As breakfast wrapped up, the tension in the room lingered like a dark cloud. Caspian had returned to his usual self, teasing Neel while Dev avoided looking at me altogether. But it was Lucas who had me on edge. He didn’t say much after his quiet request to talk, and now, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his head. I tried to act normal, helping Caspian finish plating the food, but my mind was racing. I glanced at Lucas again, his eyes following me with a seriousness that I wasn’t used to. Something was definitely off. Once the kitchen cleared, Lucas stepped closer, his voice low but firm. “Let’s go. We need to talk.” His tone sent a shiver down my spine. This wasn’t the playful Lucas who had always been so lighthearted with me. This was someone else—someone serious, maybe even angry. I followed him down the hallway, my stomach twisting with every step. He led me into the room before the entrance hall, the one in which I'd only seen Ian playing video games. Ho
I couldn’t breathe. Lucas’s words circled in my head, spinning faster and faster, creating a storm of confusion, pain, and anger. Caspian—the one who had shown me a side of myself I hadn’t even known existed—was using me. Using me to hurt his brother. I couldn’t process it. It was as if everything I thought I understood about my place in this family, my relationships with the brothers, had just crumbled beneath my feet. And worse? I had let it happen. My eyes blurred with tears as I sat there, sinking deeper into the beanbag. My entire body felt like it was imploding, my heart twisting and pounding in my chest, squeezing tighter with each breath. I tried to make sense of it and tried to rationalize why Caspian would do something so cruel. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. Caspian wasn't the man Lucas was trying to paint him to be. Lucas’s presence loomed over me, and I knew he was watching, waiting for me to say something—anything—but I couldn’t find the words. It wa
The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating. Caspian stood just inside my room, his eyes locked on mine, unreadable. He always had that way about him—calm and composed, like nothing could touch him. But now?Now, there was something more. Something deeper, lurking beneath the surface, and I couldn’t tell if it was anger, guilt, or something else entirely.I couldn't read him yet. Things would have been much easier if I could just read him.“Kat,” he said softly, his voice breaking through the thick silence in the room. “What is going on? What did you and Lucas talk about?”The calmness in his tone was almost unsettling. I had expected him to be colder, to deny what Lucas had told me—or worse, confirm it with the kind of casual cruelty that Lucas had warned me about. But instead, Caspian just stood there, like he wasn’t sure what was going on. I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but my heart was pounding in my chest. I clenched my fists and decided that I couldn
Neel’s text vibrated through my phone, snapping me out of my thoughts as I stared blankly at the ceiling. My body still felt heavy, weighed down by the emotional rollercoaster of the morning. Caspian and Lucas—both had a different story about themself and the other person. I was still trying to make sense of it all. To think over all the things to understand who was right. I grabbed my phone and glanced at the message.Neel: Leaving for college. Do you need a ride?I checked the time and sighed. I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. Shaking off the lingering confusion from the morning’s conversation with Caspian, I shot back a quick reply.Me: Yeah, I’m almost ready. Give me two minutes.I tossed my phone onto the bed and headed straight for the bathroom. Splashing cold water on my face, I stared at my reflection. My skin looked pale, and my eyes were still puffy from all the crying. I grabbed some concealer, patting it under my eyes to hide the puffiness, and swiped on a bit of
Standing outside the university building, I found myself reaching for my phone, half-tempted to call Camilia. Part of me wanted to spill everything about last night and the morning—the mess with Caspian, Lucas, and how I’d been caught in their complicated history. Camilia would have understood; she always knew how to make things feel simpler, somehow. But just as quickly as the idea came, I pushed it away. I realised that it wouldn't be fair to dump another issue on her, especially when I didn’t even know how to put my feelings into words. Sighing, I tucked my phone back into the bag and headed to my next class of the day: Art. It was an elective, something I’d chosen on a whim, and the walk there felt like the perfect distraction. The art building was on the far side of campus, half-hidden by a row of tall trees, almost like it was its own little world. By the time I reached the door, I could already feel some of the tension easing. Art and Literature had that effect on
“Okay everyone, we will stop here today,” the professor said looking around the room. “We will continue again in the next class. Write your student ID at the bottom of your canvas and leave it here.” “We can't take it home?” O.G. questioned, cleaning his fingers with tissue paper. “I kind of like what I've created, might sell it online.” The class laughed, I couldn't stop myself either at the bluntness with which he said that. His painting was also nothing special, it looked like what most of us have created, but the colour contrast made it stand out among the others. It was very bright and fluid, with definite black strokes. It looked beautiful. “Not today,” the professor answered. She came to look at his painting and looked impressed. “They need to dry. I'll put them away safely when they are dried. You all can leave.” Everyone started collecting the materials they had brought to put back on the shelves. Neel took pictures of both of our canvases despite my protest
“No, you can't hold yourself responsible for what others feel. That's stupid, Kat.” The words hung in the air between us, and for a long moment, Dev just looked at me, his expression open, soft. There was a kind of gentleness in his gaze, a patience that made me feel like something scratched my heart. For all the times I had been pulled in one direction or another swept up in Lucas’s magnetism or Caspian’s quiet intimidation, here was Dev—solid and steady, a place where I didn’t have to choose sides or overthink what he was feeling. “How can you be so understanding about it?” I finally asked, almost in awe. “It’s like… nothing fazes you. I don't think I've met someone like you before in my life.” He smiled, but it was a faint, almost sad sort of smile. “It’s not that I’m unshakeable, Kat. But sometimes, I think we get so wrapped up in the noises in our head that we forget to see what’s right in front of us.” “I don't think I could ever be like that,” I accepted because I
I glanced over at him, seeing the quiet wisdom in his expression, the gentle way he moved through the world without letting the noise in his head consume him. There was something calming about watching Dev work. Every movement was deliberate and steady, as though he’d found some peace in the simplicity of planting seeds and getting his hands dirty. He didn’t need the drama or intensity; he didn’t need anything other than what was right in front of him. “Maybe you’re right,” I said, pressing another seedling into the earth. “I’ve been so caught up in trying to figure everyone out that I forgot to think about what I actually want. It’s like… I keep getting wrapped up in all the things I don’t know, all the things I’m trying to understand about other people, but I haven’t stopped to listen to myself.” Dev paused, glancing over at me with a hint of a smile. “And what is it you want, Miss Katherine?” I smiled at the way he ended his sentence. It was like a therapist talking with t
It had been more than a year since Caspian confessed his feelings to me, and life was finally finding a sense of normalcy. Derek was safe, though he remained permanently in hiding. The Salvatores had not only survived the disaster but had emerged stronger than before. The PR team had worked wonders in reshaping their image, and those who had attempted to bring them down for their own gain were now behind bars. The money laundering case was no longer casting shadows over their name, it was a thing of the past. The FBI cleared their name from any involvement in the money laundering—the world saw them as victims of their dad's actions. The business was doing good; Caspian joined the company, while on the other side, our relationship got pretty strong. We found a balance that allowed us to grow separately as well, because I moved into an apartment with my mom, helping her build a new life for herself. Meanwhile, Caspian remained at the mansion with his brothers. They asked me to stay,
I was always good at fixing things, maybe because I was broken from the inside and knew I couldn't be fixed. I became a lawyer to help my family, to help my brothers. I thought if I knew the ways of law and legal system, I could use it to my advantage, to protect them in any way needed. Yet, it had been more than a month and I was still fighting a battle with no end in sight. I gave up on too many things in my life, thinking I never deserved them. There was always a reason to hold myself back from being truly happy, about something or with someone. There were these little voices in my head that would make me question everything. For years, they had been silent, but ever since I learned the truth about Dad's involvement in the money laundering, they came back. ‘How could you let yourself be happy when your brothers are in trouble?’‘How could you be that selfish?’I couldn't rub my love for Kat on my brothers' faces, especially when most of them wanted her, too. It was not fair to
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 c
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