clapping him on the back and asking if he wanted to grab food or check out whatever party was happening, their casual tones laced with curiosity they didn’t quite know how to express directly.Rowan always said no.Tonight was just like any other."Hey, Harrigan, we’re heading to Nathan’s place later," one of the guys called
It seems like she had another journal, the dates in this were more recent that the one they had found at the cottage.Not the details, not the specific moments, but the image of her sitting by the window during late afternoons, a pen in hand, the soft sound of it scratching against paper filling the quiet room around her.He hadn’t really paid attention back then, if he did he would have realized his mother had a lot if journals were she wrote over the years...most of them burnt or thrown away by Roderick.But this one...it was kept in his study.It was just part of the background noise of his life, something constant and unremarkable.Now it felt like something else entirely.Rowan hesitated before flipping it open.For a brief moment, his grip tightened, as if a part of him understood that whatever was inside would complicate things, not simplify them.But he opened it anyway.The handwriting was unmistakable, it was his mother’s.Soft, elegant, slightly slanted in a careful way, ea







