Chapter 4 4

CHAPTER FOUR;

Lena's Pov

Silence.

Not the peaceful kind.

The heavy, suffocating kind that squeezes your ribs tight and whispers, Run.

Bryce stood in the doorway holding his gift bags like some twisted Christmas angel, blinking between me and Cassian like he couldn't understand the hostility radiating off his cousin's body.

My mother, of course, broke the silence first.

"Oh, wonderful!" she said brightly. "You boys know each other already family should arrive any minute!"

Family.

Family.

The word kept stabbing the same place in my chest.

Bryce my ex was Cassian's cousin.

Meaning he was part of this household.

Meaning he wasn't just visiting.

Meaning...

I wasn't escaping him at all.

"Lena," Bryce tried again, stepping forward.

Cassian's arm shot out not touching me, but close enough that I could feel the warning in his body.

"I said don't."

His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that meant someone was barely holding their own temper back.

Bryce scoffed. "Cass, seriously? Stay out of this."

Cassian didn't blink. "You shouldn't be here."

"I was invited."

"And you should've declined."

My breath caught.

Senator Ward cleared his throat, his usually warm expression tightening. "Boys, that's enough. Bryce is family. He has every right to be here."

Cassian's jaw flexed, a quiet rebellion simmering under his skin.

Bryce smirked, stepping around him just enough to look at me again. "Lena, can we talk somewhere private? Please? Just five minutes."

The audacity.

The bold, unbelievable audacity.

I lifted my chin. "No."

Bryce blinked like no one had ever told him no before.

"No, we cannot talk. No, I don't want to see you. And no, you don't get five minutes or five seconds of my time."

His face reddened. "Lena, you're making this worse.."

"I didn't cheat on me," I snapped. "You did. You made this worse."

My mother gasped softly. "He cheated? Bryce, is that true?"

Bryce's mouth opened. Closed. Then opened again. "It...it wasn't that serious, okay? We'd fought. I wasn't sure where we stood."

Cassian's head turned sharply. "You weren't sure where you stood," he repeated slowly, like he was tasting something rotten. "So you took another girl to the most expensive restaurant in the city."

"It wasn't like that," Bryce muttered.

"It was exactly like that," I whispered.

His eyes softened, switching into manipulation mode. "Lena, baby.."

Cassian stepped forward so fast Bryce stumbled back.

"I warned you."

His voice dropped lower.

Dangerous.

Controlled.

The kind of tone that made your spine tingle.

My heart raced.

Senator Ward stepped in again. "Cassian," he said sharply. "Enough."

Cassian didn't look away from Bryce. Not once. But he obeyed, stepping back exactly one pace.

Bryce swallowed. "Look, can we all calm down? It's Christmas. I didn't come here to fight."

No. He came here to win.

To pretend nothing had happened.

To reel me back in like I was some toy he'd misplaced.

My mother forced a smile. "Yes let's not ruin the evening. Bryce, sweetie, go put your things in the guest room. Lena, darling, maybe freshen up? You look... tense."

Tense.

Of course I looked tense.

I was living in a nightmare with perfect lighting.

Bryce shot me a hopeful smile before heading upstairs.

I didn't move. Couldn't.

Not until Cassian's voice broke through the static in my brain.

"You don't have to be near him."

I looked at him. Really looked.

His eyes were dark frustrated, angry, but something else too. Something I didn't understand yet.

"He's family to you," I whispered. "I don't want to cause tension."

"You're not," he said flatly.

I wanted to believe him. God, I did.

But how do you believe anything when your world cracks in one night?

My mother and Senator Ward drifted into the dining room, giving us privacy without meaning to.

Cassian exhaled softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't know," he said. "About you and Bryce."

Of course he didn't. Why would my mother tell him?

But something about the way he said it quiet, careful made my chest tighten.

"If I had known," he added, voice dropping, "I wouldn't have let you walk in here without warning."

I swallowed. "Did you know he'd be here?"

His jaw tightened again. "Family comes every Christmas. But I didn't expect him this early."

A beat of silence.

Then, softer:

"I wouldn't have let him blindside you."

My breath hitched.

Why did he care?

Why did he sound like that?

Cassian stepped closer not too close, but close enough that I felt his presence like a second heartbeat.

"You're not alone here, Lena."

My name in his mouth sounded different.

Warm. Dangerous.

Like he was promising something he shouldn't.

"I don't want to be a problem," I whispered.

His eyes dropped to my lips before lifting again.

"You're not the problem."

The air thickened between us. Electricity. Heat. Something unfamiliar but impossible to ignore.

Then...

Footsteps pounded down the stairs.

Bryce reappeared at the bottom, breathless. "Hey, uh, Lena could you.."

Cassian didn't even turn. "Not now."

Bryce bristled. "She can speak for herself."

Cassian finally shifted, head tilting slightly. "You've done enough speaking for both of you."

Bryce glared. "She's still my..."

"She isn't yours," Cassian said.

Quiet. Final.

A verbal door slammed shut.

My throat tightened.

Bryce's eyes swung to me, pleading. "Lena, please. Tell him we can talk."

I exhaled shakily. "Bryce... I'm tired. I don't want to talk."

His face fell. "Just give me a chance to explain."

"There's nothing to explain."

Cassian didn't hide the satisfaction in his chest rising slightly. Like he was fighting the urge to smile.

Bryce hesitated, jaw working. "Fine. But I'm not giving up."

He stormed off toward the kitchen.

Silence again.

Then Cassian stepped back, giving me space, but his eyes stayed on me steady, watchful, like he was making sure I didn't fall apart.

"You handled that well," he murmured.

I shook my head. "I feel like collapsing."

"You didn't."

His voice softened.

"That matters."

I breathed in through my nose, grounding myself.

"Tomorrow," Cassian said, "we'll make sure you don't have to be alone with him."

We?

My heart fluttered.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

He paused.

Not confused just choosing his words carefully.

"Because he hurt you," he said quietly. "And I don't like seeing you hurt."

His eyes held mine a second too long.

Then, softer almost unwilling:

"And because this... situation isn't simple anymore."

Meaning what?

Meaning us?

Meaning the tension crackling between us like static?

Before I could ask, my mother called from the dining room:

"Dinner time!"

Cassian didn't move for a moment.

Then he leaned slightly closer, voice low enough to curl beneath my skin:

"We'll figure this out, Lena."

Then he walked away, leaving me standing there heart pounding, breath unsteady, already tangled in something I wasn't prepared for.

Something dangerous.

Something electrifying.

Something that had nothing to do with Bryce...and