Page 56 of Crystal Wrath
My stomach twists and my mind races. He doesn't deny it, which should comfort me, but instead it terrifies me because he doesn’t admit it either. His silence says everything and nothing at once.
Renat leaves Bianca standing there alone. Before I slip away, I hear another voice. This one is sharper and colder.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Sergey.
I freeze and paste myself against the wall. I can't see them, but I hear them.
“Why do you care?” Bianca's voice now carries a brittle edge, her usual silk-and-smoke tone replaced by something edgier.
“Because you're making a fool of yourself. He doesn't want you. He never did.”
A pause. I can imagine her straightening, drawing on that innate Italian pride, her espresso eyes flashing with wounded fury.
“He did once,” she mutters, and there's something almost desperate in her voice
“And it ended. You trying to worm your way back into his life isn't going to change that.”
There's something underneath Sergey's words I can’t define. I lean in, my breath shallow.
“Why do you care so much, Sergey? Unless...” Her voice trails off, and I can picture her tilting her head, those sharp eyes studying him with the same intensity she probably uses to evaluate a piece of art. “Oh.”
She doesn't finish the sentence, but she doesn't have to. I hear the silence that follows, and I know she sees it, too. Sergey is in love with her.
“How long?” she asks softly, and there's something almost gentle in her voice now. Not kind, exactly, but curious in the way of someone who's just discovered a new piece to add to her collection.
I step away, my thoughts unraveling.
Everything feels overwhelming, like the truth I chased is now too stifling to carry. This world isn't built on loyalty or honesty. It's built on power, strategy, and secrets. And no matter how much I think I'm adapting, I still feel like the outsider peeking through a locked window, especially when women like Bianca exist in it so effortlessly, wielding their beauty and breeding like weapons.
By the time I reach my bedroom, my blood is simmering. I pace the length of the room twice before Renat appears in the doorway.
“We need to talk,” he begins.
“Perfect timing,” I cut in, folding my arms. “I was just about to come find you. I'm leaving.”
His brow lowers, not in surprise, but in quiet malice. “No, you're not.”
“I wasn't asking for permission,” I hiss.
“And I'm not giving you options.”
My chest rises sharply. “You think just because you saved me, you get to control me? That I'm some kind of possession you can lock away in your mansion until you've decided I'm no longer useful? Just another pretty thing to collect, like your ex thinks I am?”
He crosses the room slowly, the intensity in his gaze sending a spark down my spine. “I saved you because if anything happened to you, it would destroy me.”
The admission knocks the air from my lungs, but I hold my ground. “Then let me go.”
He closes the distance between us in two strides, his hands catching my wrists as he presses me back against the wall. “You want to pretend this doesn't exist between us? Fine. But don't lie to yourself. You feel it too.”
“That doesn't mean I trust you. Not when your perfectly polished ex can just waltz back in here like she owns the place. Like she owns you.”
His grip tightens just enough to make me breathless, his eyes darkening with raw desire. “Then let me show you why you should.”
His mouth crashes into mine, all fire and fury. Built from jealousy and desperation and a need neither of us wants to admit.
He lifts me without effort, carrying me across the room until my back hits the bed. When his mouth trails down my neck, I arch into him, gasping as the fire between us consumes every rational thought I have left.
