Chapter 33

{Hailey’s Pov}

The sun was hot, but not nearly as hot as the buzz crawling through my skin.

Kiara and I were walking, no, floating, through the estate trails behind the stables, our steps uneven and laughter loud as hell. We were high as fuck, and everything felt like a dream. Trees looked like sculptures. Birds were throwing concerts. The sky? An entire mood board.

“I swear,” Kiara giggled, arms stretched to the sky. “If I see a deer right now, I’m kissing it.”

I snorted. “If I see him, I'll drop to my knees.”

“HIM?” she echoed. “Your Room Twelve Mystery Man?”

I nodded slowly, arms crossed over my chest. “His voice is stuck in my head like a song I never learned the lyrics to.”

“Manifest him,” she said. “Right now.”

I closed my eyes, stumbling forward in the grass. “Commanding voice, six-foot-something, hands like”

“Like he owns you,” Kiara finished, dreamy.

We both giggled again, clinging to each other as we stumbled toward the old tennis court path. The trees swayed. The gravel crunched beneath our sneakers. The world felt soft and loud all at once.

Then I froze.

One voice cut through the fog. Low. Smooth. Deep. The kind that curled around your spine and didn’t let go.

I knew that voice.

It was him.

My eyes snapped open, heart slamming against my chest. I grabbed Kiara’s arm. “That’s him.”

“Who?” she asked, blinking slowly.

“Him,” I whispered, already turning toward the sound. “From the club.”

We crept forward, hiding behind the hedge-lined path that curved around the tennis court. On the other side stood two men. One I’d seen a million times.

Julian Lachlan.

The other?

My breath caught.

He was dressed in dark jeans and a white T-shirt stretched across broad shoulders. His jaw was clean-cut, hair shaved low, lips sharp and familiar. He held a bottle of water, talking to Julian like the estate was his backyard.

That was him.

That was Room Twelve.

“Dude,” Kiara whispered. “He’s hot.”

“I knew I’d hear that voice again,” I muttered, brain scrambling to understand the universe’s cruelty.

Then it got worse.

Because the next words out of his mouth were like acid thrown on silk.

Kelvin glanced toward the path, and saw me.

His eyebrows rose. “Well, well. What’s the prostitute doing here?”

Kiara stiffened beside me.

Julian laughed, actually laughed, and clapped his friend on the back.

“She’s not a prostitute,” he said, still grinning. “She’s the fraud who stole my inheritance.”

My chest cracked in half.

Kelvin blinked, then looked at me again. “Wait… that’s the girl George left everything to?”

Julian nodded. “The very one. Little Hailey Vale House-ruiner. Chaos in heels.”

Kelvin’s eyes flicked over me, slower this time. Something dark shifted in his expression.

“Oh,” he said softly, like he was connecting puzzle pieces. “That’s why you tasted so expensive.”

My stomach twisted.

I turned without a word.

“Hailey” Kiara grabbed my arm.

“Let’s go.”

“Hailey, wait”

“Now,” I snapped.

We stormed back down the trail, my chest hollow and boiling all at once. I could still hear them laughing behind us.

Kiara ran to catch up. “What the actual fuck was that?”

“I can’t believe it,” I said, voice shaking. “I gave him my body. I gave him all of me that night. And now…”

“And now he calls you a prostitute?”

“Like I meant nothing.”

She was silent beside me for a second. Then: “You know what? Fuck them.”

“Kiara”

“Fuck them, Hailey,” she repeated, louder. “You didn’t lie to anyone. You didn’t sneak into this estate. George brought you here. Gave you the damn keys. Gave you everything. And now they’re mad because they weren’t chosen.”

I stopped walking, breath ragged. “He called me a fraud.”

“He’s threatened.”

“Julian hates me.”

Kiara snorted. “Julian wants to fuck you and that’s what’s driving him insane.”

I didn’t answer.

Because maybe she was right.

And maybe that made it worse.

We stood in silence, wind brushing our skin, the laughter from the tennis court still echoing in my ears like knives.

“You know what’s funny?” I said finally. “Julian’s friend… he gave me rules. Told me to be clean. To kneel. To obey. Like he wanted control.”

Kiara looked at me.

I swallowed. “But I think the whole time? He knew exactly who I was. I think that night… it wasn’t an accident.”

Her eyes widened.

I stared back toward the trees. “He knew.”

And if that was true, then the game I thought I had power in… had been rigged from the beginning.