Page 95 of Beautiful Ruins
He hadn’t taken it out on me.Not once.
But I had seen the way his shoulders stayed tense long after he sat down.The way his eyes darkened when he thought I was asleep.The way he held me longer that night, his grip protective rather than possessive.
Today, he had left even earlier.Another meeting.With his cousins first.Then business.Promising to return later that evening.
And yet, when he kissed me before leaving, it had felt like distance was already pressing in between us even while he stood right in front of me.The memory alone made my chest ache.
I had nearly followed him out the door.I actually took a step.Tone had caught my arm gently before I could.
“Let him go,” Tone had urged.“He needs to do what he needs to do.”
Whatever that meant.
Now, nearing midday, the house felt suspended in waiting.
There was no laughter from the staff.No casual movement.Even Tone’s usual restlessness had dulled into a kind of restless boredom, the kind that came from being forced to stay still while something unseen unfolded elsewhere.
She sprawled across the opposite end of the couch now, one leg dangling dramatically over the armrest.
“I am bored,” she announced flatly.“Profoundly.Existentially bored.This level of confinement is medically unhealthy.”
I didn’t respond.Because my attention drifted back to the phone as it buzzed again.And again.And again.What the hell could Nathan possibly want?
“Let me answer it,” Tone insisted suddenly, sitting up and reaching toward the table.
I moved faster than I expected to.My hand shot out, snatching the phone just before her fingers could reach it.I tucked it into my pocket and turned toward her.
“No.”
She blinked.
“I don’t want to entertain him.Raze wouldn’t like that.”
The moment his name left my mouth, something in her expression softened.She studied me for a second, then leaned back again, folding her arms loosely.
“You care what my brother wants?”
“I… do,” I admitted.
That was the truth.Every passing hour without news made my thoughts louder.What if the meeting went wrong?What if Nathan did something reckless?What if the anger I saw in Raze yesterday wasn’t just anger, but preparation?
I pressed my lips together, staring down at my hands.He had looked so focused when he left.And that frightened me more than rage ever could.Because rage could be released.Restraint meant he was holding something back.
The phone vibrated again in my pocket.I ignored it.
Outside, somewhere in the distance, I heard the faint sound of a car pulling through the gates.
My head snapped up instantly.So did Tone’s.We both went still.Listening.Waiting.
The house seemed to hold its breath with us.And in that silence, one thought pressed harder than all the others.Something was coming.We just didn’t know what yet.
29
Raze
The meeting was set at an old private club on the outskirts of the city.The kind of place that operated on quiet discretion rather than formal records.Staff moved efficiently, spoke only when necessary, and had long since learned not to ask questions about the men who came and went without announcing their names.
I arrived first.
