LOGINLina's POV Fuck, this leather seat is a cold slap against my bare ass, but the rest of me is a total goddamn furnace. Every single nerve ending is dialed up to a psychotic, agonizing frequency because of whatever the fuck was in that drink. I swear to God, I am going to find out who did this to me. I’m going to find the bastard who put their hands on my glass, and I will wrap my fingers around their throat until the light leaves their eyes.But right now?I can’t think past the raw, dripping ache between my legs. My body is a house on fire right now, and Riven is the only monster who knows how to burn it down completely. I am totally at the mercy of this poison.“Lina? Are you in there?”Nikolai’s voice drifts through the tinted glass again, closer this time. AA heavy, sickening wave of guilt twists in my stomach. He’s out there, a good man, trying to protect me. And here I am, flat on my back in the dark, dirtying myself. The shame tastes like pure ash.But then I look down,
Riven’s POVI didn't know what the fuck was wrong with Lina, but God, I fucking loved it.The second the music died, Lina had ripped herself out of my arms and bolted from the ballroom like her skin was on fire. I stood there on the marble floor, my breath rattling in my chest, completely deaf to the noise around us. The MC was on the microphone droning on about the mandatory dance scores—like any of those numbers mattered when she had just shattered my entire reality on that floor.People were gushing, whispering, staring. Malakai and Graven were probably somewhere in the crowd looking for me, and I didn't give a single, flying shit about Eve.None of them existed. They were just background noise to the storm she’d started in my blood.I turned and chased after her like a fucking madman."Lina!" I roared, slamming through the heavy exit doors, my voice echoing off the concrete corridors. "Lina, get the fuck back here!"Her words were screaming in my ears, a loop that I couldn't sh
Lina’s POVThe world didn't just blur; it fucking shattered.One second I was leaning into Nikolai, my lips a mere heartbeat away from his.The next, a brutal, bruising hand clamped onto my waist, and I was violently ripped backward.My breath left me in a sharp, painful gasp as my back slammed hard against the unyielding wall of Riven’s chest. The sudden impact damn near rattled my teeth.But before I could even draw enough air to scream at him, the opening chords of the tango died out. The fucking violins screeched to life, unleashing a dark, aggressive crescendo that signaled the start of the mandatory dance.Panic, cold and sharp, pierced through the heavy fog in my brain."Nikolai!" I cried out, my voice sounding tight and desperate over the swelling music.I tried to tear my body out of Riven's iron grip, my eyes frantically scanning the crowd over his shoulder. But the timing was lethal. The moment the music peaked, the entire ballroom moved. A sudden, massive wave of stude
Lina’s POVNikolai's presence was exactly what I needed. For the first time all night, the weight of Riven Rykerthorne’s name completely evaporated from my mind.Or, at least, that was the lie I kept aggressively telling myself while downing a glass of champagne. I was definitely not trying not to think about the bastard.We were standing near the edge of the crowded ballroom, and Nikolai was currently using his height to lean over me, casually cracking another joke at my expense."I’m serious, Liv," he was saying, looking over my head to where Olivia stood."She used to wear those oversized tactical boots to her internship. I thought she was hiding weapons in them, but no. Just a complete lack of fashion sense.""Oh my god, I knew it!" Olivia squealed, throwing her head back in a loud, dramatic laugh."She does the exact same thing at the dorms! If it doesn't look like a disgruntled raccoon wore it first, Lina won't put it on her body!""Hey!" I protested, a furious, burning blush cr
Riven’s POVI was bored out of my fucking mind.The mindless chatter of trust-fund undergraduates and the clinking of crystal glasses were starting to sound like a death sentence.Sitting in the VIP lounge of the Mer College ballroom, the only thing keeping my brain functioning was the vivid, frustrating memory of Ryker clutching his chest in his study last night.I shouldn't have let the old man live.As I watched the amber liquid swirl in my glass, a deep, bitter regret settled in my gut.I should have just pulled the trigger and put a bullet through his head myself instead of letting a clogged artery do the work.Because he survived, the family board had forced me out here tonight to play the role of the dutiful, stable heir.Coming to this mixer was a mistake.I was in a lethal, sour mood, and everyone in my immediate radius knew it.I didn't give a single shit that this mandatory ballroom showcase counted toward our final grades.I had no intention of dancing, and the moment I wal
Lina's POV The bell above the boutique door hadn't even finished chiming before Ma started acting like I'd announced a miracle. When I called her that morning and told her I wanted to shop for a dress to wear to the Mer College mixer, she reacted with enough dramatic excitement to concern a medical professional. According to her, her tomboy daughter had finally decided to join civilization after years of living like a disgruntled raccoon.I ignored the performance, but the annoying part was that she wasn’t entirely wrong. I didn't *do* shopping. Most of my wardrobe consisted of clothes that were practical, comfortable, and unlikely to attract attention. If a shirt wasn't trying to suffocate me, blind me, or make me look like an escaped chandelier, I considered it acceptable. But I had told her the exact same thing I told Olivia: *I want to start living.*So, there we were, standing inside a boutique so expensive that I was afraid to breathe too aggressively near the merchandise
Writer's POV[The Rykerthorn Mansion]Ryker had returned to a house - just like he had done for past years.A house. Not a home.Once he alighted from the car, one of the butlers should’ve run out. Well, a butler did scurry out, ready to take the car keys and park it in the garage.But trailing beh
Lina’s POV:Something felt wrong. Way too wrong.And it wasn’t because of how quiet this place was. My consciousness had returned, yet I refused to open my eyes.My brain remembered everything – I got abducted twice. Yeah, the first abduction happened with Ma when she took me from the station.And
Lina’s POV:I knew something wasn’t good. Maybe it was leaving Princeton at the brink of death.Or just… Riven. No reason but the sheer existence of Riven Rykerthorn.Something wasn’t good, but I needed a solid mind to think about that.My mind was melted by heat. Heat that dispersed from my chest,
Riven's POV:[Still Night~]They stung like hell.Trust me, my eyes weren't the ones that stung. Sure, they were 'blessed' by antiseptic spray.Yet.. yet that didn't hurt like my ears. My fucking ear drums kept stinging, and I had Eve to thank for that.She was screaming. Hard.I squinted my throbb







