جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

NEROI should have known better than to come.The DeCavalcante estate felt colder these days—not in temperature, but in presence. The kind of cold that sank beneath the skin, settled into bone, whispered that nothing here was safe anymore. Even the walls felt like they were listening.Terra’s room door was ajar when I arrived. That alone was unusual. She liked control. Precision. Nothing about her was ever left open.I knocked once.“Come in,” she said, her voice soft. Too soft.I stepped inside and immediately noticed what she wanted me to see.She sat by the window, light spilling over her like a carefully staged painting. Hair loose. No jewelry. No makeup sharp enough to be armor. Just vulnerability—or the illusion of it.She looked up at me, eyes rimmed red.“Nero,” she whispered, as if saying my name hurt.I stiffened.This was new.“You sent for me,” I said carefully. “What is it?”She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she stood and walked toward me slowly, barefoot against mar

JULIAI felt it before I heard it.That strange, crawling awareness on my skin—the kind that made my shoulders stiffen and my steps slow the moment I walked through the school gates. It wasn’t loud yet. No shouting. No outright accusations. Just whispers that stopped too abruptly when I passed.Too many eyes.I told myself I was imagining it. I always did.Phoebe had already gone ahead to submit something to the office, so I was alone when I reached the hallway. My fingers tightened around my bag strap as I walked past a group of girls clustered near the lockers. One of them glanced at me, eyes widening for a split second before she leaned in to whisper something urgently to the others.They all looked at me.Then away.My stomach sank.I kept walking.Don’t panic, I told myself. You’ve handled worse.But this felt different. Heavier. Like something had already taken root while I wasn’t looking.In class, the atmosphere was off. Normally, people ignored me—treated me like air. Today,

JULIAThe car ride back to the Lucchesi manor felt longer than usual.Two guards sat in front. Another followed behind us. No one spoke. The city lights blurred past the window, soft and distant, like they belonged to another life entirely. I pressed my forehead lightly to the glass, breathing slowly, counting each inhale so I would not fall apart again.I kept my arms folded tight across my chest.The torn seam of my blouse was hidden beneath Marcus’s jacket, the fabric heavy and warm around my shoulders. I told myself that as long as he did not see it, I could pretend nothing happened. That I could walk back into that house and be normal again.The gates opened. The manor rose before us, bright and immaculate, completely untouched by what I had just endured.I almost laughed.Inside, the staff moved quietly, bowing as I passed. Someone asked if I wanted dinner. I nodded automatically, my mouth saying yes while my mind screamed no.I went straight to my room.I locked the door.My ha

TERRAI knew something was wrong the moment I walked into school and no one looked at me the same way.Whispers followed me down the hallway, but not the eager, conspiratorial kind I was used to. These were clipped. Uneasy. Conversations that stopped the second I passed.I lifted my chin anyway. I had been raised better than to flinch.But when I reached my locker, one of the girls who usually waited for me there avoided my eyes and pretended to be busy with her phone.“Did you finish the history project?” I asked lightly.She startled, glanced at me, then nodded too fast. “Yeah. I’m just… meeting someone.”She left without another word.I stared after her, nails digging into my palm.By lunch, it was undeniable. Chairs filled before I arrived. Smiles were polite instead of admiring. Someone moved their bag when I sat down, creating space. Distance.That was when I heard it.“Lucchesi.”The name slid through the air like a blade.“… not bluffing anymore.”“… engagement announcement so

JULIAThe decision was already made before I woke up.I realized it the moment I saw the way the house moved differently that morning. The Lucchesi manor was never noisy, but there was a new kind of order in the air. Guards stood at positions I had never noticed before. Phones rang once, were answered, then went silent. Even the servants walked with purpose, eyes lowered, steps precise.Marcus was already gone when I woke, but a note waited on the bedside table.You’re not going to school today. Or any day after that. Eat. Rest. I’ll explain.My chest tightened.I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, fingers clutching the sheet, guilt pressing down on me in slow, heavy waves. Part of me expected panic. Another part expected relief.What I felt instead was safety.That scared me more than anything.I dressed slowly, choosing a long-sleeved blouse without thinking, my body still acting on instinct even though no one here had ever raised a hand to me. When I stepped into the dinin