Chapter 6 A Name On Someone Else's Lips

The next morning, you wake to the scent of roasted espresso and jasmine-two things that don't belong together and yet settle around you like they've claimed the space first

You stretch in the soft bed, half-expecting to find him watching, waiting, haunting the room with his silence-but it's empty

No Adrian

Only a note

Be dressed by noon. You'll have company.

Your stomach twists

You obey anyway

There's no closet in the room just drawers that restock themselves with elegant precision-every article of clothing whispering his taste

You choose a cream blouse and navy skirt that hugs you where you feel most vulnerable

No makeup

Bare feet

You want to see what kind of company makes him leave the house first

The clock chimes once as you descend the staircase

The living room is drenched in light

And she's already there

Sitting on his sofa like she owns the oxygen in the room

A woman with long sable hair a little undone like a painting after rain

Tight black jeans

Red lips

A face that looks nothing like Adrian's but a posture that mirrors him completely-like they were both trained to command with stillness

You hesitate at the last step

She sees you

Smiles too wide

"So," she says, standing "You're the reason he's gone soft"

You blink "Excuse me?"

She laughs

Not cruel

Just sharp

Like she cuts things for fun

Walks right up to you and offers a hand

"Lucia Cavalli. His sister. Don't look so scared, I only bite when provoked"

You shake her hand because not doing so feels more dangerous

Lucia moves past you into the kitchen like she lives here

"Adrian's letting someone stay in the house," she calls over her shoulder "That hasn't happened since... well. Never."

She pours herself a glass of orange juice

Then refills it with vodka from her handbag

Takes a sip

And gestures toward the seat across from her

"Sit. I want to know why my brother looks at you like a locked vault he already owns"

You sit

Because honestly

You want to know too

You don't move

Not even when Lucia turns her head slightly, watching your reflection in the tall glass window

There's something poetic in how the light touches her-a streak of gold against the black of her hair

She's everything Adrian is not in form and yet somehow she carries the same gravity

Same elegance wrapped in steel

She speaks again

Quieter this time

"Did he tell you about our father?"

You hesitate

"No"

She hums

Not surprised

Lucia crosses the room in slow steps, heels echoing in the quiet, and lowers herself onto the edge of the velvet settee

Arms stretched across the back like she owns the architecture

"Our father was a monster with a crown"

"Adrian learned power by surviving him"

"And I-" she smiles wryly "-learned how to disappear without leaving"

You sit straighter

Because something in her voice twists like a knife being pulled out sideways

And because every word paints Adrian in new colors

Darker

Older

Lucia's gaze flicks to you again

"He left home first. I thought he was running away from our father. But he wasn't."

"He was running toward something. Toward control. Toward you maybe. Toward whatever he thought would make the fear worth it"

You feel her watching for your reaction

Measuring it

Weighing it

You meet her eyes

"I didn't ask to be chosen"

Lucia lifts an eyebrow

"No one does. But here you are, in his house, in his clothes, eating off his silver, breathing his air. You think any of this is an accident?"

The air thickens with silence again

You shift in your seat

Because she's right

And she's wrong

And it's terrifying that you can't tell the difference

You look away

Your voice comes smaller than you mean it to

"Why are you really here?"

Lucia smiles with her teeth now

But it doesn't reach her eyes

"Because I wanted to see if you'd already lost your name."

You blink

She stands abruptly, brushing invisible lint from her black jeans

Straightens her shoulders with an elegance that looks practiced

Inherited maybe

"I like you," she says

"Which is bad news for you."

"Why?"

She pauses at the door

Looks back over her shoulder with a glint that could be sympathy

Or strategy

"Because people I like tend to disappear."

The door clicks shut behind her

And you're left sitting alone

Surrounded by too much silence

Too much truth

And the taste of something unfinished clinging to your tongue

You stare down at your hands

Your fingers are trembling

You're not sure if it's fear

Or the beginning of recognition

You don't hear him return

You feel it

The shift in pressure

The subtle displacement of air

Like gravity had been leaning one way in his absence and snapped back the moment his shoes touched the marble again

Adrian enters the room without sound

But he doesn't enter soft

His presence fills every square inch like poured ink

Unapologetic

Unavoidable

You rise to your feet because something in you demands it

As if sitting down would make you smaller-and you already feel that enough

He stops three feet away

Watches you

You wish you could read his expression

But there's nothing there

Not yet

"She was here," you say quietly

Not a question

A statement

A fact still warming in the air

Adrian nods once

Slow

"Lucia's impatient"

Your brows knit

"That's all you have to say?"

His jaw shifts

That quiet tension again

Like he's waiting for something to break inside himself

He doesn't ask what she said

He already knows

Maybe he expected it

Maybe he sent her

"I never said this would be easy," he replies

"No," you say, voice sharp with something that's been sitting inside your chest since the first time you saw him, "but you also never said you had a sister"

A muscle ticks in his jaw

And that's when it happens

The mask slips

Just slightly

Adrian steps forward once

You don't step back

But your body wants to

"She's not part of this," he says, low and firm, "She came because she's restless and because she can't help digging her nails into what isn't hers."

"She made it sound like you were both running from something," you press

His eyes flash

Just once

But it's enough

He closes the distance between you

Stands so close you feel heat radiate from him again

That dangerous kind of warmth that makes you wonder if you're freezing everywhere else

"I don't run," he says, voice like velvet wrapped around steel

Your breath shivers

"I watch. I wait. I plan. And when I move-"

He lifts a hand

Not to touch

But to brush a strand of hair off your cheek without letting his skin touch yours

"-I don't stop until it's mine"

You hold his gaze

Even though every instinct is telling you to look away

Because there's something violent in his tenderness

Something beautiful and brutal

And it's all for you

Still

You ask

"Why me?"

He blinks slowly

As if you've asked something too sacred to answer out loud

And then

Soft as confession

"Because you never asked to be wanted"

He turns

Just like that

Walks to his room door

Pauses

"I'm not the villain Lucia thinks I am," he says, his back to you

"I'm worse"

The door closes behind him

And this time

The silence doesn't feel empty

It feels earned