SOLD TO AUGUST CHILDE のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

CAMILLAThe whole day felt like walking on broken glass after that call with Gianna.It didn’t matter that the sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows or that the penthouse smelled like fresh linen and lemon cleaner. It didn’t matter that Ama had made breakfast and left it warming on the counter. None of it softened the way Monty’s voice kept looping in my head.Sharp. Bitter. Like he was standing right behind me, whispering all the things I’d tried to forget.I moved through the morning in pieces. Half-present. Half somewhere else. I showered but barely remembered it. I changed clothes twice before giving up and pulling one of August’s hoodies over my head, the fabric heavy and too big, sleeves swallowing my hands. It smelled like him. That almost made it worse.Monty had every right to be angry. I knew that. I’d disappeared without a word. One day I was there, sharing cigarettes, talking about how we were going to get out of South Nighthaven someday. The next, I was go

AUGUSTShe pushed the door open so slowly I almost didn’t hear it.I kept my head in my hands, elbows planted on my knees, fingers digging into my hair like that might keep the world steady. The pills Ama had given me were starting to dull the sharpest edges of the storm in my head, but the anger was still there. It hummed under my skin like a live wire that hadn’t decided whether to spark or burn the whole house down.I heard her before I saw her.Not a sound exactly. More like the air shifting. The faint scent of vanilla and soap drifting into the room. It mixed with my cologne, the one she had started wearing by accident because she kept stealing my shirts.“Hey,” she said softly.I lifted my head.Our eyes met.She stood in the doorway wearing one of my old hoodie, the dark fabric swallowing her small frame. The sleeves were rolled to her elbows. The hem brushed the tops of her thighs when she moved. Bare legs. Bare feet against the hardwood floor.Her hair looked like she had dra

MONTYTwo days had passed since I sent Camilla that message demanding the ten thousand, and the girl had the nerve to tell me to go ahead and post the pictures. Then she blocked me. Actually blocked me.I sat in the back room of Rico’s club with my phone in my hand, staring at the empty chat like it owed me money.The room smelled like cheap whiskey and stale perfume. The bass from the main floor thumped through the walls in a slow, irritating rhythm. Normally the noise didn’t bother me. Tonight it made my head pound.I tapped the screen again even though I already knew what I would see. Her profile picture was gone. I scoffed under my breath and tossed the phone onto the table.Truth was, I didn’t even have the damn pictures anymore.My phone got smashed a month ago by one of the new girls who caught me with two others in the VIP bathroom. She had gone completely insane. Started screaming about side chicks and respect like we were in some kind of relationship.Next thing I knew she

AUGUSTThe second the door flew open, Taylor charged in like a missile wearing pearls.“You bastard. How dare you?”She didn’t pause long enough for anyone to breathe. Her eyes locked immediately on Camilla standing behind me, and something ugly flashed across her face. Fury. Jealousy. Possession.Before I could react, she lunged.Her fingers twisted into Camilla’s hair and yanked hard.Camilla gasped, stumbling forward with the sudden force.For a split second the world tilted.One moment I had been standing in the warm light of the penthouse. The next moment I was watching my fiancée try to rip the hair out of the woman who had somehow become the center of my thoughts.Time snapped back into motion.My hand shot forward and clamped around Taylor’s wrist like iron.“Let her go.”Taylor snarled, twisting toward me, nails scraping against my arm as she tried to wrench free.“Get off me! Let me at her!”Camilla still wasn’t fighting back.That was the part that made something inside my

CAMILLAI went upstairs the moment August saw his ‘guest’ out. I didn’t wait around to hear the door close. I didn’t even look back. My feet carried me straight to the bedroom like something was chasing me, and in a way, something was. The truth.I shut the door behind me and stood there for a second, staring at nothing.My mind felt blank and loud at the same time.How the hell did I forget?How did I actually forget that this man had a fiancée?The thought slammed into me again and my chest tightened. I pressed my lips together and let out a shaky breath.The fucking irony.Of course I would start falling for a man who already belonged to someone else.Of course.The moment I reached the middle of the room, my legs gave out. I sank straight to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. My fingers clasped together tightly as I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees, my head dropping into my hands.Shit.Everything about the past few weeks rushed through my head at once.