The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the warmth surrounding me. The weight of an arm draped over my waist, the steady rise and fall of a chest against my back. For a moment, I didn’t move, letting the reality of where I was, who I was with, sink in. Lucas. The memory of the night before hit me all at once. The way his hands had touched me, the way his eyes never left mine, full of that burning intensity I could still feel on my skin. I swallowed hard, trying to shake off the sensations that now lingered like ghosts, haunting my every thought, making me smile. I opened my eyes, staring at the soft morning light filtering through the curtains, but I wasn’t ready to face him. I wasn’t ready to confront what had happened between us, or worse—what it meant for our future. And my place in the family. My heart raced with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. “Uhh... You awake?” I felt him shift behind me, his body moving closer, pulling me into him. “Yeah, I just wok
“We need to talk, sweetheart.” “Talk about what?” I questioned, staring at Caspian to figure out what he told dad. “What were you guys talking about?” “Your dad will tell you that,” Caspian said standing up. “It's important you listen to your dad and try to understand.” “Understand what?” Lucas questioned, a little harsher and a little louder than anyone should speak in a hospital. “Calm down, Lucas.” Caspian walked towards us, and I turned to face dad. He pulled a pillow from the side to put it behind his back. “I need to talk to Kat, alone. So, if you two don't mind.” “Yeah, of course,” Caspian agreed but Lucas didn't. He groaned and added. “No, we can't leave her alone with him.” “Leave,” She said, keeping her eyes fixed on the man on the bed. “He is my dad; I will be fine.” “Come on,” Caspian took the reluctant Lucas out of the room and that made me question what happened before I came to the room. The quiet hum of the hospital room settled around us after
The sting of the slap still tingled on my hand, a pulse of heat that almost matched the rapid beat of my heart. I watched Harry stumble back, his face twisted in shock, and for the first time, I felt an ounce of power over him—a rare satisfaction that made me want to do it all over again. He straightened, his gaze flickering between me and my father, and I knew he was scrambling to regain control. His face shifted from shock to anger, a bitter sneer forming on his lips. “You are not going to tell her anything, Robert? You need to control her,” he hissed, his eyes sharp and accusatory as they darted back to my father.Dad looked at him, his expression softening with something I hadn’t seen from him in a long time—a quiet but determined resolve. “Harry, please leave us. I told her.” As those words left his mouth, I could see the change in Harry's expression. “She knows that it was you who made me send those texts.” Harry’s face twisted, and for a moment, I thought he might argue. Bu
The car ride to the mansion was quiet, the three of us sitting with our own thoughts. Simon hummed to himself as he drove. Lucas was scrolling through his phone, but Caspian was the one who caught my attention. He seemed withdrawn, almost like he was lost in thought, and every now and then, I’d catch him glancing my way, his brow furrowed, but he’d quickly look away if our eyes met. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. As we drove through the massive iron gates, to enter the property, Simon gave a quick nod to one of the guards. “The security’s new here,” he informed me, a small smile tugging at his lips. “After Harry had a little fight with one of the guards, he had your dad fire the entire company.” I raised an eyebrow. “Harry fired an entire security team over a fight with one guard?” Simon chuckled, though there was a hint of discomfort in it. “He does things like that often. Had the whole mansion redecorated too, almost everything changed to fit his… vision.” "Almost everyt
Dinner in the mansion was quieter than I’d expected, a steady, almost awkward calm settling over the table. Margaret had prepared a beautiful spread of roasted vegetables, grilled fish, and bowls of mashed potatoes that looked almost too fluffy to be real.The clink of silverware against plates filled the silence, and I focused on slicing into my food to keep from looking too much at anyone else. My mind kept drifting back to my dad, lying alone in a hospital room. Alone, except for Harry.After a while, Margaret’s warm voice broke through the quiet. “Harry mentioned he’d be staying at the hospital tonight,” she said, finishing off a final pour of wine before setting the bottle down. “He asked me to tell you, so that you won't worry about Robert for the night.”I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, my appetite instantly evaporating. “Why does he need to stay the night? It’s not like…” I trailed off, biting my lip to keep from saying too much. I glanced around the table, knowing my re
I woke up with a groan, feeling like I’d barely slept. The unfamiliar weight of the London morning settled over me, pressing down even more heavily than the first day in Spring Falls. I rubbed my eyes, blinking at the light peeking through the heavy curtains, and reached for my phone on the nightstand. A few missed calls from Mom flashed on the screen, each missed call only adding to the unease churning in my stomach. I knew she wanted to check in, probably just to make sure I was fine, but right now, I didn’t want to talk. I tossed the phone aside and dragged myself out of bed. The bathroom was sprawling, with high ceilings and intricate tiles that must have cost a fortune. However, it all felt hollow to the memories I had of the place. The house echoed with a silence that reminded me of our family, when we were happy, when my parents loved each other, or at least pretended to love each other. I pushed that thought away and turned on the shower, letting the water steam up the
I blinked at him in disbelief. “You’re leaving already? But I thought you’d be around for at least a few more days.”Lucas shrugged, his smile fading slightly. “Plans changed. Dad called, we need to take care of some business stuff in Washington. Besides, we didn’t want to overstay our welcome, especially with all the… drama.” He glanced at Margaret, who was now quietly sipping her coffee, a knowing look on her face. “Sorry for the poor choice of word.” “Right,” I said slowly, trying to process this sudden shift. “And here I was thinking I’d get to spend more time with you two.”“It won't be long,” Lucas assured me, trying to lighten the mood. “Your dad will be out of hospital in a few days. You can fly back after that.” My heart sank a little at the thought of leaving dad so soon, but I told him that I leave when he is out of hospital. “Yeah, I remember,” I replied, though the excitement didn’t quite reach my voice.Margaret sensed the shift and jumped in. “You boys should stay fo
As I walked down the hospital corridor, a sense of determination steadied my nerves. I didn’t want the visit to be one where I felt pushed aside by Harry’s constant presence, his critical gaze always lingering, silently disapproving. I was determined to see dad on my own terms. Carrying the bag of food I and Margaret had carefully prepared, I focused on keeping my smile bright and my emotions in check.As I approached dad’s room, however, my hope wavered. Through the small window in the door, I could see Harry seated by his bedside, leaning forward, speaking with him in that familiar, smug tone. And the moment he saw me walk in, his eyes darkened, and his face soured, the easy warmth he’d worn melting into a look of irritation.“Hey, sweetheart!” Dad greeted me with a wide smile, one that softened the lines of age on his face. For him, I pushed away the anger brewing inside my heart and plastered on my best happy face as I walked further into the room. But Harry’s gaze was relentles
The sky was cloudless, the bright light of the moon covered the Salvatore property. We just had dinner, and it wasn't like the regular Salvatore family dinner. It hasn't been so ever since we returned to the mansion. Lucas was in Chicago, meeting with some of the investors whereas Caspian had himself locked in his room. Mom was back in Texas, and the twins went to their grandparents (mother's parents). We were all scattered, and the frustration over the situation was torturing us. The news about the Salvatores reached my dad in London and he had been calling and texting me constantly. He wanted me to leave them and come back to London. I almost laughed when he suggested that, but I controlled myself and told him that I would pay a visit soon.He wasn't satisfied with the answer, so I reminded him that I was an adult and he couldn't force me to leave. That shut him up for the moment, and I hung up the phone soon after. He had been texting me ever since, apologizing and asking me if
The Salvatore mansion didn't feel like home anymore.As I walked through the mansion once again, I felt the same way I did the first time—cold and out of place. The strange environment loomed around me, and with each step I took inside, I sensed a profound emptiness, the lingering ghosts of everything that had happened. Perhaps we changed while we were in the safe house, or maybe it was the mansion that had endured too much destruction in a very short period of time. The mansion was still recovering from the nightmares, and the gloom was maybe its way of narrating the pain. Not long ago secrets had been unraveled, trusts were shattered between the family members, and blood was spilled in the very entrance hall I was standing inside. In just a month, it was just a house again—not a home like it used to be. The brothers felt the changes, too; it was apparent on their faces. They could hear the silence everywhere inside the house, and the winds of winter that seemed to fill every corn
Caspian barely slept in a week and it was showing. None of us really got any sleep, but it was a little different with Caspian. The lack of sleep wasn't the only reason for the permanent exhaustion in his eyes like us, it was the weight of everything he was letting press down on him—crushing him, consuming his thoughts. It had been a whole week since the news about Derek's involvement in the money laundering was aired all across the country. Everything had only gotten worse after that. The Salvatore name was plastered across every news outlet—big or small. Everyone had their own take on the case, be it the editors of the Washington Post or The New York Times, anchors from CNN or Fox News, and even the social media influencers who were reporting the controversy in the hope of getting views and likes.In no time it became one of the biggest scandals in recent times. And Caspian being the oldest, took it all upon himself. Although we knew it was the politicians and businessmen whose
The main purpose of us getting a safe house was to be safe, but the FBI made it feel anything but safe for us. The air inside the house felt suffocating to me, thick with an unspoken fear that we all felt, but none of us dared to voice. In the last three days, the FBI has visited us five times. The first day they took statements from us and collected evidence—the standard protocol—nothing more than that. We thought it was all, but Caspian warned us that it was just the beginning, and just like he said, they came back once again. This time they took our individual statements and cross-examined us. Since we were already prepared with our answers, nothing felt out of the ordinary. However, I noticed the way some of the officers were looking at us. They knew we were hiding something, but they had no proof. Caspian made sure that everything in the house was how it was supposed to be after Derek left. It was their sixth visit that day. The FBI agents sat across from us in the living ro
They weren’t kissing, but they were about to, I was sure of that. Matthew called just a few seconds ago, to update on the situation. It wasn't looking good for us and we needed to plan our next move. I went into the room Dev was staying to call them both so that we could discuss the problem and try to come up with a solution together. However, I didn't expect to catch them just as they were about to kiss. I saw the way Dev hesitated and pulled away from Kat when I pushed the door open, the way Kat looked utterly lost as if she didn’t know how to process what had just happened between them. I was heartbroken by that but hid my feelings because it wasn't the right time to have that conversation. Instead, I focused on my brother and noticed the slight flush on his face. His fingers were twitching at his sides like he was debating whether to reach for her again or not. And Kat… she was frozen. It looked like she hadn’t yet decided if what happened was a mistake or not.And for a secon
Kat was never mine to fall for, to hold, to kiss, or to even dream about. She was in love with Caspian even if she didn't realize it herself, or was too afraid to accept the truth. Everyone in the house knew it, and I tried to convince myself the same thing a thousand times, that she wasn’t mine to love, that she had never been mine. The moments that we shared together were the prize for the good deeds I'd done in my life. There couldn't be any other reason for someone as beautiful as her to be interested in someone like me. Someone who is predictable, obsessed with things that don't matter, and lacks any social skills. I had nothing to offer her and I knew I was just another fool caught in her gravity, nothing more. It wasn't her fault or mine, it's just the universe forcing the likes of me to orbit around her. Each one of us was attracted by her warmth and kindness at first but couldn't break free after because leaving her meant spending eons in darkness. In her heart, there ha
Silence filled the room as Lucas finally exhaled and nodded in agreement with Caspian. “I don’t like this plan,” he admitted truthfully, rubbing his temples. I knew it was a hard decision for him because he did blame Derek for the things that were happening to the family. And neither of us could disagree with him. We knew he was right, but the actual issue was Derek's safety. “But… I don’t want Dad in prison with Alaric either. You are right, Alaric would make friends inside if he didn't already have one.”“Not just Alaric, the politicians and businessmen whose names are on the list would also try to have Dad killed,” Harry added, scratching his head. “You know the legal system of our country, one can pay to get anything done. We have to find a solution for them too.”“True, they are going to be troublesome in the future,” Neel agreed with Harry, bringing another pressing matter in front of our eyes. They made many new enemies in order to get rid of Alaric from their lives. “We have
By the time we arrived at the safe house, exhaustion and anxiety had settled deep into my bones. The thing we dreaded for so long finally happened and there was no taking it back. Mom confessed, Matthew showed the cops a file about money laundering and fake charities and officially lodged a complaint against Alaric. We did everything we could have done, there wasn't anything else in our hand. It was now on the cops and Matthew to move things forward. All we could do was wait for the things to unfold and hope they would go how we wanted them, and not in the opposite direction. The drive from the police station had been quiet, aside from Caspian’s occasional instructions about what needed to be done next. It was the same old thing, but I knew he was terrified and needed to say it, so I played along and kept nodding my head whenever he looked at me. My mom was in the back seat, staring out of the window, lost in her own thoughts after everything that had transpired that morning. Even
Before I could wrap my head around it all, the car stopped and we were in the parking lot of the police station. It was nothing like I expected. The inside was sterile, buzzing with incoherent movement. Officers moved briskly through the halls with a serious expression on their faces. Not a smile or light-hearted conversations like they showed in those TV shows. Phones rang in the background, and the permanent smell of coffee and printer ink lingered in the air.We approached the front desk, where a uniformed officer looked up at us. She was middle-aged, and her dark brown hair was tied in a tight bun. Her eyes flicked over the three of us before settling on my mom.“Can I help you?” she asked, trying not to come off as intermediating, seeing the fear in mom's eyes. “I-I need to speak with Sergeant Grayson,” she was able to speak out. “It’s about Derek Salvatore’s case. It's important and quite urgent.”The officer’s eyes sharpened slightly, but she nodded her head. “Do you have an