Without turning around, I can feel his cloudy gaze darkening and fixating on me. I can almost see the twitching in his left eye and the tightness of his sharp jaw.

When the day is finally over, Kim invites us for coffee. Knox is all for it and forces Teal to come along.

I agreed to stay with them until I have to visit Aunt and Uncle.

Before we head out of RES, I excuse myself to go to the toilet.

As I wash my hands, a violent sound of heaving comes from one of the stalls. I stay behind after drying my hands.

Does she need help?

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” The familiar voice chants as she steps out of the stall.

Both of us freeze.

Silver stands there, her hair in disarray and her uniform dishevelled as if she was thrown out of bed.

Acting as if she didn’t see me, she wipes the side of her mouth and heads to one of the taps.

She splashes water on her face. “Pretend you didn’t see anything.”

“Your life doesn’t matter to me, Silver.”

“No problem, then. Good talk.” She starts to breeze past me.

“Wait.” I clutch her by the arm.

She swings around, her hand wrapping around her midsection. “What are you doing?”

The fear in her eyes hits me straight in the chest. I drop her arm and step back. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She studies me suspiciously but doesn’t move.

“Do you…” I clear my throat. “Do you need help?”

Silver’s huge blue eyes widen, appearing as stunned as I feel.

I never thought there would be a day when I’d offer Silver help. I guess I’m not so monstrous after all.

“N-no.” She takes a step back, then stops. “I didn’t want to be in the Meet Up. I’m sorry.”

And then she breezes out of the bathroom.

I stand there for a second, gathering my wits around me.

Did Silver just apologise to me?

Also, what does she mean about not wanting to be at the Meet Up? Being there or not doesn’t change the fact that she’s engaged to Aiden or that Aiden hid it from me.

It doesn’t matter anyway.

Not when it’s over. Only, it didn’t start in the first place. She was right all along. From the beginning, Aiden was never mine.

He was hers.

The itch starts under my skin and spreads all over my body. I wash my hands again and dry them.

The moment I open the door, someone shoves me back inside.

I shriek, but a hand swallows all the sound. The bathroom door closes with a bang.

He spins me around. My back hits it as my gaze meets Aiden’s metallic eyes.

I scream.

13

Elsa

I remain still.

Completely.

Like a board.

Despite the war zone in my heart. All the wars start in my stupid, defective heart.

My scream dies out.

Screaming is useless when Aiden’s hand covers my mouth. His strength is like a unified battalion; dangerous and wrecking.

The hardness of his chest crushes my breasts as his entire body imprisons me against the door. I can feel his heartbeat, loud and raging. I’m tempted to reach out a hand and feel the pulse under my fingertips. His normal, healthy pulse.

The only thing that makes him human.

The temptation is taken away from me when he grabs both my wrists with his free hand and slams them against the door above my head.

The sound pulls me out of my induced stupor.

This scene is familiar.

Whenever Aiden doesn’t get his way, he resorts to establishing his dominance. It’s part of the push and pull game he plays so well. A game in which all I’ll ever be is a pawn.

A game I always lose.

“Welcome back, sweetheart,” he murmurs in his raspy, chill-inducing voice.

Is there a way to throw acid on his voice and stop it from being this good on the ears?

His lips hover inches away from my mouth covered by his hand. Whether it’s a threat or a promise, I don’t know.

“Are you done running away?” His thumb caresses my cheek in a sensual rhythm. Up and down, like a lullaby with skin against skin.

For a second, I’m lost in his touch. In his closeness. In his scent.

Damn his scent.

He smells like pain and pleasure. Sweet and bitter at the same time.

I would be lying to myself if I say I didn’t miss him, and I promised to never lie to myself again.

I missed his maddening touch and that heated look.

I missed his kisses and the baths he ran for me.

I missed his scent and his crude words.

But most of all, I missed him.

The man, the monster.

It’s all in vain though. No matter how much I miss him, it doesn’t erase what he did. It doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been a pawn on his board all along.

So I hold on to the boiling anger, hate, and bitterness. I hold on to how empty it felt to be told I was merely a game.

The itch to fight him and spout profanities at him awakens in me like a phoenix from the ashes. My muscles tighten ready for a fight, for a duel.

However, I bite my tongue. Confrontation will only give him leverage over me.

Instead of giving him what he wants, I go slack in his hold and lower my gaze, cutting off eye contact.

I erase him and his metal gaze, sinister features, and tousled hair.

“Look at me.”

I don’t.

He watches me in the quiet of the bathroom. I feel it like needles at the top of my skull about to cut it open.

The silent war goes on for minutes or hours. I just stand there, watching my black shoes and filling my head with Sun Tzu philosophical tactics.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

Silence is my only weapon and I’ll use it until the very end. No matter how suffocating that silence is.

In the quiet, Aiden releases my mouth. I don’t scream. I keep the sacred silence as if my life depends on it.

He grips my jaw with two rough fingers and forces my head up. “Fucking look at me.”

I stare at the ceiling with its white lights.

“Elsa,” he growls, the sound echoing around us like a dark promise. “Don’t push me.”

“Show me your worst,” I say with a levelled tone.

His lips crush to mine. I keep my mouth clamped shut. He’ll have to bite my lips off if he wants to kiss me.

He grunts against my mouth and nibbles on the tender skin.

I don’t open up.

I don’t give him a way in.

I hold on to the anger and pain. Anger and pain allow me to ignore my body’s reaction to him.

Anger and pain turn me numb to his touch.

Aiden pulls back but doesn’t release my wrists. “Are you sure you want to play that game with me?”

I say nothing.

I’m safely tucked in a numb halo right now. If I say anything, I’ll lose the shelter this place offers.

Aiden yanks my skirt up. Air hits my bare thighs and goosebumps cover my skin. His strong palm grips my pussy over my boy shorts.

My breathing hitches, chest rising and falling like I just finished a hundred-metre run. My toes curl in my shoes. I stare at an imaginary dot on the wall beyond Aiden’s head.

He lied to you.

He has a fiancé.