Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

CHAPTER ELEVEN — GROUNDED

I let out a lazy laugh. “Wow. Didn’t know you cared.”“I don’t.”“Liar.”Lucian ignored me and kept walking. The stairs felt longer than usual. My head throbbed faintly, each step making the world sway a little more. By the time we reached my room, I was too tired to fight him.Lucian pushed the door open and guided me inside.“Sit,” he said.I dropped onto the edge of the bed without grace. The room spun gently around me. A moment later, I felt something cold press against my lower lip.I flinched. “What the hell—”“Stop moving.”Lucian stood between my knees, one hand holding my chin steady while the other dabbed antiseptic onto the cut on my lip.I stared at him through blurry eyes. He was too close again. His face was calm and focused. His jaw set in that hard line he always wore when he was annoyed, which, to be fair, was always.“You look funny when you concentrate,” I murmured.Lucian didn’t react.“Do you ever relax?”Silence.I squinted up at him. “You know, for someone who c

CHAPTER TWELVE — DANGEROUS THOUGHTS

“You are grounded.” The words hit me like a bombshell.I stared at him as though he had suddenly grown a horn on his head.“For the next two weeks, you’re not leaving this house except for school.”My jaw fell open. “You can’t be serious.”“I am.”“You don’t control my life!” I yelled, my chest rising and falling in heaves.Lucian stepped closer, not aggressively. Just enough that his presence filled the space. He grabbed my chin, forcing my gaze back to his.“You’re not mature enough to control it yourself.”That stung.“You’re unbelievable,” I snapped.Lucian ignored the comment.“For the next fourteen days,” he continued calmly, “you go to school and come home.”“That’s insane.”“You’ll hand over your car keys.”“I barely even use the car!” I yelled again.“And you’ll stop attending unnecessary social events.”“Oh, you mean parties I attended for the first time.”Lucian didn’t respond. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration.“You’re overreacting.”He studied my face quietly th

CHAPTER THIRTEEN — OBSERVATION I

LUCIAN’S POVThe door slammed.I remained exactly where I was. For several seconds, the room stayed silent. The antiseptic pad was still in my hand.Ezran had run out of the study as if someone was chasing him. Actually, as if I chased him out. I looked down at the chair he had been sitting in a moment ago and a smirk curled up on my lips.The boy walked into my study intending to argue and left looking as if he had seen a ghost. I placed the antiseptic back into the box and closed it. The cut on his lip had been deeper than expected.I returned to the desk and sat down, reopening my laptop.Work resumed — or at least it should have, but my attention drifted briefly to the door Ezran had just disappeared through.Interesting.I remained seated at the desk, my eyes drifting around the study.The study is the quietest room in the villa. Dark oak shelves line the walls, filled with books collected by three generations of the Banks family. The desk beneath the window belonged to my gra

CHAPTER FOURTEEN — MIDNIGHT DISCOVERY

EZRAN’S POVThe villa was too quiet at night.During the day the house felt like a battlefield — staff moving around, doors opening, footsteps echoing through the hallways.But at night? It felt like a museum. Cold and painfully silent.I sat on the porch steps with my elbows resting on my knees, staring at the dark garden in front of me.The clock inside the living room had struck ten a while ago. Still, I couldn't sleep.I rubbed my face slowly.“Great.” I mumbled in annoyance.Apparently getting grounded also came with insomnia.My fingers drifted unconsciously to my lower lip. The cut still stung faintly.Lucian’s fault.Well, technically the drunk idiot at the party’s fault. But Lucian was easier to blame.My fingers paused.A strange sensation flickered in my mind again. Lucian standing close, his hand under my chin, his thumb brushing against the cut and then, nothing.Blank like someone had erased the rest of the memory.I groaned quietly and leaned back against the step. “Why

CHAPTER FIFTEEN — LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

EZRAN’S POVI barely slept that night. Not because I was anxious, but because I was victorious.The secret panel on the garden wall replayed in my mind over and over again like a movie trailer.The keypad and the hidden door. This was like a perfect little flaw in Lucian Banks’ perfectly controlled fortress.The man thought he had sealed every exit. Turns out he hadn’t checked the garden.I stared at the ceiling from my bed, a slow grin spreading across my face.“Brilliant,” I whispered to myself.For the first time since the grounding started, the villa didn’t feel like a prison. It felt like a puzzle — and I had just found the first piece.I rolled onto my side, staring toward the window where faint morning light was beginning to seep through the curtains.Lucian might be a control freak, but even control freaks make mistakes, and today, I was going to test exactly how big that mistake was.Morning light crept through the curtains and I finally dragged myself out of bed, humming quie

CHAPTER SIXTEEN — TRAPPED

Lucian stood a few feet away under the shade of one of the stone arches, dressed in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves buttoned neatly at the wrists, dark trousers, and that same maddening expressionless face that made him look like a villain.I blinked. Then frowned.“How long have you been standing there?”“Long enough.”Of course. He monitored me like heck. I folded my arms. “You seriously locked the garden gate?”Lucian stepped forward, unhurried. “It’s called planning.”“No, it’s called being a psychopath.”His eyes moved over me calmly.“You’re trying to leave the property.”“So?”“So,” he said evenly, “you’re grounded.”“I know what grounded means,” I snapped. “You’ve repeated it enough.”Lucian came to a stop in front of me. Not too close, just close enough to make me aware of his height, his stillness, and the way he never seemed to waste movement.“You keep testing limits you already understand,” he said.I laughed bitterly.“And you keep acting like this place belongs to

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN — MELINDA

EZRAN’S POVI didn’t move. For a second, I couldn’t. Lucian stepped back, but the air around him didn’t.It stayed there, thick and heavy.My back was still pressed against the wall, my pulse refusing to calm down like my body hadn’t gotten the memo that he was no longer touching me.What the hell was that?I dragged in a breath and pushed myself off the wall, turning away before I did something stupid like look at him again. Or worse, say or do something stupid.My fingers curled into fists as I walked past him, forcing my steps to stay steady.“Stay out of my space,” I muttered, even though my voice lacked the bite I wanted.I didn’t wait for his response. I just walked out of the room fast.The hallway felt too long and quiet. Every step I took echoed louder than it should have, like the house itself was mocking me.I stopped in my tracks and leaned against the wall, with my back pressed against it.“Get it together,” I muttered under my breath.This was ridiculous.It was just Luci

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN — SERMON

For a moment I just blinked at the ceiling.Of all the people I expected to hear from tonight, Melinda definitely wasn’t on the list.“Melinda?” I repeated slowly. My grip on the phone tightened slightly as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.“Yeah… hi.”Her voice sounded nervous. Not fake nervous either — the real kind. The kind people use when they aren’t sure how a conversation is going to go.I sat up on the bed fully, rubbing the back of my neck.“Well,” I said lightly, “this is unexpected.”“I know,” she sighed. “I’ve been meaning to call you since the party but I wasn’t sure if you’d even want to talk to me.”“Why are you calling?” I asked, trying to keep my voice normal by faking a cough.“I just… wanted to check on you,” she said quietly then hesitated for a second. “Because of what happened.”Ah. That.I leaned back against the headboard. “You mean the punch?”“Ezran, I’m really sorry about that,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have invited those idiots. If I had k

CHAPTER NINETEEN — WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE?

EZRAN’S POVSunday lunch in the Banks house was always controlled. Not chaotic like dinner or rushed like breakfast.Everyone sat in their assigned places like we were part of some carefully arranged display. Plates and cutlery were set perfectly. Conversations were barely whispered.I hated it. I hated the fact that we couldn't have a lively discussion over lunch.I leaned back slightly in my chair, tapping my fork lightly against the plate, watching the way the sunlight filtered through the tall windows.Mom sat beside Robert, speaking softly about something I wasn’t listening to. Jeanne was half-focused on her phone. Charlyn was picking at her food like she had no real interest in being here. And Lucian? He just sat across from me. Straight-backed, composed and silent. Like always. His attention was on his food. Even his movements were precise and controlled. “Geez,” I muttered under my breath.“What?” Jeanne whispered.“Nothing.” I exhaled slowly and sat up properly.Alright. Le

CHAPTER TWENTY — DO YOU WANT ME TO PUNISH YOU?

The wind hit my face first. Cool, fresh and unexpected.For a moment I just stood there, frozen in the doorway, my brain struggling to process what I was looking at. Then I stepped forward slowly.The staircase had led to a rooftop. But not just any rooftop, this was a garden. A real one.Not the perfectly trimmed decorative lawns downstairs or the symmetrical hedges lining the estate. This place felt different — older, softer, almost like it had been built for someone who loved silence more than appearance.Stone tiles stretched beneath my feet, warmed by the sun. Along the edges of the rooftop sat large planters overflowing with greenery that had grown slightly wild over time.Lavender, rosemary, climbing ivy curling around a low stone arch and spices.Someone had once taken great care of this place, but it had clearly been a while since anyone visited.A few dry leaves scattered across the ground. Some vines had grown longer than they should have. The wood of a nearby bench had fade

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