로그인CASSIAN’S POVI’m not foolish enough to think that one conversation can make everything right, but I’m grateful for the little bit of quiet Nina’s promise has given me.But peace has never come naturally to me. Even with Nina beside me and the house finally quiet, some part of me is still waiting for the other shoe to drop.I stare up at the ceiling, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Some part of me already knows that Axel is my brother, but I’m clinging to the stupid hope that I’m somehow wrong.It feels like the walls are closing in, like any day I could wake up and realize that the ranch is surrounded by cops. Any day, Nina could slip through my fingers and be gone.The thought fills me with so much fear that my heart physically hurts, and it doesn’t help that my nightmares are back.In the past I’d found myself trapped in these nightmares where I couldn’t find my mother no matter where I looked. Now when I close my eyes, Nina is the one who’s missing. I can
NINA’S POVFor someone who once couldn’t go five minutes without finding an excuse to be around me, Cassian is doing a pretty good job of pretending I don’t exist.It’s been two whole days since our fight, if I can even call it that.Except for the occasional check in, the muttered greetings in the hallway and brief moments of watching him undress and step into the shower, I’ve pretty much been a ghost to him.If I didn’t know better, I’ll say he’s punishing me for speaking up. Maybe I truly don’t know better, and it doesn’t make it hurt less.He’s been spending all his time in his home office, only coming out to shower and occasionally asking if I had everything I needed. Sometimes all I could do was stare at him and wonder how we went from making promises to not even sleeping in the same bed.Sloane must be having a field day with this one.It’s day three now, and I lie still in bed with the covers over my head, listening to the water running in the shower.He’ll be out any moment n
NINA’S POV“Come here. Now.”Cassian’s voice is low, but there’s something in it that makes me abandon every excuse forming on my tongue and move straight toward him.I hear the door behind me opening just as I reach him. Cassian catches my wrist and pulls me into our bedroom, shutting the door behind us. My back hits the wall, and before I can say a word, he leans closer.“Shhh.”I hold my breath. We listen in silence as Sloane’s door slams shut, followed by the heavy thud of footsteps stomping down the hallway. They pass our room and continue downstairs, eventually fading into silence, leaving nothing but the sound of my heart pounding in my ears.Finally, Cassian steps back. He’s barefoot, dressed in black joggers and a singlet, his expression far less amused than I’d hoped.I gulp back a breath and rub my arms, staying perched against the door. I try to come up with a good reason for getting caught outside his ex-wife’s door, but my heart skips a beat when I hear his voice.“N
NINA’S POV It takes the whole day to convince Axel to stay, and I’m still not sure which part makes me feel worse—that I’m asking him to do it for me, or that I know he won’t be able to refuse. It’s bad enough that we lured him here under false pretense, but keeping him here is like tossing a lit matchstick into a gas filled room. Why is nobody else seeing it like I am? But Cassian is right. We don’t have a choice. We can’t let him leave and rat us out to the police…if he hasn’t already. So when he sighs and agrees to stay ‘just until the test is done’, I feel my knees buckle in relief. We’re sitting at the fireplace, and I'm watching his fingers comb through his hair over and over. I try to imagine what it must feel like to have your reality sawed in half, to have a whole new part shoved in your face like it was always meant to be there. I want to reach out and stop him. I want to tell him that it’ll be okay. But my optimism is spent for the day, and I really just want to l
CASSIAN’S POV I invited Axel Cross into my home knowing exactly who he might be. What I didn’t account for was the gun pointed at my head, my pregnant ex-wife’s forehead, or the fact that Nina would have to be the one to make us sit in the same fucking room. I thought that the revelation hit me the hardest, but seeing Axel sitting by the fireplace with his head in his hands…it almost makes me feel sorry for him. It’s not like I sincerely give a fuck about his feelings. Sure, this might all be a part of his plan, but still, his face is really pale, and Nina is staring at me like I should have said something else. “A DNA test?” Her lips purse. I keep my gaze steady on her, my fingers curling tight around my glass. “That’s right.” Axel looks up, eyes red rimmed. “You’re not my brother.” “I wish it were that easy.” I lift my glass to my lips, watching through the corner of my eye as he stands. “This is a game, isn’t it?” He turns to Nina, “did he put you up to thi
NINA’S POVCassian said a few minutes. I told myself that I could wait.We both lied.It’s been long enough for me to wonder what the hell is taking him so long. Sloane’s words still sit in my chest like tar, robbing me of every sane thought that crosses my mind.Of course I know I might never be first. I’ve heard that so many fucking times. Heck, I’ve even lived it, so yeah…I know.It’s not like mom was subtle in her undying love for Lucas, so much that she no more considered herself a mother after he left.I pace the room, telling myself that I should wash my hands but knowing that it’ll do nothing to relieve me.It’s been almost ten minutes. I glance at the clock in his bedroom and wonder just how much more time I’ll spend here before he comes back.Yet somehow, I feel grateful for his absence. This family…there’s something deeply wrong with them, and I’m getting the feeling that it all stems from his father, Alex. I knew I wasn’t just imagining things when his presence made m







