Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN : Just Once More~Zella's POV~The penthouse was too quiet and the night was too long and I had known within approximately twenty minutes of Brynn leaving that staying in my room was not going to work.I tried. I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling and scrolled through my phone without absorbing anything on the screen and rearranged my pillow three times and had the internal conversation about the agreement again, which was becoming less convincing every time I had it. The quiet kept pressing in from the edges. His footsteps had gone still somewhere down the hall and that was almost worse than hearing them, the not knowing where he was, the awareness that the penthouse contained exactly two people and one of them was me and the other one was the reason the agreement existed in the first place.At some point my stomach made a completely reasonable biological complaint that had nothing to do with anything else, and I picked up my phone and ordered food because at lea

Last Updated : 2026-05-07

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE : Two Days~Zella's POV~The television was not on.That was the first thing Brynn would notice if she looked at it, which she was going to, because Brynn noticed everything, which was one of her best qualities and currently her most inconvenient one. I was sitting on the sofa staring at a blank screen with the specific energy of someone who had been watching it for the past twenty minutes and found it absolutely riveting, which was not a convincing performance even by my own standards.Evander was in the armchair. Completely composed. Shirt settled, hair slightly less settled than usual, which I was not going to think about and expression doing absolutely nothing that could be considered evidence of anything. He was looking at his glass like a man with no history and no secrets and no reason whatsoever to feel the way the room currently felt.Brynn stood in the doorway and looked between us."Why does it feel weird in here?" she said again."It doesn't feel weird," I

Last Updated : 2026-05-07

Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN : The Day Before~Zella's POV~I had barely put my coffee down, the same one Evander had made, still warm, which I was not going to read anything into before Brynn started moving.Drawers opening. Music turning on. The unmistakable sound of someone committing to being awake whether they felt like it or not.I sat on the edge of my bed for a moment longer than necessary, staring at nothing in particular and thinking about the fact that I had already had one conversation this morning that I didn't know what to do with. Two days. I exhaled, stood up, and went back to the kitchen for a refill because if today was going to be whatever it was going to be I was going to need more than one cup.“Get dressed,” she said, pointing at me with a piece of toast. “We’re going shopping.” "It's eight thirty.""The shops open at nine.""Brynn.""New Year's Eve is tomorrow and I refuse to wear something I already own. Get dressed.""I have things I already own.""Yes and I've seen them

Last Updated : 2026-05-07

Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN : New Year's Eve~Zella's POV~Brynn knocked on my door at five o'clock with the energy of someone who had made a decision and was not entertaining second thoughts about it."Get up," she said. "We're getting ready together."I was already sitting on the bed in my robe staring at the green dress hanging on the wardrobe door like it had done something to me personally, which in a way it had, because every time I looked at it I thought about the changing room and 'she already knows' and the eighteen inches on the sofa and 'no, I'm not.'"I'm up," I said.She came in anyway, sat on the bed beside me, looked at the dress, looked at me, and said "you're going to look incredible tonight" with the specific warmth of someone who meant it about more than just the dress.I looked at her. She was already halfway through her makeup, one eye done, the other bare, which on Brynn looked intentional rather than unfinished. She had the particular brightness of someone who had made a t

Last Updated : 2026-05-07

Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN : New Year~Zella's POV~The penthouse was very quiet.Outside Paris was doing what Paris did on New Year's Eve, being dramatic about it, lights and noise and the particular energy of a city that took celebration seriously and had the architecture to match. Inside there was just the sound of Brynn's door and then nothing.Evander was looking at the door.I was looking at him looking at the door.Neither of us spoke for a moment. Then he moved toward it and I followed without being asked, stopping at the doorframe while he knocked. Three times. Quiet, not demanding.A pause. Then the door opened slightly. Brynn, still in her black dress, mascara telling a story her face was trying not to, looking at her father with the expression of someone who had cried a little and was going to absolutely not admit it."Hey," she said."Hey." He looked at her. "Can I come in?"She opened the door wider.I stayed at the doorframe. Close enough. Far enough. The witness rather than the

Last Updated : 2026-05-07

All Chapters of WHERE SIN FEELS LIKE HOME: Chapter 11 - Chapter 15

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15