Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 61 - Chapitre 70

Silas POVOctavia’s car had barely cleared the gate when I shut the front door. I kept my hand on the handle for a moment and watched through the narrow glass panel beside it. The guards remained at their posts, and Marcus stood near the driveway, speaking into his phone. No one moved toward the road until Octavia’s vehicle vanished from sight.The house settled into silence, but the argument still hung over the room. Octavia had come in furious and left with a promise that Hazel would regret standing between us. I had heard threats before. Hers carried enough money and spite to make them dangerous.Leo came out of the study and stopped beside the stairs.“You should have let me deal with her.”“She came here for Hazel.”“And you nearly lost control.”I turned from the door. “She threatened my sister.”Leo’s jaw tightened. “I heard her. That does not mean you should have given her what she wanted.”“What did she want?”“A reaction. She wanted Hazel to see you angry and start fearing y

Silas povLeo answered on the fourth ring.“Where are you?”“Home.”“Is Hazel with you?”“Yes.”“Is Silas there?”I glanced at Hazel. She still held my wrist with both hands while I kept the phone against my ear.“Put him on speaker,” Leo said.“I’m here,” I replied.“Did you see anyone outside?”“Someone passed the gate.”“Did they stop?”“No.”“Did you follow them?”“I stayed with Hazel.”There was a pause on the line.Leo knew me well enough to understand what I had wanted to do.“Good,” he said. “Stay inside. I’m coming over.”“You were already supposed to be coming over.”“I know.”Hazel released my wrist and stepped away from me. “Is he all right?”“He’s coming here.”“Did something happen to him?”“Nothing that he has explained.”She folded her arms across her chest. “Silas.”“I’m calling Marcus.”“You said Leo was coming.”“Leo is coming. Marcus is checking the note.”Hazel held my gaze for several seconds, then reached for the paper in my hand. “Give it to me.”I passed it ov

Maya povI reached the university before Hazel, though I had promised myself I would wait until she arrived before worrying. The promise lasted less than five minutes. I checked the entrance, the road, and the steps leading toward the library while holding my phone in one hand and my bag in the other.Hazel had sent me a message before sunrise.**I’m coming to class.**That was all she had written.I had replied three times, asking whether Silas was taking her and whether she had slept. She had answered the second question with a question mark, then stopped replying.When she finally walked through the entrance, her bag hung from one shoulder, and she kept her phone close to her body. She did not rush, but she watched the people passing around her, expecting one of them to call her name.I went to her.“You came,” I said.“You told me to.”“I told you to stay home if you felt unsafe.”“I did not feel safe there either.”I took her bag before she could object and carried it for her. “D

Octavia povSilas’s mother kept me waiting for thirty-seven minutes.I counted every one of them because she had never made me wait before. Whenever I visited, someone took my coat, brought tea, and led me into the sitting room while she finished whatever business occupied her. Today, the housekeeper had taken my coat and left me alone with a cup I had no desire to touch.I sat on the edge of the sofa and studied the family photographs arranged on the table beside me. Silas appeared in four of them. He was younger in the first one, standing beside his mother during a formal dinner. In another, he had one arm around Leo while both men faced the camera with dirt on their clothes.I remembered the day that picture had been taken. Silas and Leo had returned from a trip without explaining where they had gone. One of Silas’s knuckles had been split open, and Leo had carried a bag no one else was allowed to touch.Silas had refused to speak to me that evening.He had never wanted me near the

Silas I knew Hazel was planning to leave before I opened the bedroom door.Her suitcase sat on the bed with clothes spread across the mattress, the chair, and the floor. Some pieces had been folded carefully. Others had been pushed into the case without any care at all. One shoe rested on top of a sweater, while the other sat near the desk with no sign of its pair.Her inhaler had been placed in the front pocket, wrapped inside a soft shirt.Hazel pressed both hands against the suitcase, trying to pull the zip closed. The sweater kept rising through the gap.“Move,” she muttered.The sweater refused.I leaned against the doorframe. “Threatening it will not make it smaller.”Hazel turned her head. “You could help instead of standing there.”“I was waiting to see whether the sweater would win.”“It has already survived living with you.”“I am offended on behalf of the sweater.”She pulled the zip again. It opened beneath her hand, and a pair of jeans fell onto the floor.I walked into