— NOLAN'S POV —
My head was splitting. Every thought felt jagged, sharp, cutting into me from the inside. My whole life had begun to look like something I'd borrowed, not lived—like someone else's memories had been stitched into me.
Zade's voice cut through the static. "Nolan? Hey, are you okay? Breathe—slow, deep breaths."
But the air was thick, heavy, like it didn't want to go into my lungs. "I… I want to get out of here. This place—it's suffocating me."
He hesitated, then nodded quickly. "Okay. Then we leave. Whatever's down here isn't worth it if it's breaking you."
I didn't argue. We climbed out of the basement, shadows clinging to my skin long after we left them behind. My phone buzzed as soon as we hit the ground floor. Dozens of missed calls. Varek's name over and over, his messages stacked and unread. My stomach twisted. He didn't know I'd sent his guards home, forcing them out with his name on my tongue like a weapon.
Zade glanced at me. "Want me to drive you back?"
"No. Thanks, but I can manage." The refusal came out too quickly. The thought of showing up at his place with zade in the car—while Varek waited—made my chest tighten.
It was already 10 p.m. Too late. Too dangerous. Too many questions waiting for me behind that door.
By the time I stepped inside the apartment, my body had gone numb. Blank. The lights were dim, but the moment my eyes adjusted, I saw him.
Varek.
Sitting on the couch like a predator waiting in silence, shadows bending toward him. His gaze snapped to mine the second I entered, and my chest seized. He wasn't just angry—he looked offended, like my very existence had crossed some line. His aura was colder than I had ever felt it, like standing in a winter storm with no coat.
We stared at each other. I didn't speak. Neither did he.
At first, his expression was violent, raw, as if the apartment itself might not survive what he was feeling. But when his eyes locked onto mine, something shifted. For a flicker of a second, I saw it—the same quiet affection I'd seen in that photo.
His gaze softened, not enough to make him harmless, but enough to make my chest twist in confusion. It was like the anger didn't know where to go the moment he looked at me.
And then he was moving toward me. Fast.
I flinched, instinct dragging me back a step. He noticed. His face tightened, hurt flashing before it disappeared behind something darker. But I couldn't process that—not with him towering in front of me, leaning down until his face hovered just above mine. His hands gripped my arms, not harshly, but firm, grounding.
"What's wrong, Nolan?" His voice was low, strained, as if he was holding himself together by threads.
I couldn't meet his eyes. My heart was hammering too fast, my thoughts spinning. Was it fear? Was it truth? Both?
His hand slid from my arm to my chin, tilting my face up with infuriating care, as though I'd shatter under anything rougher. "I told you once already," he murmured, steel laced in velvet, "look at me when I'm talking to you."
I forced myself to meet his eyes. The tears came uninvited, stinging, blurring my vision.
My voice broke quieter than I intended: "When are you going to tell me the truth, Varek… or should I say… Rev?"
The name hit him. His expression fractured, stilled. "You… remember?"
"No. But I found something." I shoved the photos into his hand, voice rising with desperation. "For God's sake, just tell me everything before my mind snaps in two!"
His jaw tightened. "Where did you get these, Nolan?"
I nearly screamed. "That's not the point, Varek! Stop avoiding it!"
His composure cracked. "I told you this was dangerous! And still you dig. Still you—" He yanked me closer, voice raw with fury laced in something worse—fear. "Do you not fucking understand, Nolan?"
His tone shook me, louder, harsher than I'd ever heard it. My chest caved in under it.
"Then tell me yourself! You think I enjoy this? You think I want to go chasing answers in shadows? Just—stop making me do this!"
The storm between us exploded.
"You only need to know one thing," he snapped, eyes blazing, "I will protect you. Always. No one can take you from me."
His words seared, possessive, suffocating. "Who are you to say that?" I shot back, reckless, my throat raw. "I don't even remember you, Varek! You keep everything from me, and still you act like I belong to you. I don't—I can do whatever I want. I can be with whoever I want. Do you understand that?"
The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. His gaze darkened instantly, obsidian shadows drowning the faint tenderness. He stepped closer, forcing me backward until my spine hit the wall. Trapped.
His hands slammed to the wall on either side of me, caging me in. His breath was sharp against my skin, his voice venom threaded with a vow: "Don't ever think about being with anyone else. If I say you don't need to know something, then you don't. Understood?"
The fury in him was terrifying. My own fear showed in my face—I knew it, and so did he. His eyes searched mine, caught on the tremor in my expression. Then—sudden, violent—his fist crashed into the wall just beside my head, the impact echoing like thunder.
And just like that, he was gone. Out the door, swallowed by the night.
I slid down the wall into a heap, my body shaking, the silence pressing in around me.
I didn't know whether I was more afraid of the truth he was hiding… or of what would happen when he finally decided to tell me.