Would again.
I closed the balcony door with shaking hands, turning the lock with a click that sounded too loud in the silence. Then I leaned against it, forehead pressed to the cool glass, trying to breathe through the panic.
I wanted to tell my father. God, how badly I wanted to tell him. But what would I say?Dad, your son—the one you abandoned in a boarding school for over a decade and cut all ties with—kissed me when I was sixteen, and I kissed him back because I didn’t know we were related, and now he has it on video, and he’s using it to blackmail me.
My father would look at me with those cold green eyes and ask why I’d let it happen. Why I’d been so careless. Why I couldn’t have just been smarter, more careful, less naive.
And then Sebastian would leak the video anyway, and everyone would see. Everyone would know. They’d call me a freak, a pervert, the girl who made out with her half-brother. Never mind that I didn’t know. Never mind that the moment I found out, I’d thrown up until there was nothing left in my stomach. Never mind that I’d been sixteen and stupid, and Sebastian had been charming and said all the right things.
None of that would matter.
All that would matter was the video. The proof. The evidence that I was exactly the kind of person people whispered about and pitied and judged.
And Kirill—
I shoved the thought away before it could finish forming. It didn’t matter what Kirill would think. Didn’t matter that the idea of him seeing that video, of him knowing the truth, made me want to crawl out of my skin. He already thought the worst of me. This would just confirm it.
My phone buzzed in my hand, startling me. I looked down at the screen through tear-blurred vision.
Hailey:Barbara Elizabeth Davis, you better respond in the next 5 minutes or I’m coming over there myself.
Cassandra:She’s serious. She’s already got her keys.
Despite everything, a watery laugh escaped me. That was so Hailey, bulldozing through problems like a freight train. Partof me wanted to let her come. Wanted to open the door and fall apart in front of people who actually cared, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Not when I hadn’t even begun to figure out how to fix this mess.
I typed back with trembling fingers:
Me:I’m fine. Just been dealing with family stuff. Sebastian’s being Sebastian. I’ll call you tomorrow, promise.
Hailey:You better. Love you, bitch.
Cassandra:We’re here if you need us. Always.
I locked the phone and set it on my nightstand, then sank onto my bed. The silk sheets were cool against my skin, expensive and soft and absolutely meaningless. What good was money when you couldn’t buy your way out of your own nightmare?
My eyes caught on the mirror across the room. Even in the dim moonlight, I could see myself—pale skin, tangled hair, shadows under my eyes that makeup couldn’t fully hide. And though they’d faded by now, I could almost see the bruises littering my shoulders if I closed my eyes.
Dark purple marks in the shape of fingers—Sebastian’s fingers from a few weeks ago, when he shoved me against the hallway wall, grabbed my arm hard enough to make me gasp, and pulled out the gun, his favorite prop for making sure I understood exactly how serious he was.
They never really went out of mind. The bruises had faded, but the memory of how I got them stayed sharp and clear.
I needed to warn him. Needed to tell him about Kirill, about the new security system, about how the cameras were no longer under my control. If Sebastian showed up thinking he could waltz in like he used to….
My fingers found my phone again, opening a new message.
Me:The entire security system has been replaced. Bratva tech guy installed it. Military-grade. I can’t tamper with it anymore. You need to stay away.
I hit send before I could overthink it, then added:
Me:He changed everything—software, hardware, protocols. There are no more blind spots. No more loops. It’s too dangerous now.
Maybe that would scare him. Maybe knowing that Bratva was involved, that their systems couldn’t be hacked by some YouTube tutorial I’d learned, would be enough to make him back off. Find another target. Leave me alone.
The phone rang before I could even set it down.
Sebastian.
Of course.
