Contained. Like this was a spill. Like this wasn’t years of resentment detonating in the middle of the house.
“Thank you,” Archie replied.
We climbed the stairs without looking back.
But halfway up, I glanced down.
Edward stood alone in the wreckage — glass glittering at his feet, shoulders tense, staring at nothing.
The battlefield hadn’t cooled.
It had just moved.
And as Archie’s hand tightened around mine, I knew whatever cracked open downstairs wasn’t done breaking yet.
Chapter
Thirty
FRANKIE
Frankie
The door to Archie’s room closed behind us with a quiet, final click. The house below still felt like it was vibrating. Or maybe that was me.
The sudden quiet seemed almost louder than the shouting.
Tory slipped in first from the sitting room attached to Archie’s room, her tail high like she owned the place. Tiddles barreled past her, immediately leaping onto the low platform steps that led to Archie’s bed. Tabby followed more cautiously, eyes wide, ears alert.
They didn’t care about shouting, arguments or shattered glass downstairs.
They cared that we were here. They also seemed utterly at home in here, which was a little unexpected. Had they been sneaking in here? And Archie? He didn’t even blink. If anything, something in his eyes softened for half a second when he saw them make themselves comfortable in his space.
Ourspace.
His room was massive. Bigger than my entire apartment used to be. It had always intimidated me a little — dark wood, slate gray walls, the bed elevated on that platform like itbelonged on a stage. Two shallow steps up. A seating area off to one side. Doors that led to his private bath and dressing room. It wasn’t just a bedroom.
It was a suite.
His kingdom, even with his game room being down the hall, it was right there. And right now it felt like a bunker.
We’d come home reckless, frisky, and heated. And now it was different. The mood had been beaten, then dragged behind a reckless vehicle racing away out of control, before being taken out back and shot.
I stopped near the foot of the steps leading up to his bed.
Archie didn’t.
He climbed them slowly, then turned and looked down at me.
He wasn’t cold anymore. He wasn’t smooth. He just looked… strained.
“Come here,” he said quietly. The need filling his eyes had me moving before he even finished speaking.
I stepped up.
Tory immediately claimed the corner of the bed. Tiddles flopped dramatically near the pillows like he’d been personally wronged by the downstairs drama. Tabby circled once and settled near Archie’s thigh.
He didn’t push them away.
