CHAPTER 5

Viola spent the rest of the day hiding in her tiny bedroom.

She didn't go down for lunch, and she skipped dinner entirely. She just sat on the edge of her bed, her knees pulled tight to her chest, waiting. She expected her mother to burst through the door at any second. She expected to be dragged to the dark storage rooms and punished for eavesdropping.

But no one came.

He had caught her sneaking, but he hadn't told her mother.

Viola couldn't understand why. Why would he keep her secret? He clearly didn't care about her. But no matter how hard she tried to make sense of it, her mind kept looping back to the forbidden name.

Diego.

She remembered the way Sebastian’s posture had snapped. She remembered the lethal, murderous energy radiating off his massive frame. Whoever Diego was, the mere mention of his name had almost pushed her stepbrother to kill his own father.

By 2:00 AM, the estate was dead silent, but Viola’s mind was still racing. The walls of her small bedroom felt like they were closing in. Her chest was tight with anxiety, and her stomach cramped with hunger. She needed air.

Slowly, she slipped out of her room.

She walked softly down the long, dark corridor toward the east wing. There was a large, open balcony at the end of the hall that overlooked the gardens, usually abandoned at this hour. She stayed close to the wall, her bare feet making absolutely no sound against the marble.

As she neared the balcony, the faint, quiet sound of a soft gasp stopped her in her tracks.

Viola froze.

A woman? The thought panicked her. The gasp sounded breathless, almost like someone was in pain. Her first instinct was to turn around and run straight back to her bedroom, but what if someone was in danger?

Swallowing her fear, Viola tiptoed closer, inching toward the stone archway of the balcony. She peeked around the edge, her violet eyes adjusting to the dark.

The blood instantly drained from her face.

No one was in danger.

A beautiful woman in a deep green dress had her back pressed flush against the stone wall. Sebastian’s massive frame had her completely pinned. The woman’s bare legs were wrapped tightly around his narrow waist, her hands desperately gripping the dark, messy hair at the back of his head.

Viola’s feet froze to the floor.

Sebastian was kissing her with a brutal, consuming dominance. His broad chest pressed heavily against her, his mouth eating at hers before dragging open-mouthed kisses down the long column of her neck. The woman let out another breathless, needy moan, throwing her head back against the stone.

A violent rush of blood burned Viola's ears and cheeks. Her face went completely hot. She was a virgin. She had never been kissed, and she had certainly never seen anything this explicit and deeply intimate in her entire life. She knew she needed to look away, but the sheer physical tension of the scene paralyzed her completely.

Suddenly, the beautiful woman’s eyes fluttered open.

Her gaze drifted over Sebastian’s broad shoulder and locked directly onto Viola hiding in the archway.

The woman stopped moaning. She pulled back slightly, a look of pure amusement crossing her flushed face.

"Well, well," the woman said softly, a smile in her voice. "Who is this little mouse?"

Sebastian stopped.

He didn't let the woman go, but he slowly turned his head, looking over his broad shoulder. His striking amber eyes pierced through the dark, landing directly on Viola.

His hair was a messy ruin. His jaw was tense. Slowly, a dark smirk played on his lips. He let his gaze drag up and down her completely frozen, terrified form.

"Enjoying the show, dulzura?" his rough voice murmured in the quiet night.

Viola’s face went up in flames.

"I—I—" she stuttered, her voice cracking in pure humiliation. "I'm sorry, I was just—"

She couldn't even finish the sentence. She ripped herself away from the archway and ran for her life.

She sprinted blindly down the dark corridors, the sound of her own panicked heartbeat roaring in her ears. She threw herself into her bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it.

Viola practically dove onto her bed, grabbing her pillow and pressing it tightly over her face as a silent, humiliated scream tore from her throat.

Why didn't I run sooner? she shrieked in her mind, her entire body burning with embarrassment. Why did I just stand there? She hadn't wanted to stare, but her legs had felt glued to the floor. Now he knew she had seen them. She was never going to be able to look him in the eye again.

If her mother ever found out she had witnessed something like that, Octavia would actually kill her.

***

For an entire week, Viola treated Sebastian like a ghost.

She actively avoided any room he might be in. If she heard his heavy footsteps in a hallway, she turned around and walked the other way. At dinner, she kept her eyes glued to her plate, completely refusing to look up.

But on Sunday evening, avoiding him became impossible.

Rafael had ordered the entire family to gather in the main drawing room. When Viola quietly slipped in, keeping her head down, the suffocating tension was already thick in the air.

Sebastian was sitting on one of the large leather sofas in the center of the room. He was wearing a dark black shirt—Viola absently thought black must be his favorite color, since he was always wearing it—with the top three buttons left undone, revealing the sharp lines of his collarbone. His dark hair was messy, a cigarette resting lazily between his lips. He sat like a king, his legs spread, looking completely unbothered.

To Viola’s complete shock, Rafael actually looked happy.

It was a cold, restrained kind of happiness, but he was practically glowing with victory as he stood by the fireplace.

"I have gathered you all here to share some excellent news," Rafael announced, his gravelly voice carrying easily across the room. "Finally, my son has agreed to fulfill his duties."

Viola glanced up nervously from her corner.

"Sebastian is officially shifting his base to this estate," Rafael continued, a triumphant gleam in his dark eyes. "He is taking over his rightful position as the head of the Spanish families. We are throwing a celebration next week to announce it to the cartel."

Vanessa gasped, a bright, calculating smile lighting up her flawless face. "Oh, my god! Congratulations, Sebastian!"

Octavia immediately chimed in, her tone sweet and polished. "This is wonderful news. The Hierro name will finally be exactly where it belongs."

Viola stayed completely silent, pressing her back against the wall, trying to disappear into the wallpaper.

He was moving in. Officially. The man who terrified her, the man who fascinated her, the man she had caught doing that on the balcony... was going to be living under the exact same roof, permanently.

She swallowed hard, her chest tightening with panic.

Slowly, carefully, she let her gaze drift toward the sofa.

His striking amber eyes locked directly onto the quiet, terrified girl hiding in the corner. He took a slow drag of his cigarette, watching her through the smoke.

"Does having me here permanently terrify you?" his deep, rough voice suddenly cut across the room, completely ignoring Vanessa's smiling face.

The entire room went dead silent.

Vanessa’s bright smile vanished instantly. Octavia stiffened in absolute shock, her eyes darting between the cartel boss and her unwanted daughter. Even Rafael frowned, utterly confused.

Viola stopped breathing. The blood completely drained from her face as every single furious, shocked stare in the room snapped directly to her.

Sebastian just sat there, waiting for his little rabbit to answer.