เข้าสู่ระบบShe was clearly enjoying torturing him.Tardrain’s chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Heat spread through his body as the warmth of hers pressed against him, stirring feelings he hated acknowledging.So he decided to scare her away.Gathering his strength, he grabbed her wrists and suddenly flipped their positions, pushing her onto the bed. In an instant, he was hovering over her instead.His soft breath brushed against her face as he struggled to maintain his composure.“Don’t start what you can’t finish,” he warned.His eyes slowly roamed across her face before settling on her lips. He stared at them longer than he intended.Ivana scoffed, convinced he was only bluffing.Then she decided to do the unthinkable.She slipped one hand free from his hold, grabbed the collar of his nightshirt, and pulled him closer.Tardrain tried to move away, but her grip tightened.“Shit,” he groaned in frustration. “You—”Before he could finish, Ivana suddenly pressed her lips against his, silenc
Ivana stepped slowly out of the bathroom, towel clutched tight around her still-damp body, one hand hidden behind her back in a nervous fist. Her bare feet dragged against the floor, as dread coiled in her gut. ‘What now?’ She prayed Gladdis hadn’t returned just to unleash another round of scolding, or worse.“M-ma, did you forget something?” Ivana stammered, forcing herself to step forward despite the instinctive urge to retreat.Gladdis sat on the bed, her arms loosely crossed, studying her with that familiar, appraising stare. A small, satisfied smirk tugged at her lips. She relished how easily she could make Ivana squirm, how Ivana moved around her like she was walking on eggshells. But tonight, that wasn’t why she’d come back.“Ahem.” Gladdis cleared her throat, the sound deliberate in the quiet room. “The question I’m about to ask might sound strange, completely out of line, even. But I want an honest answer. No games.”Ivana scratched the back of her head, a nervous chuckle e
Ivana walked back into the mansion dragging her foot. Every step felt heavier than the last. She muttered curses under her breath. ‘How I wish I’d left him to that viper’s mercy. I shouldn't have interfered. Then I wouldn’t be the fool he branded a busybody. ‘Gosh! I have never seen someone so ungrateful like him before.’She shoved open the door to her room, and froze, instantly.Whap!The slap cracked across her face like lightning, so sudden and vicious it snapped her head to the side. The pain exploded along her jaw, hot and blooming. “Holy Christ!” she gasped, her voice cracking.Her hand flew up instinctively, palm pressing to the stinging skin as if she could hold her face together. She staggered back two steps, vision blurring with instant tears.Davis surged forward, his arm sliding around her shoulders in a hasty, almost protective hold. But it felt more like restraint than comfort.Ivana turned her tear-filled eyes to him, wide, and questioning. ‘Why are you still here?’
Tardrain wheeled into his room and slammed the door behind him with more force than necessary. The chair rocked slightly as he began pacing,.forward, and back, forward again.Ivana’s tears kept replaying behind his eyes–the way they had welled up so fast, the tiny tremor in her lower lip before she bit it still, the glistening tears that had slid down her cheek when she refused to blink. His fist clenched on the armrest until the leather creaked. Genuine. It had felt so fucking genuine.‘But what if it wasn’t?’“What if those tears are just another performance?” he muttered under his breath, voice rough.Her words from earlier sliced through the memory again, sharp and fearless:“Why are the two of you so hell-bent on taunting him about his condition?”He could still see her, small frame rigid, chin high, placed herself between him and the venom coming from his stepmother and half-sister like a shield no one had ever dared to raise for him before. No one. Not in this house. Not ever.
“What are you doing here?” Tardrain’s voice cut sharp through the quiet gym.Ivana blinked hard, snapping out of her thoughts. She took two quick steps back from him, narrowing her eyes. “Huh? What did you say?” not recalling what he had said earlier.Tardrain ignored her and rolled his wheelchair backward a few inches, lining himself up with the next set of bars. His T-shirt clung wet to his back and chest. He glanced at her over his shoulder, face still flushed from the effort. “I thought you quit your wifey job.”A cold wave hit Ivana’s stomach. Her jaw loosened for a second. ‘Did he figure out the plan? Did someone tell him?’He gripped the bars again, palms sliding a little on the metal because of the sweat. “You disappeared after the lounge. Didn’t come back. Figured you were done playing servant.” ‘So he didn’t notice I was in his room last night?’ The relief hit fast, but it tangled with something else — the memory of his hand locked around her arm in the dark, the low rasp
Ivana went straight to Tardrain’s room without stopping to shower. Her skin felt sticky under her clothes, thighs still damp from earlier with Davis. She could taste him faintly when she swallowed, but she ignored it and kept moving.She stopped in front of Tardrain’s door and knocked once, quick, and sharp. Without waiting for a response she pushed it open. The room smelled like his cologne, just like him.Her gaze wondered to see how his bed unmade, sheets twisted on one side. His wheelchair wasn’t parked in its usual spot next to the nightstand. The space felt too quiet.“Tardrain?”There was no answer. She crossed to the bathroom and pushed that door open too. The tiles were cold under her bare feet when she stepped inside. The shower glass was dry, no fog, no drops on the walls. Towels hung straight on the rack. No one was there.“Where is he?” she muttered, hands resting on her hips. Her breathing sounded loud in the empty room.She came out of the bathroom and quickly arranged







