Page 10 of Crossing Lines

Aria: Let me guess, Nina. You have a shirt that says, “Eat the rich” on it?

Me: I have seven, one for each day of the week.

Aria: Can you send me one? I’d love to wear it to the next event my parents force me to attend.

Stella: Send me one, too!

I laugh. This is why I’ve easily accepted Aria and Stella as friends, even if they’re billionaires. I never thought I’d enjoy being around people with money, but to them,money is just a tool,something to be used for good.They both donate huge amounts to charity every year,but they’re always so humble about it.Money has nothing to do with our friendship, thank God.

The sudden creak of the front door opening startles me out of my thoughts.

Wait,the door?

Heart pounding in a frantic rhythm, I freeze in place. Someone’s here.Lunging, I grab a kitchen knife and clutch it in my hand.

I stand in the darkness of the kitchen,holding my breath in a silent gasp.Footsteps echo near the front door,then a flashlight beams across the marble floors.Panic surges through me as I realize I’m trapped. The exits are all too close to the intruder’s location.

I wait,my senses on high alert,listening for any sound that might betray their position. Suddenly, a towering figure emerges from the shadows. Their flashlight blinds mefor a split second, but I don’t wait untilI can see again and lunge blindly forward with my knife. The intruder reacts with lightning speed,easily sidestepping my attack.With a practiced motion,they disarm me,the knife clattering to the floor.

Before I can react, the world spins as I’m taken to the ground, the breath knocked out of my lungs as I land on my back. My long hair covers my face and panic surges inside of me.

I can’t see.

With my arms pinned and a heavy weight atop of me, I scream and buck wildly.

“Nina?” the man asks. “Shit, are you okay? Did I hurt you?” He pushes my hair off my face, and I stare up at…Evren? “Why did you attack me?”

“I thought you were an intruder.” I push against his chest, and he’s off me in the next instant.

“What were you thinking coming at me with a knife? You could’ve gotten hurt. Well, more hurt than you are now.” Evren grabs his phone from the ground, the flashlight still on. “Shit. Do you need a doctor? I’m so?—”

“I’m fine,” I cut him off, hiding my wince as I sit up and lift my chin in the air. Of course he’d lecture me after laying me out in half a second. “But what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Stella didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I ask. Evren holds a hand out to help me up, but I bypass it and get to my feet myself. “Give me my knife back.”

“Why?” His lips twitch as he looks me over. “Planning on stabbing me with it?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I plan to do if you don’t explain yourself in the next ten seconds.” He suppresses a grin, and my anger ratchets up. “There’s nothing funny about this situation.”

“You’re right. There isn’t.” His face smooths out in the next instant, except for a frown line between his eyebrows. Handing me my knife, he says, “Stella offered for me to stay here until my house is fixed.”

“No.” It comes out before he even finishes speaking.

His eyebrows rise. “That’s not your decision to make.”

“You’re a fucking billionaire. You could stay anywhere in the world, literally. You don’t need to be here.”

“You’re right, I could, but I couldn’t refuse Stella’s offer. She was…insistent.”

“Well, call her up andresist.” There’s absolutely no way he’s going to stay here. I need him out, ASAP. Besides living near Elodie, the main part that sold me on staying here is that I’d be alone. I’ve never not lived with someone, and I need it with a desperation I didn’t realize I had until now. I’m finally away from my mom, physically at least, and I can breathe for the first time in years. Evren isn’t allowed to intrude on this just because his house flooded. And sure, that might sound harsh, but again, he’s a billionaire. He could literally buy a thousand houses tomorrow.

“No.” He says it with a finality that causes my shoulders to hike to my ears. “I gave her my word, and I never go back on that.”

We both glare at each other, at a stalemate. I can almost picture the theme song of Western movieThe Good, The Bad, and The Uglywhistling through the house followed by thewaw, waw, wawas we stare each other down.

“Fine,” I say, grabbing my phone and calling Stella. This all must be a misunderstanding. Stella surely wouldn’t offer Evren to stay here.

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