Vaugh

as a whirlwind of new faces, new rules, and a suffocating opulence that felt alien to my street-hardened hands. He didn't

isdain. His mother, the family matriarch, had openly sneered, her eyes raking over my simple clothes

And he had meant it, for a while. There was a fierce protectiveness in his eyes that made me believe him every time he brushed off another arranged sit-down or ignored another social ev

iana a

shade of hazel as mine, held a vulnerability that captivated everyone. But as our gazes met across the crowded room, a

her small hand clutching an elegant woman's finger, her eyes wide and hopeful. I had smiled, a fake, brittle smile, and told her everything

sly weaving her way through high society. She didn't recognize me, not even a flicker of memory in her eyes. It was a fresh wound,

r, not really. But for the ghost of the little g

played on his lips, a new kind of warmth in his eyes. It was a warmth that ha

d as bedrock, turned into shifting sands. "I have something important to handle,

g in the garden, their heads close, her delicate hand resting on his arm. A quiet dinner at a disc

m, but the power had softened his resolve, blurred his loyalties. He was no longer the boy who

rld he now craved, a world I could never truly belong to. Diana, with her polished manners and senator father, wa

. I knew what I had to do. I had to leave. I needed to disappear, not just for myself, but for her, for Diana. It was the only way he

he usual bustling activity of the staff seemed amplified, a discor

Mr. Bryce... he

ana! From the Mo

s a scene of controlled chaos. Men in suits with guns scurried, their faces etched with fury. And there, on a makeshift bed, lay Br

raw, primal sound. I pushed past

let... it's lodged deep. It needs to be removed immed

at the doctor. "No sedatives. Just... do it. I need to know... Diana...

about her. Not about himself, not about the excr

me, not so long ago, when a mere scratch on my arm would send him into a frenzy of worry. He'd fuss over me, his eyes filled with a tenderness that n

ryce's jaw tightened. A sharp, guttural cry escaped his lips as th

is breath, he whispered again, "

ed at the edges of my vision. Bryce, his face contorted in pain, finally succumbed to