Chapter 65: The End of Resistance

The rain was a steady hum against the glass of the library. It was the kind of sound that made the rest of the world feel like it had ceased to exist. I wasn't painting. I wasn't reading. I was just sitting on the sofa, watching the droplets race each other down the pane.

I felt a weight settle on either side of me. I didn't need to look to know who it was. The scent of expensive cologne and the familiar warmth of their bodies told me everything.

"You've been quiet today, Leo," Ivan said softly. He reached out, his fingers tracing the line of my jaw. "Too quiet. Even for you."

I didn't pull away. I didn't even flinch. I just kept staring at the rain. "I'm tired, Ivan. I think I’ve just run out of ways to say 'no'."

Dmitri leaned in, resting his head on my shoulder. His hand found mine, his fingers intertwining with mine with a possessive gentleness. "Then stop saying it. It’s a heavy word to carry. Why keep holding onto it when you can just let it go?"

I finally turned my head to look at him. Dmitri looked back with an intensity that used to terrify me, but now, it just felt... inevitable.

"If I stop saying no," I whispered, "there’s nothing left of the person I used to be. That Leo died in that apartment months ago. This Leo... he just exists because you let him."

"That’s not true," Ivan countered, his voice rising with a touch of emotion. "We don't want a ghost, Leo. We want you. The way you look when you're frustrated with a sketch, the way you bite your lip when you're thinking. We aren't trying to erase you. We’re trying to keep you safe so those parts of you can actually live."

I let out a long, shaky breath. "Safe. It’s always that word with you two. But safety feels a lot like a funeral when you don't have a choice in where you go or who you see."

I looked down at our joined hands. My skin looked pale against Dmitri’s tanned, strong fingers.

What am I fighting for anymore? I wondered. The thought was a dark, slow-moving tide in my mind. My friends have moved on. My old life is a series of disconnected memories. Every time I try to run, the walls just get higher and the silk sheets get softer. Is it really a victory to spend the rest of my life angry?

"I saw the guest list for the gala," I said, changing the subject. "My name is on it. Not as a guest. As your... 'ward'."

"We can change the title if you want," Dmitri said, his voice low and vibrating against my shoulder. "But we want the world to know you belong with us. No more hiding. No more pretending you’re just a houseguest."

"I don't want to belong to anyone," I said, but the fire was gone from my voice. It sounded like a script I was reading rather than a truth I believed.

Ivan moved closer, his face inches from mine. "Everyone belongs to someone, Leo. People belong to their bosses, their debts, their fears. At least with us, you are loved. Can you honestly tell me you don't feel it? When we hold you, when we look at you... do you really feel like a prisoner?"

I looked into Ivan’s eyes. I saw a hunger there, but also a desperate kind of devotion. They were monsters, I knew that. They had done terrible things to keep me. But they were monsters who would burn the world down if I asked them to.

"I feel... everything," I admitted, my voice breaking. "That’s the problem. I feel the love, and it makes me hate myself. I feel the comfort, and it makes me feel like a coward. But most of all... I feel tired of being lonely, even when I'm standing right next to you."

I closed my eyes, and for the first time, I leaned my head back against the sofa, letting my body go limp. I stopped holding my breath. I stopped bracing for an argument.

"I give up," I whispered.

The silence that followed was thick. I felt Dmitri’s grip on my hand tighten.

"Say that again," Dmitri commanded, but his voice wasn't harsh. It was breathless.

"I give up," I repeated, opening my eyes and looking from one twin to the other. "I can't fight two of you. I can't fight this house, and I can't fight the way you make me feel when I’m at my weakest. If this is my life... then fine. It’s my life."

Ivan’s expression shifted into something radiant. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering there. "You won't regret this, Leo. We will make you so happy that you’ll forget you ever wanted anything else."

"I don't know about happy," I said, a small, sad smile touching my lips. "But maybe I can manage... quiet."

Dmitri pulled me into a proper embrace, his arms wrapping around me like iron bands. "Quiet is a start. We have all the time in the world to get to happy."

I stayed there, sandwiched between them, listening to the rain and the sound of their breathing. The resistance that had defined my every waking moment for months had simply evaporated, leaving behind a hollow space that they were all too eager to fill.

I wasn't a fighter anymore. I wasn't a victim. I was something else—something blurred and complicated. I was theirs.

"Will you come to bed with us tonight?" Ivan asked, his voice a gentle invitation. "No arguments? No sleeping on the edge of the mattress like you’re ready to jump?"

I looked at him, then at Dmitri. The path was laid out. The door was open, even if the gates were locked.

"Yes," I said. "No more jumping."

As they led me up the stairs, I felt a strange sense of peace. It was the peace of a man who had finally stopped swimming against a current and simply let the water take him. I didn't know where the river was going, but for the first time, I wasn't afraid of drowning.

I was just tired of the shore.