All Chapters of His Ruin: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

DrisanaI woke up to the feeling of something wrong. My second phone was on the nightstand exactly where I left it, but Kwame’s DM sat at the very top of the message list. No new text. Just his name staring back at me.That can only mean one thing. He had sent something. But it was gone. My stomach twisted. Only one person could have deleted it.I glanced at Rian. He was still asleep, or pretending to be, one arm draped possessively over my waist like he had the right to hold me even in his dreams.I slipped out of bed carefully and went to the bathroom. I locked the door behind me. Opened the chat with Kwame.Nothing. The message had been wiped clean. There was nothing in his DM. All of the old messages have been deleted too. How dare he go through my phone behind my back? My hands started shaking. I stormed out of the bathroom. Rian was sitting up in bed now, watching me with those calm gray eyes.“Did you touch my phone?” I demanded.He tilted his head slightly. “Good morning t

DrisanaI locked the door behind Rian and leaned against it, listening until his footsteps disappeared down the hallway.The apartment fell silent. I slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor, knees pulled tight to my chest. The quiet pressed in on me from all sides.I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The way he had looked at me earlier today. Soft. Like I was something he wanted to keep safe. Nobody had ever looked at me like that. Not Carter with his fake charm. Not my father with his cold calculations. Not even the people who were supposed to love me.That look should have terrified me. It did. But the fear wasn’t sharp enough to make me run.What scared me more was the thought of when all of this ended. When the twelve weeks were over, we went back to our separate lives. I would go back to being the golden daughter, traded and managed like an asset. He would go back to… whatever he really was. Whatever monster lived behind those calm gray eyes.I pressed my palm to my c

Drisana The apartment smelled like blood and soap.I sat on the edge of the bed with my knees pulled to my chest, staring at the spot on the floor where Carter had been lying just hours ago. The blood was gone now. Rian had cleaned it up without a word, but I could still see the dark stain in my mind. The way Carter’s body had jerked when the chair came down. The way Rian’s face had stayed completely calm while he did it.Like it was nothing.Like he had done it before. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I pressed them between my thighs and tried to breathe normally, but every inhale felt too sharp, too loud in the quiet studio. The nightlight by the door cast long shadows across the walls. The one bed felt too big and too small at the same time.Rian was in the bathroom again. The shower had been running for almost twenty minutes. I could hear the water hitting the tiles, steady and relentless. I wondered if he was washing off more blood and how many times he had done this before.The

Drisana I froze. I knew that laugh. I knew it too well.Sloane.Rian was still on his knees between my legs, mouth glistening, fingers buried deep inside me. My hand flew up to cover my mouth, trying to muffle the shaky breaths I couldn’t control.Rian went completely still. He looked up at me.“What’s wrong?” he whispered.“It’s Sloane,” I breathed, barely audible. “She’s here. In the store.”Outside, we could hear Sloane’s voice getting louder, arguing playfully with a staff member about something. She was heading straight toward the dressing rooms.The curtain rustled. Sloane’s hand reached for it.“Stay calm,” Rian murmured against my thigh. Then he rose smoothly to his feet, zipping himself up and stepping out of the dressing room before I could stop him. “Why the fuck are you trying to open the curtain?”I heard Sloane’s voice falter.“Oh… hi. Sorry, I thought I saw someone who looked exactly like my best friend go in here. I was just trying to check if it was her. We haven’t

Drisana I locked the bathroom door and leaned against it. My heart was still racing. For a long moment, I simply stood there, staring at my reflection in the mirror.What was wrong with me?The image staring back looked just as confused as I felt. I had hugged him on my own. The memory made my stomach twist.Armani's expression after mentioning his mother flashed through my mind.The sadness in his eyes. The loneliness. The way his voice had changed when he spoke about her. Before I knew what I was doing, I had crossed the room and wrapped my arms around him.Then he had hugged me back.My cheeks burned. I could still remember how tightly he'd held me. How his arms had wrapped around me like he never wanted to let go. How he buried his face against my neck.The memory sent a strange shiver through me. I should have pulled away. Instead, I stayed there.For several seconds, neither of us moved. I remembered the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek. The way his breathing changed