Keifer POV
The weight of the room had never felt heavier, yet for the first time, it felt like it actually meant something. I stepped out of Eman's, the neon signs reflecting in the puddles on the pavement.
I didn't head for the parking lot. My eyes were fixed on the silhouette retreating down the alleyway—stiff, robotic, and radiating a coldness that could freeze the city.
I found her leaning against a brick wall at the far corner, tucked away from the main street. She was alone, her head tilted back against the cold stone, eyes closed. She looked like a goddess of war catching her breath.
I didn't give her a chance to see me coming. I stepped into her space, my arm slamming against the brick beside her head, pinning her.
Her eyes snapped open. The fury there was instantaneous. "What the fuck do you want, Keifer?" she spat, her voice a low, dangerous snarl. "What are you doing here?"
She emphasized the 'you' like I was the last person on earth she wanted to see. I didn't answer. I didn't care about the man, the secrets, or Aries at that moment. I leaned in, closing the gap before she could process the movement, and pressed my lips to hers.
It wasn't a soft kiss. It was a claim.
When I pulled back, her chest was heaving, her eyes wide with shock. "Profanity, Jay," I murmured, watching her pupils dilate. "You really have a mouth on you."
"Are you mad?!" she shouted, her voice cracking as she shoved against my chest. "For real... why did you kiss me? I'm not even your girlfriend!"
I didn't move. I leaned closer, my shadow swallowing her whole. "It's true you are not my girlfriend," I said, my voice dropping to a register that made her breath hitch. "Because I don't want a girlfriend, Jay. I want to make you my wife."
The fire in her eyes flickered and died, replaced by a sudden, intense heat that had nothing to do with anger. A deep, undeniable crimson crept up her neck, staining her cheeks. She was flustered. Actually flustered.
"Are you blushing?" I asked, a smirk tugging at my lips.
"No," she snapped, looking everywhere but at me. "It's just... it's hot out here. The humidity."
It was fifty degrees out.
I let the smirk fade, my expression turning lethal. "Who was the man you were talking to, Jay?"
She stiffened, her eyes scanning the street behind me, checking the shadows.
"Someone I know," she said vaguely.
I looked at her—really looked at her. I saw the tremor in her hands that she was trying to hide. I saw the exhaustion behind the mask. "Don't share it if you don't want to," I said, my serious voice cutting through the night air. "I won't force you."
She looked surprised, her guard dropping for a fraction of a second. "Now leave me," she whispered.
I smirked, stepping aside to give her a path, but as she started to brush past me, I leaned down, my lips grazing the shell of her ear. "See you tomorrow, Jay-Jay."
I watched her practically run away, the name echoing in the empty street. The game hadn't just changed. I had rewritten the rules.
------------------------------
Jane's POV
The static in my brain was so loud I couldn't hear the city around me. I had walked until the crowds thinned out, finding myself in an empty, dimly lit street near the edge of the district.
Jean.
The truth.
What was the secret? What was she hiding in the dark corners of the life we shared? Every memory I had of Jay felt like a photograph with the edges burned off. I knew she protected me. I knew she loved me. But who was she when I wasn't looking?
I needed to move. I needed the world to stop spinning. I pulled my phone out, hit play on a random track, and let the music take over. I started to dance—not the graceful, practiced movements of a ballroom, but something raw, jagged, and desperate. It was the only way to sweat out the fear.
I spun, my boots skidding on the asphalt, my head throwing back as I reached for a high note in the choreography of my own chaos. I went for a sharp turn, my balance faltering as my heel caught a crack in the pavement.
I braced for the impact of the cold ground, but it never came.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, steadying me with a firmness that felt like an anchor. I gasped, looking up into the dark, concerned eyes of Yuri.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice coming out in a breathless rush.
"I came looking for you," he said simply. He didn't let go immediately, making sure I had my feet under me. "You shouldn't be out here alone, Jane. Not tonight."
"I just needed to think," I said, stepping back and wiping a stray tear I hadn't realized had fallen. "About what happened back there. About Jay."
"She has a lot on her plate," Yuri said softly. "More than she lets you see."
"I know," I whispered. "And I trust her. I do. But the silence... the silence is starting to hurt."
Yuri looked at me for a long moment, the harsh streetlights softening the edges of his face. "You're a beautiful dancer, Jane," he said unexpectedly. "There's a lot of strength in the way you move."
I felt a small flush of warmth. "Thanks, Yuri." I couldn't stay, though. The questions were still there, waiting for me at home. "I should go."
I walked away, leaving him standing in the middle of the empty street, but for the first time that night, the shadows didn't feel quite so heavy.
------------------------------
Yuri POV
I watched her go, her silhouette getting smaller until she turned the corner.
I hadn't intended to follow her. But when she stood up at that table and walked out with that look in her eyes—like the world was shattering—I couldn't just sit there and eat pasta.
I had watched her from the shadows for blocks. I watched her reach that empty street and start to move. I had seen Jane happy, I'd seen her sad, but I had never seen her like that. She danced like she was trying to break her own bones, like she was trying to outrun her own thoughts.
When she stumbled, my body moved before my brain could give the order. Catching her felt... right. Holding her felt like holding something fragile that was determined to be made of steel.
I don't know why I did it. I don't know why I cared. But as I stood there in the silence she left behind, I realized I didn't want her to face the "truth" alone. Whatever Jay was hiding, Jane was the one who was going to have to live with the fallout. And I wanted to be there to catch her when the next fall came.
------------------------------
Jay's PoV
Victor.
The name tasted like ash in my mouth. Victor was Sam's uncle, a man who dealt in secrets and lived in the gutters of high society. He didn't want "work." He wanted money. A lot of it.
He thought he can threatened my sister. He could use her. But the moment he used her name something inside me snap , I lost my patience.
"You won't get a cent," I had hissed back, my hand clenching into a fist under the table. "And if you even breathe her name again, I will ensure you never speak again. I'm not the scared girl from the fire anymore, Victor. I'm the one who started it."
I had stormed out, the adrenaline making my vision blur. Then Keifer had happened.
I leaned my head against the cool glass of the elevator, my hand ghosting over my lips. That idiot. That beautiful, arrogant, terrifying idiot. He had kissed me in the middle of a war zone, and for the first time in my life, someone didn't demand an explanation. He saw the cracks in my armor and just... let them be. He didn't force me to answer, unlike everyone else in my life. Except Jane. And maybe Percy.
"Fuck," I whispered, the realization hitting me. "Jane."
Jane might have heard everything at the restaurant. Or worse, she heard just enough to imagine something even more horrible.
I hurried into the apartment, my heart hammering. I went straight to Jane's room.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the wall. The room was dark, save for the moon bleeding through the curtains.
I sat down beside her, the silence stretching between us.
"Don't you want to ask anything, Jane?" I asked, my voice barely audible.
Jane didn't look at me at first. She just watched her own hands. "I will wait till you tell me yourself," she said quietly.
The guilt was a physical weight in my chest. "He was Sam's uncle," I said, the words spilling out because she deserved at least a piece of the truth. "He was asking for money, so I refused. Then he threatened me."
Jane turned then, her eyes searching mine, searching for the Jean she didn't know. "What secret was he talking about, Jay?"
I closed my eyes. The smell of smoke and the sound of screaming filled my head for a split second. "The secret of what happened in that fire."
Jane turned fully toward me, her hand reaching out to touch my arm. "What happened there, Jay? What are you not telling me?"
I looked at her, my heart breaking. "I really don't want to discuss it, Ate," I said, using the honorific I only used when I was truly vulnerable.
Jane froze. She looked at me for a long beat, seeing the plea in my eyes. She didn't push. She didn't demand. She just nodded slowly.
"Okay," she whispered. "Let's eat dinner."
We went to the kitchen and moved like ghosts, reheating leftovers in total silence. We didn't talk about Victor, or Keifer, or the fire. We just existed. Afterward, we didn't go to our separate rooms. We climbed into her bed together, the way we used to when we were kids and the world felt too big.
As I felt her breathing evening out beside me, I knew the wall was still there. But for tonight, we were just sisters.
------------------------------
Jane's POV
When she called me Ate, the world stopped.
Jay rarely used that word. She was the protector, the one who took charge, the one who acted like she was the older one. But when she said Ate, it was a white flag. It meant she was at her limit. It meant she was hurting so deeply that the only thing she could do was reach for her big sister.
I understood her. I understood that whatever happened in that fire was a ghost she wasn't ready to exorcise yet. I didn't need to know the secret to know that she was still my Jay.
As we lay there in the dark, her hand clutching mine even in her sleep, I realized that the "truth" didn't matter as much as the girl beside me. Keifer could go looking for files, and the mystery man could keep his threats.
I would wait. Because that's what family does. We wait for the light to come back.
------------------------------
A/n
Stay tuned for the next chapters. And yes don't forget to comment and let me know your thought.
So let me ask you all of question till now which was the best part of the book for you ??
Let me know in comment