(Kira’s POV)
___________
When I opened my eyes the next morning, the first thing I could feel was the familiar weight on my chest. For the last couple of nights, I had been waking up beside Lena and I knew just how she loved cuddling and I had gotten used to the feeling. I shifted in the bed, moving up a little as I wanted to get a better look at her.
Like , she was fully naked. She had her head nestled over my breasts, her eyes were closed in peaceful sleep and one of her legs was draped across my thighs. It made smile, it showed that deep down, she wasn’t as mad at as she was making it out to be.
After our intense encounter last night—after I’d pulled her into the bedroom with more need than tenderness—she’d made her displeasure known in a way colder than any scream could’ve been.
She didn’t yell. She didn’t argue.
She just... shut down.
Silent. Detached. Her eyes, once warm and open to , were unreadable now—like dark windows into a room I was no longer allowed inside.
She refused to speak another word, even when I tried to break the silence with small talk or soft apologies. Each attempt was t with a wall of indifference. The silence was heavier than a scream, suffocating.
Frustration mounted. I raised my voice, reminding her of her role—my submissive, bound to not just by desire, but by the understanding we shared. I leaned into that power, trying to coax a reaction, a flicker of submission.
But the power shift felt hollow.
Because even as she obeyed so commands out of habit, her spirit remained distant. Her silence wasn’t rebellion—it was a cry from sowhere deeper.
And I realized, with a knot tightening in my chest, that I could push her. I could get what I wanted.
But it wouldn’t be real.
And that scared more than her silence.
I loved Lena—deeply, fully, perhaps even to a fault. And the last thing I ever wanted was for her to feel cornered, to feel like she had no choice when it ca to . So when she pulled away—silent, guarded—I let her go. I gave her space, even though every second of it gnawed at like rust on tal.
I’d tried to pull her close, just to feel her warmth, to soothe the growing chill between us. But she turned away. No words. No explanations.
So I let her sleep.
But I couldn’t.
I lay there, unmoving, listening to her steady breath beside . My mind churned like a storm. The room was dark, but my thoughts were darker. Lena. Maven. Casey. Maven. Jace. Maven. Every path I tried to follow led right back to Maven—his cryptic threats, his venomous smile, and that damned ssage about Parallel City. Why there? Why now? Why ?
Nothing added up... except the danger.
Still, I wasn’t walking in blind. I’d made preparations—untraceable ssages sent, fail-safes activated, contingencies mapped out in blood and ink. If Maven thought he could trap , he was going to learn sothing new about desperation.
Because I had no intention of becoming his pawn.
And if he pushed —I’d burn the whole damn board.
Just then, Lena stirred in her sleep, moving closer as she cuddled tighter unconsciously. Wanting her to feel it, I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to myself and placing my hand on her soft butt. I rembered my plans of taking her to Italy over the weekend, and I rembered the reason behind my plans.
"Nothing has changed..." I muttered quietly. Despite the fact that she was pissed at , I was going to use the incoming trip to make it all up to her. I would show her that everything I was doing was all for her and that was the gospel truth.
I was going to take her to the edge of the world, a place where both of us could be alone and free to be together without a care about who would see us. That was all I wanted. Was I selfish for that?
For the second ti that morning, Lena stirred beside . But this ti was different. There was a tension in the air—thin, tight like piano wire drawn too far. I didn’t move. I barely breathed.
Her lashes fluttered like broken wings, then slowly lifted. Her eyes, dazed with sleep, locked onto mine. For one brief, flickering mont, I saw sothing soft there—confusion, maybe even comfort.
And then it vanished.
Like a switch had been flipped, her entire deanor shifted. Her face hardened, and her jaw tensed. She blinked once, twice, and whatever vulnerability had peeked through was gone—locked behind the carefully constructed walls she always built when she didn’t want in.
I felt her body stiffen against mine, and without a word, she began to pull away. No anger, no theatrics. Just cold detachnt.
I didn’t stop her.
I watched instead—watched the girl I loved turn into a stranger right in my arms. Her silence scread louder than any outburst.
Sothing had shifted.
Whether it was last night’s silence, or sothing deeper, I couldn’t tell.
But as she stood and walked away from without a glance back, I knew—sothing was unraveling.
And it wasn’t just her.
"Hell no!" I muttered as I tightened my grip around her waist, "Co on, you can’t still be mad at ."
She ignored and then tried once more, but I refused to release her.
"Please, Lena," I said. "Stop doing this to , you’re killing when you refuse to speak to ."
She tossed a glance at , "You don’t seem dead to ."
"Co on, is that what you want?" I pleaded. "Babe, I’m sorry, okay? You didn’t speak to all through last night, and the only ti I felt you was when you cuddled . Please, you know I don’t like it when we fight."
"I don’t like it either, but you’re doing this!"
"Please Lena, there has to be a way we can fix this."
"There is only one way. Tell what happened last night. The thing you’re refusing to tell . What is it? Only when you tell , will I resu speaking to you. Because as it seems, you don’t trust ."
"Babe, please don’t do this."
With a grunt, she pushed away from and got off the bed. She grabbed a robe and began to wear it over her petite fra. But I jumped off the bed and grabbed the robe from her hand and tossed it back to the chair it had been draped over.
"Babe... it’s too early in the day for us to fight. Co on."
"Fine, schedule it till afternoon. I should be able to do that during my break. For now, I have to go to work. I missed work yesterday and I have to be at the office before Jace gets there, there are so things I would have to fix so he doesn’t realize that I was absent yesterday."
"I get it, okay? I’m not going to stop you from going to work. But I don’t appreciate the fact that you think I’m downplaying what you did for yesterday. I know very well what you did and the risks you took for your career."
"Do you? Because if you did, you’d grant the courtesy of trust and tell what the fuck happened last night! Was it Maven? Did he reach out to you again? We’re supposed to be doing this together, goddamnit!"
She pushed away from once more but I grabbed her by the shoulder and gently pushed her against the wardrobe, I took both her hands in mine and held them over her head, pressing my naked body against hers as I leaned my face close to hers.
"Baby," I whispered. "I need you to trust , okay?"
"Let go," she said heatedly, but she didn’t struggle against my grip.
"My love, just give so ti and I promise to explain it all to you," I told her. "I’ll tell you everything, I swear, including what happened last night."
She kept quiet for a while, then she looked in the eye, "What do you need the ti for?"
"I have to set things right. I can’t tell you yet, but it’s imperative that I keep so of the details from you. Believe , I’m doing this for your own good. This is better than lying to you, right?"
She looked away then, she began to wriggle against my grip. I knew then that she was serious about letting her go. I released her at once.
"Baby..." I whispered. "Please."
"Well, when you set things right again, we can talk."
She walked away from the wardrobe and made her way towards the bathroom. I turned to follow her with my eyes, "you’re still coming with to Italy, right? Okay, I’ll tell you everything in Italy! We’re going this weekend, aren’t we? I’ll tell you everything once we get there. So, give till the weekend."
She stopped at the door to the bathroom and looked back at , "Fine, you have until then. But I’ve still not told Jace about having the weekend off."
"Don’t worry, babe. You’ll handle it today." I walked closer to her, wrapping my arms around her waist, "Thank you so much baby, you have no idea how happy you just made ."
I was about to kiss her when she leaned away, putting her face as far away from as she could.
"Babe..." I muttered, feeling my heart break into a thousand pieces.
"I thought we agreed that it was till the weekend?" She asked . "I guess you can kiss as much as you like when we get to Italy- after you tell everything."
And without another word, Lena walked into the bathroom and slamd the door shut in my face.
Reviews
All reviews (0)