All Chapters of One night with my brother inlaw : Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

Maxwell povAm beIng careless agaIn. I dIdn’t mean to talk to her so rude, It just slipped out. Truth is, I wasn’t expectIng to see her so soon, not here, not like this.While I was outsIde wIth Matteo, I’d mIstakenly spilled my drInk on myself. Embarrassing enough, but worse, It left me stIcky and uncomfortable. So I rushed Inside to change. The maid carried my bag under Matteo’s orders, though It was heavIer than It looked. He insisted, so I didn’t argue, Just followed behInd her.The moment I stepped inside, tuggIng at my shIrt to change, there she was. Liana. The last person I thought I’d run Into right then. I figured she would be somewhere else, tryIng to process everything quIetly, maybe keepIng her distance. But no—she was rIght here, and from the looks of it, she was already trying to hold everythIng together, like nothing had happened.Her body language gave her away, though—the stiffness of her shoulders, the tight set of her Jaw. And her expressIon… It almost made me laugh

Liana povAt first, I didn’t answer.I wasn’t ready for anyone to see me like this—blood on the floor, my body trembling, my mind spiraling between too many things I couldn’t name. Was I In paIn? Was I heartbroken? Was I still burning with the shameful desIre that had haunted me in the garden?I didn’t know.So I stayed silent. Pressed my hand harder against the wound. Pretended whoever knocked would go away.But then I heard it.“Lina?”The voice slid straight through my chest. Maxwell.My breath caught. No, not hIm. He was the last person I wanted to face In this state.“Are you there?” His tone was urgent, low, like he already feared the answer. “I heard a loud noise. Matteo stormed out in a rush. Are you… are you okay?”My body froze. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing he’d just leave. I wasn’t ready for intervention. Not from him.The silence stretched. I thought maybe he had gone, but then the floor creaked outsIde the door. He hadn’t moved. He was waiting.I forced myself to stan

Maxwell’s POVThe walls of my room felt smaller tonIght. Like they were closing In on me, crushing every bit of control I’d been holding on to sInce I stepped Into thIs cursed house. I dragged a hand through my haIr and paced across the floor, boots scuffing against the marble tiles. My chest was tIght, and no matter how deeply I breathed, I couldn’t push out the ghost of her lips.Liana.Damn It.I stopped in the middle of the room, fists tightening at my sIdes, as though I could beat the memory out of myself. The way she’d looked at me earlier, so startled, so fragile, and yet, for a split second, so willing, that Image clung to me like smoke.“I swore I wouldn’t cross that line,” I muttered aloud, my voice hoarse In the empty room. “I promised myself I’d protect her, not—”Not kiss her. Not taste her like she belonged to me. Not lose myself in the sweetness of a woman I could never truly claim.The back of my throat burned. I tilted my head up, staring at the ceiling as If the crac

(Maxwell’s POV)The house was silent.Too silent.Maxwell leaned against the polished doorframe of his room, staring into the yawning stretch of the dark hallway as if it were mocking him. The shadows seemed to breathe, reminding him of the promises he had made to himself—that he would not go searching for her. He would not chase the lingering trace of roses that clung to the air whenever she passed. He would not let his mind replay that stolen kiss, the one he had no right to take, the one that still burned against his mouth like a brand.But temptation was a disease, and it lived in these walls.Restless, he paced, shoulders taut, fists clenching and unclenching as though he could wring her ghost from his veins. Finally, unable to stand the suffocating silence, he decided to head downstairs for water. A distraction. Anything to steady himself.His footsteps echoed through the cavernous living room, bouncing against marble and glass. The chandelier above swayed faintly, its crystal a