The door flew wide open, steam spilling out like smoke from a crime scene.And there he was. Zane.His sharp eyes locked on me, then shifted, past me, to the shadow standing in the mist. His lip curled.“Kai,” he said, voice low, lethal. “What the hell are you doing in Lucy’s room?”My breath snagged. Kai stepped forward, chest bare, water dripping down his skin, but his face was stone.“The lock was broken,” he said smoothly. “I came to check on her.”Zane’s laugh was harsh, cruel. “Check on her? Half-naked? In the steam?” He tilted his head, eyes narrowing, fire flickering in them. “Try harder.”My chest squeezed. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, another voice cut in.“Enough.”Liam.He stepped into view, hands in his pockets, with that usual mocking calm in his tone. But this time, there was something else too. Something heavier.“Don’t waste your energy, Zane. He’s not the only one you should be questioning.”Zane’s head snapped toward him. “What the hell are you ta
“Kai…” His name tumbled from my lips like a secret I wasn’t ready to confess, fragile and trembling in the haze.His eyes burned into me, unblinking, pulling me into their storm. I expected him to move, to look away, to flee the way any sane man would, but he didn’t. He stepped closer instead, the steam curling around him like smoke feeding a fire.The air thickened. My chest rose and fell too fast, too shallow. He was so close now I could feel the weight of his presence pressing through the glass, heavy and intoxicating. My body, traitorous and wild, leaned toward him, as if his gravity had claimed me.“You think I wanted this,” he said at last, his voice low, jagged, like it had been torn from his throat. “You think I came here on purpose?”I swallowed, the words stuck in my throat, my skin prickling with heat. “Didn’t you?”His jaw clenched, his gaze dragging down my body before he cursed under his breath, looking away for the first time. “God, Lena… you have no idea what you’re do
“Who’s there?”My voice trembled against the hiss of water, swallowed by steam and nerves. Soap clung to my lashes, blurring the world, my heart hammering as though the walls themselves were closing in.No answer.Only the whisper of the door as it creaked wider, the sound slicing through the silence like a secret being spilled.Panic surged down my spine. The lock, I had never clicked it. My throat went dry, lips parting as I struggled to steady the air thick with tension.“Who’s there?” I tried again, sharper this time, though it cracked at the edges.Still nothing.Just the scrape of shoes against tile, slow, deliberate, unhurried.Not the careless shuffle of a passerby.Not the quick stride of someone in a rush.No. Whoever it was wanted me to hear them. Wanted me to know they were here.The sound echoed off the bathroom walls, sharp and steady, each step a countdown that made my pulse hammer harder. My skin prickled, goosebumps rising even though steam swirled thick and hot aroun
“Then I treat him like one.”Mr. Carter’s words didn’t just hang in the air, they burned, crackling like fire, searing through the room with a finality that left every breath poisoned.Zane’s lips curved into something between a sneer and a smile, but I saw the muscle twitch in his jaw. His fists clenched at his sides, and for a heartbeat, I swore he would lunge at his father right there.“Try it,” he said, voice low, dark, carrying the madness of a storm chained too long. “Lay your hands on me, and see how quickly your kingdom falls.”The silence that followed was violent. Heavy. Every heartbeat was a drum inside my chest, suffocating me.Out from here, he turned. Mr. Carter’s gaze flicked toward me, sharp, knowing, dripping with the kind of venom that could rot a soul. His voice slid like poison across the air.“Because of her,” he said. His words weren’t a question, they were a verdict. “Because of her, My son speaks against me. Because of her, you all defy me.”Because of me.The
Zane didn’t move. He was a storm contained inside a man, shoulders squared, jaw carved from stone, his stare locked on his father like he was ready to burn for it.Mr. Carter’s fury snapped toward Kai. “And is that why he thinks he can speak to me this way? Disrespect me, his own father? All for what? For a common maid I employed!”My heart stuttered. His words stung, but what came next froze me to the marrow.“Tell me, Zane,” Mr. Carter demanded, voice dark with venom, “are you in love with her?”The world stopped.My breath caught, the floor slipping beneath me. Every beat of my heart hammered too loud, too fast, until I thought the whole room could hear it.Zane’s lips curved in a cold, careless smirk. “Oh, Father, don’t be dramatic. Of course she isn't in my class.”The words speared through me, sharp and cruel. I froze. My blood iced over. If I wasn't in his class, then why? Why the stolen gazes? Why the kisses that still burned my lips? Why the way his voice wrapped around me as
The words dripped from his mouth like poison.“Let’s see how long she survives under my rules.”For a moment, the study wasn’t a room anymore, it was a cage. The walls pressed closer, the air grew thick, suffocating, my lungs struggling to draw breath. My hands curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms, the pain the only thing stopping me from trembling outright.Mr. Carter’s voice thundered again, sharp and cruel.“You dare defy me in my own house, Zane? I’ve always known there was something different in you. Tell me, are you even my blood?”The insult sliced through the air like a blade.Zane’s jaw hardened, every muscle in his face carved from stone, the storm inside him barely contained. His dark eyes glittered with fire, not the kind that flickered, it burned, steady and merciless. He didn’t falter, not even a fraction, standing tall in the shadow of his father’s wrath as though daring him to strike.“Oh, please, old man,” Zane’s voice was a blade, cold, sharp, de