Chapter 8: Footsteps on Cold Stone

Wren

You belong to me now.

The words echoed inside my skull, competing with the blood roaring in my ears. I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust him. Every instinct screamed at me to bite, claw, and sink my nails into the sharp plane of Dr. Kaelen Vane’s jaw until he bled. Yet the heat of his chest against my back was the only thing keeping me upright.

My knees threatened to buckle beneath my nightgown.

Julian stared at us, his eyes wide with fury. His gaze dropped to Kaelen’s arm wrapped tightly around my waist, then to my wet, bare feet leaving bloody smudges across his Persian rug.

“This is absurd, Vane!” Julian snapped, taking a jagged step forward. “She belongs in the cellar until the transport van arrives! She just tried to kill me!”

Kaelen didn’t blink. He didn’t shift his stance. His grip around my waist tightened, pulling me closer against him.

“She tried to defend herself against an incompetent coward who let her escape a locked basement,” Kaelen said, his baritone dropping into a terrifyingly quiet register. “If she had killed you, Julian, it would have been a mercy compared to what Beatrix will do when she finds out you lost control of your own house.”

Julian’s mouth closed suddenly. The color drained from his face at the mention of my aunt.

“The east wing is isolated,” Kaelen continued. “Reinforced oak doors. Single-latch windows. No servant access after eight. I will hold the key. If you step near her quarters without my permission, I will call the Zurich exchange myself and inform them that the primary heir is lucid, locked away, and ready to sign over her shares to a rival firm.”

The room suddenly became completely silent.

Julian’s chest breaths heavily. Hatred burned in his eyes as he realized he had brought a shark into his poisonous pond and the shark had just claimed the prize.

“Fine,” Julian spat, turning away and snatching his velvet cloak from the chair. “Keep the crazy bitch. But if she slits your throat in your sleep, Vane, don’t expect me to weep at your funeral.”

He stormed through the French doors, slamming them hard enough to make the glass rattle. Then he disappeared into the driving rain .

The silence turned razor-sharp.

I didn’t wait. As Julian’s footsteps faded into the storm, I twisted in Kaelen’s grip and shoved my palms against his chest.

He didn’t budge. It was like pushing against granite.

But he released me.

His arm slid from my waist, his fingers brushing my hip before dropping to his side.

“Touch me again,” I whispered, my voice raw from smoke and cold, “and I will finish what I started with that blade.”

Kaelen didn’t look threatened.

Instead, he reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a silk handkerchief. Then he stepped closer.

“You’re shivering, Wren,” he said softly.

Before I could move, he pressed the silk to my cheek, wiping away blood and grime. His fingers brushed my temple, warm and steady against my freezing skin.

I froze.

Up close, I could see dark golden specks around the silver of his irises. I could feel his body heat, mocking the cold.

“Don’t act like you’re saving me,” I said angrily. “You’re just a higher-paid turnkey. You saw an opportunity to squeeze Julian for more power, and you took it.”

A faint smile touched the corner of Kaelen’s mouth.

He didn’t deny it.

His gaze dropped to my throat, where my pulse hammered against my skin, before returning to my eyes.

“Smart girl,” he murmured. “Never trust a man who enters a burning house with a key in his pocket.”

He cupped my elbow not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to command kand led me from the study.

We entered the corridor of the east wing.

The estate felt different here. The air was colder, carrying the smell of damp stone, old paper, and abandoned wax. Iron bars reinforced the narrow windows. Heavy deadbolts sat on every door.

This wasn’t a home.

It wasn’t even a clinic.

It was a fortress designed to break a human mind brick by brick.

Kaelen guided me down the hallway, his leather shoes clicking against the flagstones. With every step, my heart pounded harder.

I had escaped Julian’s basement, but I had walked straight into another cage one controlled by a man who saw right through me.

He stopped outside an archway of iron-reinforced oak. From his vest, he pulled a brass key and slid it into the lock.

Click.

The deadbolt gave a metallic thud that echoed through the empty corridor.

He pushed the door open and stepped aside.

The room was grand.

A mahogany four-poster bed stood beneath green velvet. A fireplace cast flickering light across the stone walls. A writing desk rested by the window.

Then I saw the iron latch secured on the outside of the window frame.

My stomach tightened.

I stepped into the center of the room and wrapped my arms around myself to stop shivering.

“Where is your guard?” I asked. “Or do you plan on standing watch at the door all night yourself, doctor?”

Kaelen stepped inside, closing the oak door until it was barely an inch from latching.

He removed his soaked wool overcoat and tossed it over an armchair. Beneath it, his black vest fitted tightly across his chest.

“There are no guards in this wing, Wren,” he said.

He walked to the hearth, picked up an iron poker, and stirred the flames.

“Just you.”

He looked over his shoulder.

“And me.”

My eyes narrowed.

“And what happens when I decide to leave?”

Kaelen set the poker down.

For the first time, something unreadable crossed his face.

“You won’t.”

The certainty in his voice made my blood run cold.

I took one step toward the door.

“Try me.”

His eyes followed me.

“You misunderstand your position.”

“No.” I reached for the handle. “I understand it perfectly.”

My fingers closed around the brass.

Locked.

Of course.

I turned back.

Kaelen was standing between me and the exit.

“You said there were no guards,” I whispered.

“There aren’t.”

“Then move.”

He didn’t.

The fire crackled behind him.

Rain battered the windows.

And somewhere beyond the corridor, I heard footsteps.

Slow.

Measured.

Coming toward my door.

Kaelen’s expression changed instantly.

“Get away from the door,” he ordered.

I stared at him.

“Why?”

The footsteps stopped outside.

Then came three quiet knocks.

Kaelen reached beneath his vest.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

A voice whispered from the other side.

“Dr. Vane… they know she’s here.”

Kaelen’s eyes locked onto mine.

“They’re coming for you.”