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Chapter 31

Author: Sparkle kay
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-21 13:43:27

A Night In

The elevator ride up to the penthouse felt like shedding a skin. Every floor that passed was a layer of exhaustion, fear, and performance falling away. I had barely escaped the university after the worst football practice of the season, thanks to Marcus making sure Coach noticed every single time my focus slipped. The relentless Pressure had left me feeling raw and depleted.

When the doors opened, the silence of the penthouse was a physical relief. Igor was waiting, not in a suit, but in a thick, charcoal gray sweatshirt and simple dark trousers. He looked older, tired, but completely relieved to see me. He didn’t rush me; he just met my eyes, and in that gaze, all the pretense was gone.

“You look like you fought a war,” he said, his voice low, stepping forward to take my duffel bag from my shoulder.

“I did,” I admitted, rubbing the tension knot at the base of my neck. “It was called ‘Marcus’s Personal Vendetta’ and ‘Serena’s Unannounced Stop at the Dorm to Discuss Napkin F
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  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 41

    Leo’s ConcernThe locker room was mostly empty, smelling strongly of sweat, disinfectant, and a faint lingering scent of desperation from the day’s practice. I was sitting on a wooden bench, pulling off the tape from my wrists, the adrenaline from the field finally starting to wear off, leaving behind a deep, bone-aching exhaustion.Leo was sitting next to me, meticulously tying the laces on his street shoes. We hadn’t spoken much during the cool-down. The silence was heavy, but not in the easy way it was at Igor’s penthouse. This silence was charged, like the air right before a thunderstorm.“You’re going to blow a gasket, K,” Leo said finally, not looking at me. His voice was low, careful not to carry across the tile floor.“I’m fine,” I replied automatically, the lie so automatic it didn't even register as a falsehood anymore.“No, you’re not fine. You ran ten plays today where you looked like you were seeing ghosts. You almost got sacked by Marcus three times, and that guy has the

  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 40

    Igor's JealousyIgor stood in the center of his penthouse living room, which felt vast and unnaturally quiet. His tie was loosened, the collar of his custom shirt slightly undone—a sign of the simmering tension he rarely allowed to surface. The vast, high-resolution screen on the wall wasn't displaying market data; it was quietly streaming a live feed from the annual Metropolitan Arts Gala, a society event where the powerful posed and cemented their control.And there he was. Killian.He looked flawless. Dressed in a sharply tailored tuxedo, he stood next to Serena, who was radiant and perfectly composed. Her hand rested on his arm with a natural ease that suggested years of comfortable intimacy, not calculated ownership. They were surrounded by the city’s most influential faces, all smiling, all nodding, all confirming the narrative: Killian Hayes and Serena Vance are the golden couple. The future is secure.Igor had seen Killian’s face countless times: defiant, tender, vulnerable, e

  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 39

    The Phone Call from Mr. HayesWe were in the quiet corner of the penthouse library, the soft lighting focused on a complex organizational chart Igor had drawn up. We had been discussing the logistics of the next six weeks—every meeting, every absence, every late-night ‘study session’ I would have to report to my father. It was a dizzying level of strategic deceit, and I was trying to absorb it all, running on sheer adrenaline and the certainty of Igor’s presence.“The key is counter-predictability,” Igor was saying, leaning over the chart. His voice was low and intense, focused entirely on the task. “Your father expects you to react emotionally to the engagement party deadline. You must react professionally. You will over-perform in every area he monitors. Give him more data than he knows what to do with. He will look for chaos; you will give him order.”“So, more time in the corporate tower?” I asked, tracing a line on the chart. “More face-time with Mr. Davies, the man who already t

  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 38

    The Stolen MorningThe moment the security door of the penthouse hissed shut behind us, the outside world dissolved. It was just after 6:00 AM, the last precious hour before Igor had to assume his corporate persona and I had to race back to the Hayes mansion to pretend I'd been jogging since dawn. This was our rarest luxury: a stolen morning, a few hours where the clock didn't exist.We didn't waste the time on pretense. The urgency of the six-week deadline, the tightening net of my father's control, and the growing, icy threat of Serena—all of it translated into a desperate, raw physical release.The intensity of our connection now wasn't just desire; it was an act of rebellion, a physical staking of a claim against a world determined to separate us. We moved with a frantic need for confirmation, seeking proof in each other's touch that we were still real, still connected, and still fighting.Later, the silence settled in, warm and heavy around us. We were still in the bedroom, bathe

  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 37

    Serena Hires a PIThe office was stark white and glass, overlooking the city skyline from the eighty-second floor of the Vance Tower. It wasn’t Igor’s territory, nor was it my father’s. This was neutral ground, rented only for the duration of the meeting. Serena never conducted sensitive business in a place where anyone knew her name.I was organizing the details for the engagement party, a mountain of logistics that should have been exciting but felt like a tedious exercise in crowd control. The invitations were being finalized. The florist was demanding confirmation on the rare imported roses. Killian, meanwhile, was useless. He answered every question about the guest list or the menu with a vague grunt and the immediate need to check his phone.He is insulting me. Every time he dismisses the planning, he is insulting the effort I am putting into securing his future—our future. He treats the foundation of our alliance like a chore. That is not just weakness; it is a threat to the fa

  • Teach me to desire    Chapter 36

    The LocketI burst through the penthouse door, completely ignoring the silent security procedure I usually followed. The air conditioning in the foyer felt like an electric shock against my skin, which was still hot from the frantic drive and the simmering fear.Igor was standing near the expansive window that overlooked the glowing grid of the city, holding a heavy glass of amber liquid. He didn't turn around immediately, but the moment the heavy door shut behind me, I felt his attention lock onto me.“Six weeks, Igor,” I gasped out, leaning against the cold wall, trying to drag breath into my shaking lungs. “My father just announced it. Six weeks until the engagement party. He moved the timeline up. He’s trying to corner me.”Igor finally turned. His face was calm, perhaps too calm, a perfect marble mask of control. He looked like he was managing an unexpected market dip, not the detonation of my carefully contained life.“Breathe, Killian,” he said, his voice low and steady. He set

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