“Not until you tell me. I’ve been wondering for a long time,” I slur, looking up at his beautiful face again. “Is it something bad, is that it?” I ask, frowning.
I hear him sigh, and then I feel a hand brush a hair away from my face. “Don’t look at me like that,Soreya. You’ll make me tell the truth.”
I’m about to interrogate him some more, but I feel myself slowly succumbing to the exhaustion tugging at my eyelids. Kai’s lingering gaze is the last thing I see before I am overtaken by peaceful darkness.
***
The first thing I notice when I wake is the pounding in my skull. A dull, merciless drumbeat that makes me regret every single sip from last night. My mouth is dry, my limbs heavy, and when I blink at the ceiling, it takes a second too long for the world to steady.
Hungover. Badly.
I roll onto my side, groaning, and reach for my phone on the nightstand. The screen nearly blinds me, but I squint through it anyway.
Eight missed calls from Lilia. Five from Bea. One from Kym.
A few messages from Naomi and Sam.
A stab of guilt twists through me. I don’t even think about it—I just start typing, thumbs clumsy, sending off quick reassurances.I’m fine. I’m safe. I’ll explain later.Lies, half-truths.
By the time I put on the new clothes and pair of new shoes that someone has left for me, and drag myself downstairs, the smell of food makes my stomach turn and my head throb harder. Still, I find myself at the dining table, if you can call it that. It’s ridiculously long and has two high-backed chairs standing at either end like thrones.
How Kai eats here, I’ll never understand. Everyone feels miles apart.
Christian sits across from me, finally home, and Elliot is next to him with Kai at the head, recounting everything that happened last night.
I don’t bother listening in.
I stare at my plate of eggs, perfectly cooked, and nudge them with my fork before forcing the food into my mouth.
When Kai finishes, the silence that follows is thick. Christian turns toward me, wide-eyed, his expression halfway between shock and disbelief.
I muster a tight smile. It only makes him frown harder.
My gaze drops instantly back to the eggs. Safer to focus on the yolk bleeding under my fork than the weight of Christian’s stare.
“Adeline.”
My head snaps up. Kai’s looking at me, and it’s that intense stare of his that slightly intimidates me. “You should probably know—”
The words cut off as movement catches in the corner of my vision.
The air shifts.
I turn just as Gabriel Steele gracefully steps into the room. His eyes sweep across the space with ease before they finally, to my great dismay, land on me.
For a fraction of a second, his mask slips. Shock flickers in those pale eyes, gone almost before I can register it. His expression smooths back into perfection, the sharp lines of his face settling into something unreadable, impenetrable.
It’s enough to make the back of my neck prickle.
“You’re early,” Kai says, his voice breaking the silence.
“Change of plans,” Gabriel replies smoothly, though his gaze doesn’t move from me. “It seems the house is… busier than I expected.”
The way he saysbusiermakes my stomach twist. It’s polite, yes, but beneath it is something else. Something I make no attempt to identify since it’s most likely nothing good.
Finally, he tears his gaze away and moves toward the far end of the table. His steps are measured, his posture impeccable, until he lowers himself into the high-backed chair opposite Kai.
Gabriel steeples his hands in front of him. “We’ll need to finalize the preparations for next week.”
