WRITER'S POV:
The silence stretched. Ivy's anger sat in her chest like a weight, but the longer she stared at Cassius slumped on the edge of her bed, the more that weight shifted into confusionmorning after should have felt different.But it didn't.Ivy woke alone.
The space beside her was cold, like Cassius had never been there at all. No note. No sound. Just the faint scent of his cologne on the pillow, as if even that knew it was safer to disappear before she woke.
She sat up slowly, blanket tangled around her legs, a dull ache in her chest. Not from last night—but from the after.
Because that was always the hardest part. The after.She took a long shower. Dressed in something neutral. Flat shoes. A cardigan that felt like armor.
Then she stepped out into the house like she belonged there, even though every instinct told her she was still intruding.
The house was quiet.Too quiet.
Ivy made it as far as the breakfast room before she heard voices. Low. Heated. Italian.
One was Cassius.
The other—his mother.
She paused outside the doorway.
"Hai portato una sconosciuta in casa nostra senza dirlo a nessuno? Una ragazza di volo? Questo è quello che sei diventato?"
(You brought a stranger into our home without telling anyone? A flight girl? This is what you've become?)She blinked.Cassius responded, voice like stone: "È mia. Non c'è niente da spiegare."
(She's mine. There's nothing to explain.)
Ivy froze.
His mother hissed something under her breath that Ivy couldn't make out, but it sounded like centuries of disappointment crushed into syllables.
He didn't say it dramatically. He said it like it was math. Like it was gravity"Ti distruggerà," she warned.Cassius laid back on her bed, flat, arms behind his head, eyes on the ceiling.(She will destroy you.)"Lay down."O mi salverà," Cassius replied.She stood still.(Or she'll save me.)
Ivy backed away.
The weight of it hit her like glass.
She turned down a hallway she didn't recognize, desperate to breathe.
Which is exactly when she ran into Gina.
Literally.
Gina said, blinking. "You're still here."
A pause.
Ivy stepped back. "I live here now, apparently."
Gina smiled like a shark. "Of course you do."
Ivy turned to walk away.
Gina stepped in beside her, voice sweet. "You know, you'll never win."
Ivy blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Whatever this is. You think he'll protect you? Choose you? Stay with you when things get messy? He won't. He doesn't know how."
"And you do?"
Gina's smile sharpened. "I know what he's made of."
Ivy said quietly. "That's why I'm still here."
Gina laughed. "Oh, honey. No. You're still here because you haven't lost yet."
And then, with more courage than she felt, she said, "Watch me."
Elsewhere, Cassius stood by the window in his study, watching the fountain outside.
Breath shortened.Jason leaned against the desk. "So. That went well."
"No, she's worse," Jason said. "She's your weakness"
Cassius didn't answerBecause Jason was right
And that was the most dangerous truth of all.