Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
EMILIA
The meeting ran longer than it needed to. Something about scheduling, course structure, an update to dynasty-level civics.
None of it mattered.
Not really.
What did matter was the sinking feeling in my gut as I made my way back toward the dorm. Like something had shifted while I was gone. Like I’d missed something important.
The hallway was quiet when I reached the door.
Too quiet.
Then I heard it?—
Raised voices.
Two of them.
Muffled but heated.
I froze just outside the door.
“I told you we should’ve have let her look after us. We’ve scared her off?—”
“So if she needed space. You think crowding her would’ve helped?”
Luca and Bastion .
They were arguing .
Over me.
A cold flush crept over my skin.
My hand shook as I opened the door — slowly — unsure if I wanted to interrupt or hide. The second it swung open, the room went still.
They turned to me like they’d seen a ghost.
Luca’s chest was rising fast. Bastion looked like he’d either punch a wall or collapse.
“Where have you been?” Bastion snapped.
Luca’s voice cut in over his.
“Fuck. We thought you left.”
They both looked like they were coming undone.
Not because I’d done something.
But because I hadn’t told them where I’d gone.
Because they didn’t know if they still had me.
I supposed I had been gone since six this morning, and I hadn’t been able to check my phone.
I stepped into the room fully, closing the door behind me.
For the first time, I really looked at them. The stiffness in Bastion’s shoulders. The tight hold Luca still had on the chair back. It wasn’t just frustration.
It was panic.
Real, raw, silent panic.
My chest tightened. I didn’t know what to say to ease it, but my fingers moved before my thoughts caught up. I pulled out my phone, opened the tracking settings, and tapped both their names.
Shared Location: ON.
A second later, both of their phones buzzed.
They glanced down.
Luca was the first to register it. His head snapped up. Then Bastion’s brow furrowed as his screen lit .
They looked at each other.
Then at me.
A visible breath left Bastion’s chest, his jaw unclenching for the first time since I walked in.
“You know this lets us stalk you now, right?” Luca said, lips twitching.
I shrugged.
“Like you don’t already.”
That made Bastion huff a laugh — just barely — and Luca smiled. A real one.
I walked toward them. Slowly.
And this time, I reached first.
I kissed Bastion.
Soft. Reassuring. Letting him feel I wasn’t going anywhere.
Then I turned and kissed Luca — longer, slower. Letting my fingers brush the side of his neck.
“I’m gonna take a shower,” I said, finally exhaling some of the tension I’d been holding too.
Before I could step away, Luca reached out, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me gently back into him. He dipped his head, kissing me again — slower now, like the fear hadn’t fully left him.
Then he rested his forehead against mine.
“Really scared us, baby.”
That word — us — sat heavy in my chest.
Because now I saw it.
Not just the fear.
But the root of it.
They weren’t just worried about me leaving.
They were terrified of being left.
Abandonment clung to their skin like a second scent.
The kind you don’t notice until you’re close enough to feel it in your lungs .
I rested my hands on his chest. Closed my eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Not tonight.
Not like that.
The earrings clicked softly as I secured the last one.
Heavy but delicate — white gold twisted into vines, lined with diamonds. Like everything my family sent, they whispered wealth and control in the same breath.
I leaned in closer to the mirror, fixing the wing of my eyeliner with precision.
Dynasty daughters didn’t waver.
We painted our masks in long strokes and soft glows.
The dress fit like a secret.
Off-the-shoulder silk, a deep custom plum-black that hugged my frame and sliced open at the thigh. My family’s way of saying: You’ll smile, you’ll sparkle, and you’ll make them look.
Their daughter, their weapon.
Behind me, the black oak doors creaked open.
I saw them in the mirror before I turned.
Bastion stood in the right frame, arms loose at his sides.
Luca filled the left, hands in his pockets like he wasn’t wound tight beneath the surface.
They said nothing.
But they didn’t need to.
I checked my lipstick. “You can track me. Relax.”
“Your phone will be blocked,” Bastion said, tone low, sharp. “You know that.”
“I gave you both the tracker from my family ring.”
Silence .
I turned and met their stares.
“You did what ?” Luca’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“I linked you in this morning.”
I lifted my hand and twisted the antique ring on my finger.
“Same protocol my family uses.”
Bastion looked like I’d just pulled a weapon from my purse and offered it to him.
“That tracker’s encrypted,” Luca muttered.
“Exactly,” I said, brushing my hair behind my shoulder.
“No one else can get in.”
“You don’t give that kind of access to anyone ,” Bastion said.
“You’re not anyone ,” I replied, holding his gaze.
“You’re my?—”
I stopped myself.
Dynasty daughters didn’t confess .
Not with words.
Instead, I reached for my perfume but the tension in the room didn’t ease.
It sharpened .
“You’ll text if anything changes,” Luca said. “No disappearing. No going off-grid. And no drugs.”
My hand froze.
“I wasn’t?—”
“ No drugs , Emilia,” Bastion echoed, firmer this time.
“Not at their table. Someone hands you anything you don’t take it. Not even to cope.”
He didn’t need to say more.
I heard what he was really saying:
We know how your family operates. We know what they do to keep you calm and compliant.
Though I was surprised they knew. Most people wouldn’t even assume it. But the way the twins looked at me right now, they definitely knew .
So, I nodded. “I promise.”
Luca relaxed a fraction, stepping forward and leaning against the doorway.
“What’s this event for again?” he asked, tone too light.
I exhaled.
“Family politics,” I mumbled. “Legacy strategy. Nothing real.”
I moved to grab my clutch off the vanity, but Bastion’s voice stopped me.
“You really gonna leave with that lipstick untouched?”
I glanced up.
Bastion’s stare was dark. Hot.
“You know that dress is asking to be ruined.” Luca added smoothly.
Bastion’s lips tilted into a slow, wicked smile.
“And if anyone’s smudging that mouth, baby — it’s going to be us .”
My breath caught — but I didn’t show it. Instead, I matched their gaze with practiced indifference and walked toward them.
I passed between my fingers dragged along Luca’s chest… then brushed Bastion’s wrist.
“Don’t wait up,” I whispered.
But we all knew they would.