18. Lilian
Lilian
O ne week. Seven days . One hundred and sixty-eight hours .
That’s how long it’s been since he pressed me against that wall and promised to destroy me so beautifully that I almost gave in to temptation.
Not that I’m counting.
My phone mocks me from my desk—no messages, no calls, no threatening appearances.
Something happened. The security camera feeds I begged, cajoled, and paid Lee to hack around campus show nothing. It’s like Arson was never here at all, taking both his identity and Aries with him.
“Miss Hayes?” Professor Harris’s voice startles me, and I look up at him. “Class ended five minutes ago.”
I blink and peer around the room, realizing I’m sitting alone in the lecture hall. How long was I daydreaming? I look down at my notebook and see that it’s empty except for a couple of compulsive sketches of the warehouse.
“Sorry,” I mutter, while moving out of my seat to gather up my things. “I guess I lost track of time.”
I quickly shove everything into my backpack and leave. As I cross the quad, my head moves on a swivel. Hope swells in my chest at the thought of seeing his familiar frame looming in the distance, but there’s nothing. I know how stupid it is to crave the villain, to want the monster in the story, but Arson isn’t the monster he claims to be.
He’s a victim of circumstance, just like me.
Even his—Aries’s—usual parking spot has remained empty all week. The Range Rover hasn’t moved from the warehouse, according to the tracking tile I magnetized to the bottom of it.
It’s all very strange .
Does this mean Arson has stopped pretending entirely? My heart rate picks up, but not from my condition. If he’s abandoned the pretense of being Aries, something big has happened.
The carefully orchestrated performance I witnessed that first night at the charity event has been discarded.
All of my thoughts shift to Aries.
Has something happened to him? Is he okay?
I don’t know all of Arson’s plan, but I know enough to believe he would hurt his brother, just to prove a point. Maybe not kill him, not yet , but injure him, yes.
Could an injury be keeping him away?
Bile climbs up my throat at the thought. As much as Aries’s dismissal of my feelings and cruel words hurt, the idea of him suffering makes me sick.
I check the campus security feeds from my phone again.
The last footage I have is of Arson leaving the botany building after our encounter. His expression is unreadable in the grainy video. I chew on my bottom lip, weighing my options.
If I go to the warehouse and nothing has changed…it could be a trap for him to lure me there, but then… if something happened to Aries…
I watch a group of students enter the Mill House, where Aries’s room now sits empty.
Lee told me Arson cleared it out last week. Only took a few things and left the rest to whoever moves in next. Why the sudden change? Could it be the conversation we had? The evidence I offered him? Or is it something else entirely?
I can’t wrap my head around it.
Without thought, I trace the fading marks lingering along my throat. The memory of his touch still burns, desire unraveling low in my belly.
Was any of it real? Or was it my imagination, my own personal want and need for his twin brother manifesting? As I play it back in my mind, it looks real, it feels real. His hardening cock, grinding against my core, his eyes burning with a desire mirroring my own.
There’s no faking that kind of want, even if it was only lust.
No amount of acting can hide a person’s real feelings.
“I’m going to ruin you.”
Even the memory—that deep growl—I can still feel the effects of it. His words, a promise of something both terrible and exciting.
Now, nothing but silence. Something must be wrong with me.
If only it worked that way. I understand the saying curiosity killed the cat a lot better now. The silence and disappearance have only left me with more questions and worries. Has Arson moved on to the next step in his plan without me? Is he going rogue?
My hand clenches a little tighter around my phone.
This isn’t just about family secrets anymore. It’s not even about revenge. Something else is happening, something I’m missing.Arson wants my help. I remember how he looked at me, that disturbingly beautiful face twisted with surprise and excitement.
It was like for one moment he saw me as more than leverage, as more than a pawn. There was no missing the recognition. He saw my darkness, the thing I’ve hidden behind my fragile exterior. I realized then that I had a way in with him. If I made him see me as his equal instead of the fragile, broken girl they had all made me into, I could potentially save Aries.
I wasn’t lying about exposing the Hayes family secrets or airing out their dirty laundry for the world to see. I still want them all to pay. Richard...my mother. Everyone.
If I can get closer to Arson, close enough to get Aries free, then help Arson bring them down, then what’s the harm? All I have to do was survive his mind games and make him realize exposing the family’s secrets is more important than his hate for his brother.
Before I can do any of that, I need to figure out what is going on.
Why has Arson disappeared?
I’m tired of waiting for an answer. If he won’t leave the warehouse, then I’ll go to him. And hopefully I won’t be walking into a trap. Mind made up, I slide my phone into my pocket and shove up off the bench.
The late afternoon sun casts long shadows across the parking lot, and as I walk to my car, I do a quick check of my bag. Pepper spray, inhaler, emergency heart meds. I haven’t needed them thus far, but I don’t know what I’m walking into.
I’ve memorized the warehouse layout since my last visit. Getting in will be harder now that Arson knows I can, but I have to try. If worst comes to worst, I’ll walk up to the door and knock like a normal person. Ahead, my car sits at the far end of the student lot, away from cameras and casual observation. I catalog the trip in my mind. Fifteen minutes to the warehouse district. Another ten to get inside.
Easy peasy.
It might be a stupid decision on my part, but an entire week of silence has made me a little reckless. I’m almost to my car when an SUV pulls into the parking lot.
Black. Expensive. The windows are tinted, making it impossible to see who’s inside. It glides up beside me with predatory grace, moving slowly enough to make its intention clear. I’m not stupid. I’m not getting in that car, not even if there’s a box full of free books.
Keep walking. Don’t react.
There’s a campus security station just around the?—
Shit. The rear door opens.
“Miss Hayes.” The man’s voice is corporate smooth and reminds me of a banker discussing interest rates. “Would you join us for a moment?”
Join you? No, thank you.
I stare at the man with disinterest, though there’s an undercurrent of panic I refuse to show. Who is this man? He’s wearing a suit that screams money. A Rolex gleaming at his wrist. One glance and it’s obvious he’s a businessman, which makes him infinitely more dangerous than any common thug.
“No, thank you. I have a class to get to,” I lie, while taking a step back. The SUV stops, and I know this is only going to get worse.
“No, you don’t.” A second man steps out of the passenger side. Equally well-dressed, equally polished. “Your last lecture ended twenty minutes ago.”
Shit.
“Study group. Class. Same thing in my book.” I muster up a smile, but it’s clear neither of them believes me.
“Please, don’t make this more complicated than necessary.”
Dread slices through me. They know my schedule, which means they’ve been keeping tabs on me.
“What do you want?” It takes substantial effort to keep my voice calm with a racing heartbeat. These people aren’t Arson. I can’t tell what their next move will be.
I can’t lock down their motives.
“Just a conversation.” The first man gestures to the open door. “And to provide you transportation to your intended destination.”
I press a hand to my thundering heartbeat. They know about the warehouse? About Arson?
“I…I wasn’t going anywhere specific.”
“Miss Hayes.” The man closest to me smiles, but it never reaches his eyes. “Let’s not insult each other’s intelligence. Get in the vehicle, please.”
It’s not a request. We all know it.
I glance around the parking lot, looking for a way out. It’s empty except for a few students, but they’re too far off in the distance to be of any help. Campus security wouldn’t arrive in time, even if I screamed.
“I know what you’re thinking, and I wouldn’t do it. All we want to do is talk. We don’t intend to harm you.”
Not yet.
The man holds the door open a little wider, perfectly courteous. Perfectly threatening while appearing normal.
Dammit. I don’t want to get into this car, but my other option is to run, and there’s two of them and one of me. Who knows if they have weapons? I don’t see any, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have them.
Fear of the unknown festers in my chest, and against my better judgment, I slide into the back seat. The door closes behind me, and the sound is deafening. Both men climb back into the vehicle via the opposite side, and I try not to think about whether I signed my own death certificate.
“Water?” the first man—he hasn’t given me his name—offers, holding out a bottle with a pristine label. “Or perhaps something stronger? You seem a bit tense.”
Why does he seem so...familiar? I know I’ve never met him, yet...
“I’m fine.” I sit perfectly straight, channeling Mother’s social armor.
Cool. Controlled. It’s just another meeting. Another preparation for a charity event.
The SUV starts to move, pulling smoothly away from campus. Both men peer at me, the one in the driver’s seat watching me in the rearview mirror while the other openly gawks from the passenger seat. Their postures are relaxed but alert. Like well-trained predators at rest.
“You’ve caused quite a bit of trouble, Miss Hayes.” The second man adjusts his platinum cuff links. “It’s rather unexpected, really. We had anticipated certain... complications in our arrangement, but you weren’t one of them.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” The man in the driver’s seat flashes me a professionally empty smile in the mirror. “That wasn’t you at the warehouse? Were you gathering evidence? Or what about that rather intimate encounter in the botany garden last week?”
My chest tightens uncomfortably. They’ve been watching me. Us.
“There’s no need to worry, at least not yet. Let’s just say we have certain investments we must protect,” the guy in the passenger seat continues. “Arrangements which required considerable financial backing.”
“If you want us to be honest, your involvement has created... uncertainty .”
The threat slides beneath their corporate pleasantries like a silk-wrapped knife.
“Okay, but I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” I keep my voice steady. “Or who you are.”
“We’re friends,” the man in the driver’s seat says. “Friends who provided certain resources to facilitate certain goals. Friends who prefer their investments remain... stable. ”
The SUV turns, and I realize we’re on the industrial district access road.
Is this where it all ends? Are they going to kill me and deposit my body in front of the warehouse to prove a point?
“We aren’t friends. I don’t know you. I don’t know what I have to do with any of this.” I gesture to the space around me.
“Insurance.” The man in the passenger seat turns, and his gaze is cold despite his pleasant tone. “You’re a reminder that actions have consequences beyond personal vendettas and family drama.”
“Are you threatening me?”
They both laugh, the sound perfectly orchestrated.
“Threats are crude, Miss Hayes. We’re simply ensuring all parties understand the seriousness of the goal, and the part they play in it.”
“And if I decide not to be involved?”
“That option expired the moment you offered our associate your assistance in demolishing the Hayes empire.” The second man checks his watch. “Though we must admit, your research has proved... intriguing .”
They know about Mother’s files. About what I found.
“What do you want from me?” I ask again, dropping the pretense.
The leather seat creaks as I shift, hyperaware of every movement I make in the confined space. These men aren’t just wealthy—they’re dangerous in a way that makes Arson’s violence seem straightforward. At least he’s honest about his intentions to destroy.
“Your heart condition,” the first man remarks casually, “it’s not nearly as debilitating as your medical records suggest, is it?”
I’m not surprised that they know of my heart condition. It’s the most basic thing, something everyone knows about me. That’s not what has me curious. It’s the information they aren’t sharing that interests me the most.
How much do they know? What do they know?
“You still haven’t told me what you want,” I say, proud of how steady my voice remains.
“Want? That’s such a direct word. We prefer to think in terms of mutual benefits. Shared interests.”
“And what interests do we share?”
“The dismantling of the Hayes empire, of course,” the man driving speaks again. “I must say our methods differ from the rather...passionate approach you’re currently employing.”
The pieces suddenly fall into place. How else would Arson be able to get away with what he has? To be able to use the warehouse? To kidnap Aries without anyone noticing.
“You’re Arson’s backers. You funded his revenge.”
They exchange looks of mild amusement.
“We provided certain resources to facilitate certain outcomes. The personal vendetta aspect was a... convenient motivation. We have our own motives, but we won’t be sharing those at this time.”
“And now?”
“Now we’re ensuring all the players understand the rules of engagement. Passion is useful, but ultimately, this is business.” There’s an edge to his voice I don’t quite understand.
“What kind of business involves kidnapping and revenge?”
“The profitable kind.” The second man smiles. “The kind that requires careful management of all involved parties.”
Me included. I’m not just a complication in Arson’s revenge anymore—I’m a variable these men need to control.
“And if I don’t want to be managed?”
Their synchronized laughter makes my skin crawl.
“There is no longer a choice to be had.”
“Just tell me what you want.” I clear my throat and add, “Please.”
“Our intentions are pure. All we plan to do is deliver you safely to your destination. In return, we want you to remind all parties that we’re watching. Always watching.”
The SUV pulls up directly in front of the warehouse entrance. No hiding, no being subtle. Sending a message to Arson directly.
“Give our regards to our associate,” the man driving announces, “and please remind him how important the deadlines are.”
“What deadline?” I blink, trying to figure out what’s going on right now.
“One week. That’s how long our associate has to demonstrate to us that this situation remains under control. After that...well, let’s hope we don’t need to take action directly to ensure our investment.”
“We’ll be watching, Miss Hayes.” The second man’s voice carries as I step out of the SUV in a daze, my legs steadier than they should be.
Before I can close the door, the driver adds, “Oh, and Miss Hayes? That information you found. It’s just the surface. Be careful how deep you dig. Some secrets are better left buried.”
The SUV pulls away, and I consider what just happened. A sheen of nervous sweat coats my palms. I’d wonder if things could get worse, but I’m not in the mood to get struck by lightning. The reality is, I’m caught between Arson’s revenge, his mysterious backers, and whatever shady tactics our parents are up to.
I don’t know who those men were, but I don’t need to know.
Not when their intent is clear.
Listen. Play along. If not…
One week.
I have one week to figure out how to play this game better than the monsters who created it. Otherwise, they’ll start eliminating people, and the first person will be me.