And yet, why did I care? Why did it feel like something inside me was tearing, splitting into jagged halves that could never be stitched back?
I had no right. No claim. He had never been mine to lose. And still, the hollowness spread, blooming wide and merciless in my chest.
Would he ever look at me like that? Would he ever breathe my name like a prayer instead of a command? Would he ever drown in me the way his boyish eyes drowned in her?
No. The answer was no. And I hated myself for asking.
I hated the jealousy burning through me, ugly and desperate. I hated the envy I felt for a girl I didn’t know, a girl who had already been immortalized in his memories while I… What was I?
A fleeting distraction.
A shadow pressed against his walls.
A secret he could throw away whenever he pleased.
The photographs blurred as tears finally slid, hot and merciless down my cheeks. I wanted to tear them apart, to shred them until her smile was gone and his gaze erased. I wanted to destroy her, erase her existence from his story so there could be space left for me.
But even in that desire, the truth suffocated me.
He had already chosen once. And it hadn’t been me.
I wiped my tears furiously, scolding myself, whisperingfoolish girlin my head. So very foolish. I pushed thephotographs back into their coffin of wood and closed the lid as though it might silence the wound inside me too. I gathered myself, stood on my shaky legs and stared at the box.
Was this my end? Was I not… enough? But why did I want to be enough for him? He killed Adrian, so why?
I turned, desperate to escape before my shame drowned me completely and a scream escaped me instead.
All air left my lungs as I stumbled back and stared wide-eyed at the door.
Leaning casually against the frame, arms folded across his chest, dressed in a dark grey suit with a lighter shirt beneath. The scar bisected his expressions, hiding him as it always did. Making him unreadable. But the weight of his gaze, I felt it pierce straight through me.
My knees went weak. Words tumbled out. “I… I didn’t mean to… I was just looking for… I got lost, I swear, I didn’t know…”
He straightened. My pulse thundered.
“Are you satisfied?”
Silence cracked open between us. My lips trembled. “I.. I was searching for…”
“You were,” he stepped closer and I took one back. “You’ve been scratching at doors that were never meant for your world.”
My mouth dried. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
I knew he’d punish me. How was he home so much sooner than I expected? Why didn’t I hear his footsteps?
“You meant,” he cut in. his tone was strangely calmer. “Do not insult me with your stammering.”
Heat surged in my cheeks, shame curling my spine. I wanted to vanish into the floor, to erase the evidence of my trespass. “I was only curious…”
“Curiosity,” he said, now close enough that I could smell the faint trace of sandalwood and steel on his suit, “is the first betrayal. You forget whose house you walk through. Whose silence feeds you. You think there are no consequences?”
I swallowed hard. “Will you punish me?”
His eyes narrowed. Before I could take a step back, he reached out, caught my wrist, and dragged me closer. My body crashed against the wall of his chest. My breath stuttered, his hand tilted my chin upward, forcing my eyes into his as his raked down my flimsy sheer robe.
“I should,” he murmured as my breasts pressed against him, and the fabric faltered. His eyes caught the motion, and they darkened. “I should teach you what happens to those who dig where they do not belong.”
Tears burned the corners of my eyes. I could not speak. His gaze held me captive, burning with something I could not decipher.
