LOGINChapter 51: The Call~zella POV ~"Hey, girlie...""Finally!" Brynn's face filled my screen, pixelated for a second before clearing. She was in her car, sunlight catching the gold in her hair. "I've been trying to reach you all day. How are you feeling? The drug thing—did it mess you up? Are you okay?""I'm fine," I said, and I was surprised at how easily the lie came. "Really. No lasting effects. I'm completely fine.""Good. That's good. I was so worried." She shifted the phone, getting more comfortable against her car seat. "Are you still mad at me? For not telling you about Cole and Dara? I know I apologized, but I've been thinking about it constantly. I just... I didn't want to ruin your happiness.""It's fine," I said, and I meant it. "That's in the past now. We're good.""Thank you for forgiving me," she said, and I could hear the relief in her voice. "I hate that I kept that from you. I hate that I chose silence."If she only knew what I was doing now."So, what about Callum?"
Chapter 50: Moving ForwardI was still staring at my phone when the knock came.I knew before I opened the door that it was him. I'd recognize his knock anywhere now, deliberate, patient, the knock of someone who has nowhere else to be.He was holding flowers. Roses, mostly, with white peonies mixed in. The same flowers he'd put in my bath. Behind him was a small gift bag, silver, with a ribbon."Come in," I said.He did, and he handed me the flowers like they were something fragile, like I was something fragile."I might not be sure about my feelings yet," he said, his voice steady in a way that made me understand he'd rehearsed this, "but I know this: I promise I won't hurt you. I'd appreciate it if you let us continue. Let us figure this out together."I took the flowers. I held them against my chest like they could shield me from what was coming."I promise to be faithful with you," he continued. "Sincere with you. Real with you. No games. No calculations. Just us trying to unders
Chapter 49: What She Knows~zella pov~"I'm not sure if this is love yet," he said quietly. "But I've forgotten how to love. What I know is that I want you. I've never wanted anyone like this. Not in years."I went very still.He was waiting for me to respond, but the words wouldn't come. I didn't know what to say to that. I didn't know if that was enough. I didn't even know if I had the right to ask for more.I stood up from his lap."I have something to do in my place," I said. "I need to go."He didn't try to stop me. He just watched me leave, and I felt the weight of his gaze following me as I walked out of the penthouse and back into the apartment that he owned but I was supposed to live in.The moment I closed the door, it crashed down on me. The reality. The choice sitting in front of me like something I had to either accept or walk away from.I sat on the edge of my bed and thought about what love actually was.---With Cole, I'd been sure. I'd felt it so completely that I'd b
Chapter 48: What He Knows~ Evander POV ~I was on my laptop in the sitting room when she walked through the door.I didn't look up immediately, there were emails, correspondence, the usual demands of a life that felt increasingly irrelevant but I felt her the moment she entered. That was the thing that had been happening for weeks now: my entire nervous system registered her presence before my conscious mind caught up. After ten years of solitude, after a decade of being completely self-sufficient and untethered, I'd forgotten what it felt like to have someone matter that much.And then she'd walked into my life soaking wet on a London street, and I'd remembered everything I'd spent ten years trying to forget.I closed the laptop without finishing the email and watched her move toward me. Something had happened. Something had shifted. I could read it in the way she held herself, that wariness, that specific tension that hadn't been there this morning when I'd kissed her forehead and
Chapter 47: Questions and Confessions~zella Pov ~I woke to find him watching me.He was sitting in the chair by the window, fully dressed in a dark sweater, and the moment my eyes opened he stood. The morning light caught the grey in his hair, making him look distinguished, patient and completely in control. There was something in his expression that looked almost vulnerable, like he'd been waiting for this exact moment, like my waking mattered to him in a way that went beyond possession or claim."Morning, little trouble," he said.The endearment felt different in daylight. Gentler somehow. More real. Less like a command and more like genuine affection.I jolted up, suddenly aware of time slipping away. "Wait... what time is it?""Eight-thirty. Sunday morning."I stared at him in disbelief. "I fell asleep around noon yesterday. That's..." I did the math in my head, the numbers not adding up correctly. "That's
Chapter 46: Princess Treatment.~ Zella Pov ~He carried me to the bathroom like I weighed nothing.My legs were unsteady, my body aching in places I was becoming intimately familiar with, my mind still fuzzy from what had just happened against the wall. I should have felt self-conscious about being carried like this, naked and marked and completely exposed.Instead, I felt claimed.The bathroom door opened and I stopped breathing.He'd prepared a bath.Not just a bath, a statement. The tub was filled with water that steamed gently, and floating across the surface were flowers. Roses, mostly, in shades of deep red and blush pink. White peonies. Something delicate that I couldn't name. Candles lined the edges of the tub, their flames casting everything in soft gold light. The air smelled like jasmine and something floral and expensive, the kind of scent that came from candles that cost money.When did he prepare
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR : Alone~Zella Pov ~I came out of my room at eight and he was already there.Of course he was.Coffee made, phone in hand, the same grey shirt from.... I stopped that thought immediately. I crossed to the counter, poured myself a cup a
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE : His Room~Zella's POV~His room was darker than mine.That was the first thing I noticed, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE : His Room~Zella's POV~His room was darker than mine.That was the first thing I noticed.The cur
CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Date~Zella's POV~"Absolutely not," I said."Absolutely yes," Brynn said."Brynn...""His name is Felix, he's lovely, he has all his teeth, and you're going." She picked up her wine glass with the finality of someone who had
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Puffy Eyes and Dinner~Zella's POV~I didn't stop to think.The moment I heard Brynn's voice outside the door I was off the counter and across the kitchen and down the hall and into my room with the door closed behind me before I had finished deci







