Chapter 302: Secret
KAEL
The first thing I felt was the pounding in my skull.
The second was... heat. Too close.
I blinked into the dim light bleeding through the blinds, my vision sluggishly pulling the shapes together... white sheets tangled around my legs, the weight of another body beside me.
And then I saw her.
Sarah.
Naked.
Her hair spilled across my pillow, her breathing slow and even, like she belonged here.
My chest tightened... painful, suffocating.
"What... did you do to me?" My voice was gravel, the words scraping out through a throat that felt raw.
Her eyes opened slowly, heavy-lidded, until she was looking right at me.
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t blush. Didn’t even pretend to be embarrassed.
Instead... she smirked.
"I should be asking you that," she said, voice dripping in something smug and cruel. "Considering how sore I am."
The words landed like a blade under my ribs.
And just like that, flashes tore through my head... blurred images I’d tried to shove into the dark corners of my mind:
Her weight pinning me down.
Her mouth. Her hands.
My own limbs refusing to move.
My voice... gone.
Heat rose in my throat... not the kind that burned from liquor.
I was on my feet before I knew I’d moved, my legs unsteady but carrying me into the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before my gut emptied itself, every heave dragging fire up my chest. My palms were clammy against the cold porcelain.
The aftershock hit like a hammer... alcohol still in my blood, my body sore in ways I didn’t want to think about, and that sick, hollow dread curling around my spine.
I gripped the sink with both hands and forced my eyes up to the mirror.
My reflection was a stranger... pale, damp with sweat, eyes bloodshot.
I turned away.
The shower knobs were stiff under my fingers, but soon the water was cascading over me, steam curling around my face. I stood there, letting it burn against my skin, waiting for it to scrub away everything... her scent, the memory, me.
It didn’t.
No matter how hard I told myself it hadn’t happened... the evidence screamed otherwise.
The undressed state I’d woken up in.
The stain in my briefs.
The memory of her voice in my ear.
The look in her eyes when I asked her.
I leaned my forehead against the tile, breath shallow, the sound of the water deafening in the small space.
I needed to think. I needed to plan. That was what I did... calculate, find leverage, turn the blade back on whoever wielded it.
But my mind wouldn’t focus.
For the first time in a long time...
I wasn’t Kael Roman, the man who always had control.
I was just... broken.
And vulnerable.
And I hated it.
By the time I stepped out of the bathroom, my skin was raw from the water and my head still pounded in that uneven, nauseating rhythm.
Sarah was standing by the couch now, slipping back into her dress like we’d just had some consensual, forgettable night. She caught my eyes and smiled... too easily.
"You should’ve told me you were that needy sir," she said lightly, as if she was teasing me. "I was just trying to help you forget her."
My stomach turned. "Help?" The word tasted like acid. "You drugged me. You touched me without my... "
"Careful," she cut in, tone sharp enough to draw blood. "Do you really want to finish that sentence? Do you really want that to be your story?"
The temperature In the room seemed to drop. I kept my voice low, level, because that was the only way to keep from tearing her apart where she stood. "If you think I won’t ruin you for this... "
"You can’t," she said without hesitation, stepping closer. "Not without ruining yourself. Not when you don’t want Aria to know."
The mention of Aria hit harder than the hangover.
Sarah tilted her head, her gaze sharp and unblinking. "If this ever gets out, all I have to do is cry. And everyone... including Aria... will believe me. You?" Her smile curved, slow and poisonous. "You’ve got the history. The reputation. The temper. And I’ve got a spotless record and a decade-long friendship with her."
The sickest part was... she wasn’t wrong.
I didn’t want Aria knowing. I couldn’t picture her face hearing it, couldn’t stomach the thought of her seeing me like this... less than, violated, weak. No matter how much she’d hurt me first, I would never willingly give her that image.
But still... this wasn’t Sarah.
At least, not the Sarah I’d known through Aria.
I studied her... really studied her... searching for any crack in the mask she wore. But what I saw in her eyes wasn’t guilt. Or shame. Or even malice.
It was something worse.
"Why?" I asked finally, my voice stripped bare. "You were her friend."
"Hmmmmmn..." Her lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "That’s a secret."
My jaw locked.
"And speaking of secrets..." she added, smoothing her dress, "last night will stay between us. I’m sure you want that. Right?"
I remained silent as she chuckled.
Something inside me went still at that.
Not quiet. Not numb. Just... still.
The part of me that handled threats... really handled them... was already calculating. But it was tempered now with something new. Not rage. Not grief. Something colder.
If Sarah thought I couldn’t touch her without touching Aria... she was right.
But there was more than one way to take apart a person.
And I had all the time in the world.
Sarah paused in the doorway, her perfume still hanging in the air like a stain.
"You’re not curious?" she asked casually.
I didn’t answer.
"About who sent you that video of Aria and Sylas?"
I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, jaw tight. Silence was my only reply.
Her smirk widened... slow, deliberate. And without another word, she walked out, heels clicking across the marble. That sound stuck in my skull longer than it should have.
The front door shut.
A moment later, it opened again.
"Sir?"
I lifted my head. Niko stood in the doorway, frowning, his gaze flicking past me toward the empty hall Sarah had just walked down.
"Was that... "
"Yes." My voice was flat as I cut in.
His brows rose a fraction. "Did you... "
"She drugged me." I didn’t let him finish. My tone left no room for questions.
I jerked my chin toward the kitchen counter. "Mug. Test it. For DNA. And anything else in it."
Niko’s gaze snapped to the ceramic mug sitting by the sink, a faint lipstick mark staining the rim. He didn’t hesitate... just nodded once. "Got it."
He moved toward it, pulling gloves from his jacket pocket, but paused mid-reach, looking back at me.
"...Are you alright Sir?"
I didn’t answer right away. The question hung in the air, almost unbearable. Alright?
In the past twenty-four hours, I’d buried Ivan in my head all over again. Watched Aria in another man’s arms. Felt the reality of losing her lodge in my chest like a shard of glass. And then...
Then I’d had the last shred of my control stripped away by someone I thought was a harmless shadow in her life.
And I was supposed to be alright?
"Don’t waste time," I said instead, voice low. "Get it done."
Niko hesitated again, like he wanted to say something else... but then he nodded sharply and left, closing the door behind him.
Silence filled the penthouse again.
I leaned back against the counter, staring at nothing.
The weight of it all pressed into my ribs until I couldn’t tell if I was breathing or just pretending to.
Every part of me felt frayed... like I’d been ripped open in places no one could see. The ghosts of Ivan’s smile. Aria’s lips on someone else. Sarah’s hands where they should never have been.
I’d survived worse before.
But never all at once.
And never like this.