جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

NIRVANA'S POV I slowly opened my eyes, disoriented by the darkness filling the room. The space beside me on the bed was cold. I reached out and my fingers brushed against the empty, wrinkled sheets where Adrian had been lying just hours ago. A soft ache settled low in my pelvis as I sat up. My body was sore, a reminder of the way he had pounded into me, making me forget the terror of the switchblade in my car. But the comforting haze of his touch vanished the second I looked at the clock glowing on the nightstand. It was late in the evening. I had slept for hours while my stalker was still out there.I slid out of bed, my bare feet hitting the cold floor. I picked up one of Adrian’s discarded button-down shirts and pulled it over my shoulders. The fabric still smelled like him, carrying the scent of expensive cologne and masculine heat. Buttoning it quickly, I stepped out into the hallway. A low murmur of voices drifted up from the lower level.I walked down the staircase, keepin

LEO'S POV The bar was a hole. It smelled of stale beer and wet sawdust. I hated being there, but it was the only place in the city where I could be invisible. I sat in a corner booth, nursing a drink and staring at the condensation on the glass.My head pounded. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the weight of Ronan’s rejection. It was a pattern I knew too well. My parents looked at me with cold eyes the day I told them the truth.They all shut me out. Jesse kept me at arm's length. And then there was Ronan. He looked at me with such indifference when he told me I meant nothing. I was just a placeholder in his life, someone to discard when things got inconvenient.I drank, hoping the alcohol would numb the ache behind my ribs. It did not. I just felt angry. Angry at the world and at myself for caring about a man who did not give a damn.A hand suddenly clamped down on my glass."I never thought you were the type to drink, nerd."His voice was like gravel. It hit me in the center of

NIRVANA'S POVI dipped my brush into the plastic water cup, watching the dark pigment bleed into the clear liquid. The university art studio was mostly empty this afternoon. The silence was broken only by the faint scrape of charcoal against paper somewhere behind me. I was entirely focused on the canvas in front of me, trying to perfect the shading on a portrait I had started last week. I liked these quiet moments. It was the only time my brain actually slowed down.A sharp clatter suddenly broke my concentration. A graphite pencil rolled across the wooden floor and stopped right against the toe of my boot. I looked down at the floor, then turned my head over my shoulder to see exactly where it had come from.A guy was sitting in the back corner of the room. I hadn't even noticed he was there until this exact second. He was hunched over a drawing pad, his shoulders tense. I reached down and picked up the pencil. As I stood up, I really looked at him for the first time. He had a ful

NIRVANA'S POVThe manor felt too big when it was empty. The silence in the large house wasn't peaceful, it was suffocating. Adrian and Ronan had left hours ago for whatever late-night business they deemed too important to explain. That left me stuck inside with Iris.He was standing in the kitchen, leaning casually against the far edge of the marble island. He wore his usual black clothes, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He hadn't moved a single muscle in twenty minutes. He was just watching the room, doing his job, acting like a piece of heavily tattooed furniture.I couldn't take the quiet anymore. I needed some sort of normal human interaction, even if it was with a terrifying bodyguard.I walked over to the cabinet, pulled out a heavy glass, and set it on the counter. I opened the fridge and grabbed the filtered water pitcher."Do you ever actually sit down, Iris?" I asked, not looking at him as I poured.He didn't answer right away. I thought he was just going to ignor

NIRVANA'S POVI stayed pressed firmly against the cold exterior of the building, my heart hammering against my ribs. From a distance, the structure had looked like a standard warehouse. But up close, the reality was entirely different.The building wasn't old, and it definitely wasn't falling apart. It was a sleek fortress of polished concrete, black steel and tinted glass. Discreet security cameras were mounted at every corner, their small red lenses sweeping the perimeter. It looked like a high-end, modern compound, completely hidden in the middle of the gritty industrial district.I held my breath and peeked around the edge of the wall again. The massive guard was still standing by the heavy steel doors.I needed a distraction. I needed him to look away for just ten seconds.My luck finally turned. The guard reached into the pocket of his dark jeans and pulled out a cell phone. He turned his broad back toward the street to block the wind, cupping his hand over the receiver as he a