Chapter 28
Izzy
“Are you going to get that?” Tone questioned, glancing over my shoulder.
The phone vibrated against the side table yet again, inching closer to the edge with every buzz like it was trying to throw itself onto the floor out of sheer persistence.
I didn’t move.
The short answer was no. Because I already knew who it was.
Nathan had called fourteen times today. Fourteen.
I had counted without meaning to, each vibration carving another notch into my nerves.
When the calls from his number stopped, the unknown ones started.
Different prefixes. Different patterns with the same timing and same insistence. I knew it could only be him.
“No point.”
The phone buzzed again.
Tone let out a long, theatrical sigh and leaned back further into the couch like a woman personally offended by technology.
“If I hear that vibration one more time,” she ground out, “I may perform an experimental surgery on the device.”
Despite everything, a small, strained breath left me that almost resembled a laugh.
If it weren’t for my concern over Raze, I would have switched the phone off hours ago.
Silenced it. Buried it. Thrown it into a drawer and pretended the outside world didn’t exist.
But a queasy sensation had settled low in my stomach that morning, and it hadn’t left all day. It wasn’t panic. It wasn’t fear in the loud, obvious sense. It was quieter than that. Like something was wrong and my body had recognized it before my mind could catch up.
I didn’t want to miss a call. Not if it was him. Not if Raze decided to dial my number and finally put this awful, creeping unease out of its misery.
The house felt different today. It was still luxurious and immaculate.
But it was silent. And underneath that silence was tension.
Guards rotated more frequently. I had noticed that without meaning to.
There were footsteps in the corridor. Murmured voices through radios.
Doors that used to open freely now required confirmation.
Even the air felt tighter, as if the walls themselves were listening.
The gates had remained closed all day. Locked. Secured. Watching. And Raze had left us under heavy guard early that morning.
The memory of him standing at the doorway lingered in my mind with uncomfortable clarity. The way he held me before he left. Firm. Prolonged. Like he was memorising the feel of me rather than simply saying goodbye.
He had promised to be back by late afternoon. But something in that goodbye had felt… wrong. Uncertain. Final.
I swallowed hard, pressing my palm flat against my thigh as the phone buzzed again in my peripheral vision.
“He’s persistent.” Tone eyed the device like it had personally insulted her.
“He’s desperate,” I countered.
Which was worse.
I leaned back into the couch and stared at the ceiling, trying to regulate my breathing.
Raze had been in the strangest mood since Nathan turned up a few nights ago.
Not volatile in my presence. Never careless with me.
If anything, he had been gentler. More attentive.
More deliberate in the way he touched me, spoke to me, watched me.
But the anger was there. I could see it. Feel it.
It lived under his skin like a current he was constantly holding in check. Flowing through his veins. Tightening his jaw. Hardening his gaze when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Something dark was moving around him. And he knew it.
Yesterday he had gone out to meet his cousins. A weekly ritual, Tone had said casually, like that explained the weight he carried when he came back.
I hadn’t met the cousins yet, but apparently I would. Eventually.
I had thought seeing family might soften him. Ground him. Pull him back into something familiar and steady. Instead, he returned sharper. More focused. Like whatever they had discussed had not eased his mind, but confirmed something he already suspected.
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.