ArynI had expected hell.What I got was gilded chaos wrapped in champagne and secrets.The party was in full swing by the time Lorenzo led me down the marble staircase. Music pulsed from a live string quartet off to the side. Waiters glided across the floor with silver trays, offering caviar and wine like this was some Versailles fever dream instead of a goddamn mafia summit.I clutched the railing as if it might save me from toppling into the glittering abyss of liars, killers, and smiling politicians. My gown—sleek black velvet with a plunging neckline and a slit that could start wars—clung to me like a second skin. Zara had done my makeup so well I barely recognized myself in the mirror. For a second, I looked like I belonged.Almost.Lorenzo was all sharp lines and ice beside me. Black suit. No tie. The kind of man people didn’t just notice—they made way for.And the moment we reached the bottom step, he wrapped a possessive arm around my waist.His voice was low, cool. “Smile li
ArynThe next morning, I shoved the empty tray of food to the edge of the nightstand and stood at the mirror, inspecting the bruise on my collarbone like it had something new to say.It didn’t.Just like Lorenzo hadn’t come home.Coward.I knew it was more complicated than that, but still—fuck him.He left me alone with a folder full of betrayal and a thousand questions no one would answer. And I hated that it felt worse than any of the bruises on my skin. Because no matter how I turned it around in my head, I kept ending up in the same place: Arya was hiding shit.A lot of it.And if what Lorenzo said was true—if she’d really betrayed him, her own fiancé Liam, and possibly more people—I was stepping into a storm I didn’t even have boots for.I tied the robe tighter around my waist and stepped into the hallway, bare feet silent on the cold floor. I found Lorenzo exactly where I expected him—outside the study, talking to some guy in a charcoal suit with a buzzcut and a snake tattoo pee
ArynThe hallway outside my temporary prison wasn’t much brighter than the room I’d just been dying in. The lights above flickered with a sickly yellow color, buzzing faintly like they were protesting every second they had to stay alive—just like me.I kept my steps steady even though my legs were shaking like hell underneath me. Lorenzo walked ahead without looking back, but I could feel him watching. The tension between us was thick, like coiled wire stretched too tight, ready to snap with one wrong breath. Or a word.He hadn’t said a word since I followed him out.Not a threat. Not a taunt.Not even a glance.Which made me more uneasy than if he’d pulled a fucking gun.I knew silence like that—it was the kind of quiet that only ever came before a storm. And Lorenzo? He was the fucking hurricane that made it.We took two turns. Passed four doors. I counted. I always counted. Because I didn’t know when I’d get locked in again, and next time, I needed to be smarter. Next time, I wasn’
ArynThree days. Three fucking, shitty days.That’s how long it had been.Three days of silence, of being locked in this room, of eating next to nothing. A crust of bread. A single apple. A glass of water that tasted more like pity than mercy. Not enough to live on. Just enough to not die. Not yet.Lorenzo wasn’t starving me.He was testing me.Punishing me, or maybe both.And I could feel it. In my ribs poking through tighter skin, in the cold shivers that came even when the air was warm, in the way my thoughts started to come slower. My stomach twisted and cramped with each hour that passed. My mouth was dry even though I’d rationed the water. He wanted me to beg and wanted me to break till I did so he was pulling this silly stunt. Just enough food to stay alive. Just enough water to keep my lips from cracking. A small piece of dry bread on the first day. Half a bruised apple on the second. A glass of water on the third. That was it.This wasn’t a room anymore.It was a tomb in wait
ArynI Fucked UpThey say you know when you’ve made a mistake.That gut-deep, bone-cold realization.That moment where everything clicks—too late.Yeah.This was that moment.I fucked up.And I knew it the second I heard the door slam behind me.The second he tied my wrists, gagged my mouth, and looked me in the eyes like he didn’t recognize me anymore.No.Scratch that.He recognized me now.That was the problem.The guest room was quiet. Not peaceful—quiet like the inside of a coffin. Dead air. Dead space. Only my ragged breathing and the creak of the rope every time I twisted against it.He’d tied me to the goddamn bedpost like I was some wild animal. Hands bound behind my back, ankles tight together, gag pressed against my mouth like a final insult.I should’ve waited. Should’ve played a longer game. Should’ve not pulled a knife on Lorenzo fucking Vescari.But I let the rage drive me.I let Arya’s ghost steer.And now I was here.Tied up.Alone.Fucked.I took a breath.No use pan
LorenzoI’m a fucking idiot.No—scratch that.I’m 'the' fucking idiot.How the hell didn’t I see it? How the hell didn’t I 'know'?Aryn. Arya.Twin fucking sisters.It should’ve slapped me in the face from the moment I met her. Same eyes. Same goddamn mouth. Same nose, same fucking jawline. I chalked it up to coincidence—like a dumbass. Convinced myself I was just haunted. Seeing Arya where she wasn’t. Grief hallucinations. Whatever the fuck.But no. It was her 'sister'.The bitch played me. Lied. Stared me in the face, smiled like she didn’t know who I was—like she hadn’t come straight into my house with a plan.Goddamn it.I dropped into the armchair in my study, fingers digging into my temples. Rage boiled under my skin, but beneath that?Shame.Deep. Ugly. Suffocating.Arya kept secrets from me. She never told me about Aryn. She never told me much of anything, actually. Our whole relationship was half-glimpses and raw sex and the occasional moment where she looked at me like maybe