The rest of the day dragged on, my thoughts endlessly looping around the text from dad and my reply to him. I was in my Chemistry class, staring at the equations on the whiteboard, but none of them made sense. Covalent bonds, molecular structures—I usually enjoyed this part of the class, but today, the words blurred into one another, and I could barely concentrate. I found myself doodling mindlessly on the corner of my notebook, my mind somewhere else entirely. The professor's voice became background noise as I replayed that message over and over in my head. ‘Come live with me in London. It’s time we talk. Stop being a gold digger.’ The initial texts sounded like something straight out of a formal letter, not a father reaching out to his daughter after years of silence, and the end was something fathers with sound mind shouldn't ever tell their daughters. He hadn’t called or messaged in so long, not since I blocked his old number after one too many hurtful arguments. So why no
The drive back home was steeped in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Dev seemed to understand, as he always did, that I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I appreciated his ability to read the room. His hands stayed steady on the wheel, and he didn’t make any attempts to break the silence with idle conversation. I just watched the world blur past through the window, the late evening sky turning a deeper shade of indigo and pink. My mind swirled with fragmented thoughts—about the past, and memories from London. By the time we pulled into the driveway, the house loomed larger and grander in front of me. My chest tightened slightly, noticing the money it must have taken Derek to build the house for his family. He was a rich businessman with lots of wealth and name all around the country. The house spoke of money, but there was something oddly comforting about the house too, as if its walls held an unspoken promise that no matter what, things would settle down in time.When we walked ins
The words didn’t register at first. My brain struggled to process what he was saying. ‘An accident?’ I blinked, staring at him as if waiting for some sort of clarification, but none came. All I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears, muffling the room around me, warping everything into an echo. The furniture, the walls, everything seemed to blur as I stared blankly at Caspian, waiting for him to correct himself, to explain that it wasn’t what I thought. That it wasn’t as bad as it sounded.‘Dad... in an accident? But how? How? What accident?” my mind latched onto the last text I had received from him, just a few hours ago. He was fine. He was fine the whole time as he kept sending me all those nasty messages. I remembered staring at my phone earlier, his messages still fresh. There wasn’t a hint of trouble or danger. He was okay then, so how could everything change in just a few hours? “What?” I finally managed, my voice barely above a whisper. The word came out strangled, as
The weight of everything bore down on me as I stood in that room, surrounded by faces that looked at me with concern and sympathy, but I felt utterly alone. The rush of emotions—fear, anger, guilt—swirled inside me, making it hard to breathe. I was furious at my dad for everything he'd put me through, for the cruel words, for abandoning me, and yet the thought of him lying there, possibly dying, filled me with a kind of dread that swallowed every other feeling. “Do you… need water?” Harry asked standing next to me, cutting the awkward silence. “Or anything?” “No, thank you. I am fine,” I replied, trying not to get annoyed at him. “I don't need anything right.” “You are not fine, Kat.” He was sincere with his words but I didn't like the way he was looking at me. “What happened with your father is bad, I understand, but you need to look after yourself too.” “I'm not the one in the hospital. I'm doing perfectly fine here.” “Okay, Harry stop,” Dev said, trying to hold back the
MomThe caller ID read and I stared at the screen, my heart pounding louder than the ringing of the phone. My fingers were shaking and eyes burning from crying. The word ‘Mom’ flashed in front of my eyes, a reminder of the past that I could never escape. I hesitated for a second before picking it up, feeling a mix of confusion and dread. The last thing I wanted right now was more tension, but I knew I couldn't escape it. My throat tightened as I pressed the answer button, barely able to speak. “Hello?” I said, pressing the phone to my ear. My voice came out weaker than I intended. “Katherine,” my mom’s voice came through, soft at first. It was different—less cold than I remembered. There was a slight tremble, as if she was unsure of what she was going to say. “Derek told me about your dad. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”Her tone was surprisingly gentle, and for a brief moment, I felt a flicker of comfort. Maybe, just maybe, this conversation wouldn’t spiral into something
The plane hummed quietly beneath us as we soared through the night sky. The world outside the window was shrouded in darkness, just like my thoughts, with only the faint twinkling of stars to remind me that there was still life out there, somewhere. I stared out the small window, but my mind was far away from the present—lost in a sea of tangled thoughts and distant memories. “Don't worry, everything is going to be absolutely fine,” Lucas tried to convince me. He was sitting on the seat next to me, holding my hand in his hand. “I talked to dad before boarding the plane. Robert was out of the operation theatre. He is doing okay. He will probably be awake by the time we reach London.” “I know, mom texted me earlier,” I said quietly, letting him hold my hand. I needed some human contact to remind me I wasn't alone. He sighed as I continued, “I just… I need to see him with my own eyes to convince my heart that he is really fine.” “I understand,” Lucas said, sinking into his seat to
The car sped through the dimly lit streets of London, rain gently pattering against the windows. The city I once knew, with its familiar landmarks and winding roads, had transformed. It felt like a distant memory, a place that had once been home but now felt like a foreign place. I pressed my face to the window, the fog of my breath misting the glass as I watched the blur of lights and shadows pass by. Beside me, Lucas stretched his arms over his head, groaning softly as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. “How long was I out?” he mumbled, still half-asleep. “The whole flight,” I said, smirking. “You didn’t miss much, though. We just flew across an ocean.” Lucas chuckled, his laughter lightening the tension in the car for a brief moment. He turned to Caspian, who was seated on my other side, his expression unreadable. “You get any sleep?” Lucas asked, clumsily moving to sit properly. Caspian shrugged, his gaze still focused out the window. “Just a little,” he said quietly. His
Hours later, I found myself sitting in a chair outside the ICU, the cold sterility of the hospital seeping into my bones. The exhaustion had finally caught up with me, my body heavy, my mind weighed down by the swirl of emotions and sleepless hours. The low hum of hospital equipment and the occasional shuffle of nurses seemed to meld with the soft buzz of fluorescent lights overhead.“Miss, you need anything to eat?” Simon asked as the sun started to peek through the horizon. Caspian sat next to me, his posture stiff but eyes closed, as if he were trying to rest but couldn’t truly relax. His hands were folded neatly in his lap, and though his face was expressionless, I could see the tension in his shoulders. I shook my head, “No, I'm fine, I am not hungry. I ate on my way to the airport in the States.” “Okay.” Lucas was on the other side of Caspian, flipping through a magazine, though I knew he wasn’t really reading it. His foot tapped lightly on the floor in an unspoken rhythm, a
I didn’t want to talk about the Salvatore family with Cami. It was too depressing to have that conversation with her. I didn't want to talk to her about Alaric, or about my mother, not about Derek lying in the hospital while his sons tried to salvage the mess he unknowingly helped create.For once, I just wanted to talk about myself.And—more specifically—I wanted to talk about Caspian.“So, let me get this straight.” Cami’s voice was clear through the speaker, cutting through the quiet of my dimly lit bedroom. “You like Caspian?”I groaned, rolling onto my stomach and burying my face in my pillow for a second before lifting it again. “God, don’t say it like that. I didn't mean it like that. I meant there are things that have happened, and he has done things that made me feel weird.”“Like what? The true feeling you've been hiding for months?” She let out a breathless laugh. “Kat, this is huge. You’ve been dodging relationships for years, and now you’re telling me you have actual fee
Alaric knew something.That much was clear the moment he stepped into the dining room, his presence wrapped around the air like a noose, slowly tightening around all of us. His sharp, assessing gaze skimmed over the table, taking in our frozen postures and the lingering tension that none of us could shake off.Then, as if he hadn’t just walked into a room full of people on the brink of plotting his downfall, he smiled. A slow, knowing, chilling smile appeared to scare us. “Why does it look like someone just died?” he mused, his voice was light and easy, but there was something underneath it—something taunting, something dangerous.Nobody answered.I could feel the tension radiating from Caspian beside me, the way Lucas’s fingers tightened around his fork, and the barely restrained scoff from Dev.Alaric didn’t seem to mind the silence. He strolled forward with unhurried confidence, like a predator stepping into a den of prey. Pulling out the chair next to Leo, he sat down, completely
Dinner had never been that quiet. Not in the Salvatore house. The long dining table was filled with plates of steaming food—pasta, grilled chicken, and fresh bread—but no one seemed interested in eating. They were thinking about something, and while their hands moved mechanically I knew they wanted to know what was the important thing Caspian wanted to talk about. He told them that he had something important he wanted to share with them after the dinner. And I guess he shouldn't have shared that much information with the others before because the others were still thinking about it, trying to figure out what it might be. Ian already had a small idea, yet he could feel the tension in the room. As a result, he was very uncomfortable. I could see it in his eyes. The room was dimly lit, with the chandelier above us casting soft, golden light over the strained faces. Unlike other days, even Leo didn't fuss about the food or ask for dessert with the meal. And that's when I realise
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dried and felt like sandpaper when I tried to swallow the lump forming in my throat. I wasn’t sure about my own emotions, about what to feel—relief, panic, guilt? Maybe all of them at once, or maybe none. Mom had looked at me when I was coming downstairs to help Dev with the dinner, her expression was unreadable. Yet, I knew what was going on inside her head. She must have been afraid of what kind of person wouldn't be in this situation. I asked her what happened or if she needed help with something, and she simply said, “I don’t care what happens to me. As long as you’re safe, I'm willing to do anything in the world. You might not trust me right now, but believe me, my words are true. And I'm going to show it tomorrow.” I hadn’t known how to respond when she was being that open with her thoughts. I should have said something, anything, but I didn't. I couldn't find the right words to say, and thinking about it now, I guess it wouldn't have ma
“So, when are we going to tell the other about what is going on in the family?” I asked the two brothers who still looked conflicted. “If mom confesses tomorrow, their life will be in danger too. If Alaric finds out, he will take it out on whoever he finds.” Caspian and Lucas shared a secret look but told us nothing about it. I was sitting at the kitchen island, my fingers were wrapped around the cool ceramic of my untouched water glass. While, my mind was elsewhere—spinning, twisting, trying to make sense of everything we were about to do. But worse were the fears associated with our every move. That was the reason I wasn't speaking much because I was afraid my fears and what-ifs would slip out mistakenly in normal conversations. And I knew it would only damper their mood, so I heard them instead and tried to be positive about our little mission. “She's right. At this point I think we need to tell the others,” Dev said, stirring a simmering pot of pasta sauce. “This morning t
The room was much quieter after my mom had left. It had been more than an hour since she was gone. Yet, the heavy air of her decision lingered in the room that surrounded us, entering my brain through my nostrils. I couldn't stop thinking about it because it felt like an invisible force that had a huge surprise for everyone in the house. I still wasn’t sure if I believed her—if I could afford to believe her. I didn't know where I stood with her; sometimes, I had been acting like the best daughter in the world, while other times I felt as if she was my biggest enemy. I couldn't figure out how to act around her. Even though she had agreed to confess and that was ‘something not to look over’ according to Caspian, I couldn't bring myself to trust her completely. I knew I could have trusted her more when she told Derek the truth, but I couldn't help but think it was one of her other elaborate plans. “A woman can get anything if she wants it enough... anything.” Her words from years
“My brothers are crazy,” Caspian followed after when my eyes found his. “They have done some of the wildest things on the planet, and don't even let me start with Leo. He's the definition of cringe and intrusive thoughts.” “Yeah, that I know,” I agreed with him about Leo, because he had done some of the wildest things. However, after Ian disappeared on his birthday, Leo got a little serious about the things around him. “There's a lot more.” The way he said that made me think about what he meant by it. There was an undertone of some sort that I couldn't place, but it wasn't anything positive. The way he said that, it felt darker and chilling. “Well, I'd love to know more about you brothers than,” I said, hoping he would get the hint and will talk about himself then. ‘What are you trying to do?’ My brain questioned and I stopped myself from continuing, realizing that I was flirting with him. “You got time,” he said taking a seat on my bed and looked at the famed picture of me with
The air outside was cold and comforting, just walking outside through the entrance made me feel much at loose than I had been the whole day. A soft breeze carried the faint scent of the forest that surrounded the Salvatores’ estate, and moisture that brought me relief. The sky was covered with dark clouds and looked like it was going to rain soon. I was almost waiting for the rain, hoping to see the forest come to live. I was walking beside Caspian. I could feel the tension from the meeting still sitting heavily on Caspian's shoulders. Lucas was following closely behind us, his brows were still furrowed in deep thought, while Dev walked a few steps in front of us with Matthew. As we reached the driveway, Matthew paused. His shiny black Mercedes was waiting for him, the driver was inside. Matthew turned to face us, his demeanour was as calm and professional as ever. He had the same aura around him that at the beginning, I saw around Caspian. “I’ll wait for your call,” he said, his
Caspian’s office had turned into the Salvatore family's war room over the past few weeks. It was a room that once felt intimidating—lined with tall bookshelves, mahogany furniture, dark leather chairs, and the history it contained of me and Caspian. Now, it was a place where heavy discussions were taking place, to reach decisions that could alter the family’s fate. I was sitting in the corner of the room, feeling like an intruder in their world of business and law. Yet, as I watched Lucas and Caspian argue over the papers spread across the desk, I realized I wasn’t exactly an outsider anymore. I was part of the mess, whether I liked it or not.Matthew, the Salvatores’ lawyer, sat across from me. He was calm and collected despite the storm brewing in the room, trying to hear both sides. His neatly pressed suit and calm demeanour gave him an air of professionalism that felt out of place amidst the storm of words. Dev was pacing near the window, his hands were shoved deep into his po