ANMELDENJORDYNI don’t even remember slipping out of Ares’s house. One second I’m at the kitchen counter, barely keeping it together under his heavy stare, and the next I’m pulling open the front door, the early morning light blinding and too harsh.The world feels wrong. Way too bright. Needlessly loud and painfully empty.I wrap my arms around myself, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie farther down over my hands as I walk. The manor looms in the distance, huge and intimidating.Somehow it looks colder than it did before. By the time I push through the heavy front doors, my stomach’s twisted into what feels like a million knots. The house is quiet.A few staff members glance up as I pass, their faces shuttered, carefully blank.Nobody says anything. Nobody meets my eyes, and I can’t say I blame them.Halfway up the main staircase, I hear voices.Is that...Bianca and Enzo?I shouldn’t be listening to a married couples quarrel, but I can’t help it...especially when I hear my name. So, quietly,
JORDYNThe first thing I register is the faint pull of sunlight against my closed eyelids. And then warmth. A soft blanket tangled around my legs. A pillow that smells unfamiliar, like musk and something darker underneath.My head pounds, a dull ache pulsing behind my temples. My body feels heavy, weighted down by exhaustion, by something I can’t quite put my finger on. I blink slowly, trying to piece together where I am.This isn’t my room.The walls are too dark. The air too cold. The bed way too big.I push myself upright, the blanket slipping off my shoulders, and my heart stutters hard against my ribs. I’m wearing a black hoodie. It’s not mine. It’s too big, swallowing my frame whole.And then I smell it.My mind seems to recognise the scent before I can place it. Dark, warm, faintly woody. Familiar somehow. I breathe it in again, and the memories start to come back in pieces. I remember the pool, the cold water, the way my body gave up. I remember strong arms around me. Cold wat
AREŚThe water is freezing, but I barely feel it.All I can feel is her. Small and weightless, pressed against me, trembling like a goddamn leaf. I hold her tighter than I should, tighter than I mean to...like if I loosen my grip, even slightly she’ll slip away again.What the fuck was she thinking? Throwing herself into the pool fully clothed and half-drunk. What if I hadn’t been home. What if I’d spotted her a minute later. She would have fucking drowned. I would have been dragging her cold, dead body out of the water, and that thought angers me more than I’d like to admit.For a moment, neither of us moves. She just looks at me, utterly broken and lost, as though she’s already halfway gone.And for the first time in longer than I can remember, something sharp pinches in my chest. A crack I didn’t even know was still there.Fuck. The devastation in her eyes feels like a punch straight to the ribs.And you want to know the real kicker? I can’t fucking stand it.Those blue eyes of her
JORDYNRed and blue lights strobe against the smoke, against the wreckage, against everything that still doesn’t feel real. Sirens tear through the air, growing louder until they’re right on top of us.Matteo tries to turn me away, shielding me with his body, but I fight him, struggling against his grip, desperate to see.“No,” I sob. “I need to be with them...I need to—”“Jordyn, stop,” Matteo says, voice rough with something that sounds too much like pain. “You don’t want to see this, Tesoro.” I barely hear him over the chaos as paramedics flood the scene, shouting, running, pulling open the twisted doors of the car.I catch a glimpse. Just one.My father’s wedding ring, glinting under the flashing lights.A scream builds in my chest, but it doesn’t make it out.Matteo pulls me back again, one hand cradling my head against his chest as if he can shield me from the truth if he just holds me hard enough.I squeeze my eyes shut, but it’s too late. The images are burned behind my eyelid
JORDYNThe morning after Enzo and Bianca’s wedding is chaotic in the best way. Loud, bright, and brimming with laughter. The Russo manor hums with energy while we gather around the grand dining table, plates overflowing with lavish Italian breakfast spreads. Sunlight pours in through the tall windows like nature’s Instagram filter. Honestly, it’s almost suspicious how perfect everything looks.At the head of the table is Luciano Russo. Enzo’s father. Silent, but somehow louder than everyone else combined. My parents sit beside Bianca and Enzo, all still glowing from last night’s fairytale. And then there’s Matteo and me, sitting side by side and pretending our knees haven’t been bumping like nervous passengers in a turbulence zone.I lift my porcelain cup, inhale the perfect scent of latte, and take a slow, dramatic sip while observing Luciano. He’s dressed in a charcoal suit sharper than my sarcasm, silver streaking through perfectly styled hair, his expression carved from stone.The
AREŚShe smelled like prosecco, patchouli, and something far worse...trouble wrapped in nostalgia and the kind of sweetness that tricks you into leaning in before it burns. I don’t even like patchouli. But somehow her scent’s been living rent-free in my ribcage ever since. I should’ve turned back the second I saw her. Should’ve said nothing. Should’ve let her fall. But I didn’t.Before I could stop myself, I stepped forward and caught her. Felt her chest against minei, her heart beating against it like a bird that fell out of its nest. Her fingers curled into my shirt like she didn’t even realise she’d done it. Like her body trusted me before her mind could protest.And for a second, for whatever reason...I didn’t want to let go.She looked at me like I was the one who had taken the air from her lungs.Perhaps I had.I told myself it was curiosity, that’s all. She didn’t belong here, and I don’t like surprises. Especially not barefoot girls wandering through my land like it’s their







