LOGINFor a second, I did not move.I stayed in the doorway with my hand still resting on the handle, staring at a scene my mind had already registered but refused to fully accept at first glance.Nikolai and Elias.Too close.Not just physically close, but close in a way that carried weight, like something had already happened between them that the room had not yet finished confessing.Elias was the first to react. He turned his head slowly toward me, as if my arrival had pulled him out of a place he had not fully realized he had entered. His expression was unsettled, his breathing uneven in a way he seemed unaware of, which made it worse.I noticed everything.I always did.Nikolai, however, did not move at all. He looked at me with calm irritation, like I was an interruption rather than a threat, which was either arrogance or confidence. I had not decided yet.That alone made the air colder.“Am I interrupting something?” I asked quietly.My voice was controlled, too controlled.Elias st
I did not remember when I fell asleep.One minute I was lying there, staring at the ceiling with my mind running in circles, replaying everything that had happened, and the next… nothing. Just darkness. No dreams. No peace either. Just exhaustion finally winning.The knock was what pulled me back.Not loud, but enough to drag me out of whatever shallow rest I had managed.I groaned softly and pushed myself up, my body feeling heavier than it should. For a second, I just sat there, trying to remember where I was, trying to push away the lingering haze in my head. Then it all came back at once, and my chest tightened.RightThis place, This mess,Another knock.I stood up slowly and walked to the door, opening it without much thought. A maid stood there, her posture stiff, her eyes lowered. She held a tray of food in her hands, careful, almost nervous.“Your meal, sir,” she said quietly.I s
I knew something was wrong before I even saw him.It was in the way the hallway felt when I stepped out of my room. Even the guards looked different. More alert. More careful with their movements.I walked slowly, my eyes scanning everything, my mind already trying to piece together what I had missed.Then I saw him.Vane was standing at the end of the corridor, his back to me, one hand braced against the wall like he needed it to stay steady. That alone was enough to make me stop. I had never seen him like that before. Never seen him look anything less than completely in control.“Vane,” I called.He did not respond immediately.For a second, I thought he might ignore me completely, but then he straightened slightly and turned. The moment his eyes met mine, something tightened in my chest.“What happened?” I asked, stepping closer.“Nothing,” he said.I let out a quiet breath, shaking my head.
The moment I walked into the room, I knew something had shifted.Vane was already there, standing by the window with his back to me, his posture rigid in a way that immediately put me on edge. He did not turn when I entered, did not acknowledge my presence, but I could feel the tension in the air like something waiting to snap.I closed the door behind me, the soft click echoing in the silence.“You let him wander too much,” I said calmly, stepping further into the room. “He is starting to see things he should not.”Vane did not move.“He already has,” he replied, his voice low and controlled.I stopped a few steps behind him, studying the set of his shoulders, the tightness in his stance. “Then that is on you,” I said. “You were the one so determined to keep him close.”That got a reaction.He turned sharply, his eyes locking onto mine, and there was no restraint in them this time. “Do not twist this,” he said. “You brought him here.”“I gave him an opportunity,” I corrected, my tone
I did not realize how tense I was until the door opened again.This time, I did not need to turn to know who it was.I felt him before I saw him.“Leave,” Vane said.His voice was calm, but beneath it was something that made the room shift instantly.The Russian did not argue. That was the first thing that caught my attention. He held my gaze for a second longer, something unreadable passing through his eyes, then stepped back and walked out without another word.The door closed behind him, and just like that, the tension changed.But it did not disappear.It just… redirected.Toward Vane.I turned slowly, my chest tightening as I looked at him. He stood by the door, his posture controlled, his expression unreadable, but his eyes were locked on me like he was trying to figure something out.Or maybe trying to decide something.Neither of us spoke at first.The silence stretched between us, thick and uncomfortable, filled with everything that had not been said yet.“You should not be a
I could not stop thinking about what I had seen.The way Cyrus stood there like he owned everything. The way the others obeyed without hesitation. The way that man screamed while they cut him apart like it meant nothing. It kept replaying in my head no matter how hard I tried to push it away. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again, clearer, louder, more real.This was not just some dangerous world.This was a different kind of reality entirely.And somehow, I was standing right in the middle of it.I shut the door behind me harder than I intended and leaned against it, pressing my head back as I tried to steady my breathing. The room felt too quiet compared to everything I had just witnessed. It made it worse. Silence gave my thoughts too much space, and right now, my mind was not a place I wanted to be.I dragged a hand over my face and pushed myself off the door, pacing slowly across the room. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be something I was missing. I could n
We never made it back for dinner.After breakfast at the little café, pancakes drowned in maple syrup, endless coffee refills, and Isabella telling me about the time she snuck out of boarding school to see a midnight movie in Paris—we just… kept going. No plan. No schedule. Just momentum.Around fo
The house woke up wrong.Normally Sundays dragged themselves awake around ten. Mother would emerge in her silk robe demanding coffee, Claire would stay in bed scrolling until noon, Cyrus would stumble downstairs looking like he’d fought gravity all night, and Vane… Vane was always up at six, gym, b
The silence after Elias left the room was the kind that grows teeth.Mother sighed again, dreamy and satisfied, already pulling up Pinterest boards on her phone. “Peonies really are timeless. And the venue—oh, we could do the vineyard upstate. Sunset vows. String lights. It’ll be perfect.”Claire s
I was surprised he came here but what was I expecting, he need to keep the family image intact, selfish and cunning.Vane didn’t shout. He didn’t need to.He just walked down those mossy steps like he owned every inch of ground they touched because he did. Hands still in his pockets, posture relaxe







