I don’t let him finish.
Footsteps echo from the hallway—sharp, confident, unmistakably familiar. My aunt’s voice follows, clipped and irritated.
Panic flashes through me..
No. Not now. Not here. If she sees me…
Adrenaline surges.
I shove Damian with both hands. Hard.
He stumbles back, shock flaring across his features just long enough for me to bolt past him and out the door.
I sprint down the hallway, heart pounding like a war drum, not daring to look behind me. I burst into the elevator, slamming the button so hard my finger throbs. The doors begin to close just as I hear my aunt’s voice slicing through the air.
I don’t breathe until the elevator drops, carrying me away from all of them.
By the timeI reach Caden’s penthouse, my lungs hurt from holding back sobs I refuse to let loose. My hands shake as I unlock the door.
Inside, the apartment is quiet except for the low murmur of Caden’s voice drifting from the living room. He’s on the phone—deep, authoritative, the tone I’ve come to recognize he uses when negotiating with someone important.
I take two steps inside.
He turns.
The second his eyes land on me, his sentence falters. Then it stops completely.
“—I’ll call you back,” he says abruptly and lowers the phone.
His expression shifts—concern first, then something darker, sharper. Protective.
He moves toward me slowly, like approaching a wounded animal.
“Hey,” he murmurs gently. “Honey, what happened?”
That one word—honey—is my undoing.
My lips part, but the only sound that escapes is a ragged breath.
His jaw clenches, eyes scanning my face as if searching for bruises, threats, answers. “What did they do to you?” he asks, voice low and dangerous.
And just like that, the walls I’ve been holding up all day collapse.
I break.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CADEN
I’ve seen her scared before.
Years ago, when her sister first slipped into that coma and the doctors stopped pretending optimism wasn’t the same thing as lies. Back then she’d shake, quietly, like she didn’t want anyone to notice how much of her world was cracking under her feet.
But this?—
This is different.
This is fear sharpened into something raw.
