Rowan continued, calm, deliberate, every word chosen to cut.
"Ryan. He walked into an active session. Interrupted. Told me you're dangerous. Unstable. Fixated. Said you're dragging the family name down. Then he tried to charm me. Brushed hair behind my ear. Asked me to dinner. Told me I deserve someone who 'respects' me. Someone stable. Someone who isn't you."
Nyx's hands tightened on the armrests, knuckles whitening.
Rowan leaned closer.
"He called you cheap," she said softly.
"Said you think you can insult him. Said you humiliate him in front of the board. And your family, your stepmother, your stepsister, they're already planning. They want Connecticut. They want guardianship. They want you declared unfit so the empire goes to Ryan. They're waiting for you to slip. And you're making it easy for them."
Nyx's breathing changed, shallow, fast.
Rowan didn't stop.
"You come in here every day," she continued, voice steady but edged with contempt, "flirting, pushing, trying to make me feel something. But your own family is plotting behind your back. Your brother wants what's yours. Your stepmother wants you gone. And you're too busy trying to get under my skin to see they're already under yours. Cheap, Nyx. That's what he called you. Cheap. Because you think sex and power are the same thing. Because you think touching me makes you strong. It doesn't. It makes you desperate."
Nyx's eyes darkened, pupils blown, jaw clenched so hard the muscle jumped.
Rowan leaned back, slow, deliberate.
"So go ahead," she said.
"Flirt. Touch. Whisper. But know this: every time you do, you're handing them ammunition. Every time you cross a line, you prove them right. You're not winning, Nyx. You're losing. And when they finally lock you away in Connecticut, when they take the trusts, the name, the empire, and me, you'll have no one to blame but yourself."
Silence.
Thick. Suffocating.
Nyx stared at her, chest rising and falling too fast, hands gripping the armrests until the leather creaked.
Then he stood, slow, trembling with fury.
"You think you can mock me?" he whispered, voice low, dangerous, cracking at the edges.
"You think you can use my brother's betrayal to hurt me? You think I don't know what they're doing? I've known since I was twelve. I've known they hate me. I've known they want me gone. But I'm still here. I'm still the heir. And I'm still the one sitting across from you every day, making you feel things you hate yourself for feeling."
He stepped closer, around the desk, until he was inches from Rowan's chair.
Rowan didn't move. Didn't stand. Just looked up, calm, unflinching.
Nyx leaned down, hands braced on the desk arms, caging Rowan without touching her.
"Ryan can try," he said, voice shaking with rage.
"He can whisper. He can charm. He can plot. But he'll never have what I have. He'll never have you looking at him the way you look at me. Like you want to hate me. Like you want to destroy me. Like you want to fuck me until neither of us can breathe."
Rowan's eyes flashed, anger, defiance, something rawer.
"Get out," she said, quiet, lethal.
Nyx straightened, slow, trembling.
"You want me gone?" he whispered.
"Then make me go. Report me. End the sessions. Send me to Connecticut. But we both know you won't. Because the second I'm gone? You'll spend every night wondering what would've happened if you'd let me stay. If you'd let me touch you again. If you'd let me break you."
He turned, walked to the door.
Paused.
Looked back, eyes burning.
"Tomorrow," he said. "I'll be back again."
The door opened.
Nyx stepped through.
It closed.
Rowan sat alone, chest heaving, hands clenched on the desk.
She stared at the empty chair.
At the spot where Nyx had stood.
And for the first time, she felt something shift inside her, not want.
Not surrender.
But anger.
Pure, cold, clarifying.
She picked up the pen.
Opened a new note.
Typed: Patient continues to exhibit escalating boundary violations and verbal sexualization. Provider recommends immediate review by ethics committee and consideration of treatment termination.
She hit save.
And for the first time since this began...
she meant it.
Nyx Ravencroft had pushed.
And Rowan Blackwood was finally ready to push back.
Harder.
~~^-^~~
The private elevator doors barely slid open before Nyx stormed out, oxfords striking marble like hammer blows, brown blazer half-unbuttoned, ponytail coming loose from the force of his movement.
His face was flushed, eyes wild and black with rage, breathing fast and shallow. The second session had ended less than an hour ago, but Rowan's words still burned in his skull: 'Your brother came to see me… called you cheap… your family is already plotting…'
He knew exactly where to go.
The main living suite doors flew open under his palm, banging against the wall.
Ryan was there, lounging on the sectional, phone in hand, legs kicked up, looking every inch the smug heir-in-waiting.
Mia sat across from him, legs tucked under her, scrolling idly. Bianca stood near the bar cart, pouring herself a glass of white, posture perfect as always.
They all looked up at the same instant.
Nyx didn't speak.
He crossed the room in six furious strides.
Mia stood first, instinctive, stepping forward with hands raised like she could calm a storm.
"Nyx, wait..."
Nyx shoved her aside, hard, shoulder checking Mia into the arm of the sofa. Mia stumbled, gasping, but Nyx didn't even glance back.
Ryan started to rise, smile already forming, ready to deflect.
Nyx reached him before he could fully stand.
He grabbed his collar with both hands, silk shirt bunching in his fists, and yanked him forward so violently his phone clattered to the floor.
"You piece of shit," he snarled, voice low, shaking with fury. "You went to her. You touched her. You tried to take what's mine."
Ryan's eyes widened, shock flickering before the mask snapped back.
"Nyx, calm down..."
He didn't let him finish.
His right fist came up, fast, precise, and slammed into his cheekbone.
The crack echoed in the room.
Ryan's head snapped sideways; blood immediately bloomed at the corner of his mouth, splitting the skin over his cheek.
He staggered, half-falling back onto the sofa, but Nyx didn't release his collar. He pulled him forward again, knuckles white, face inches from his.
"You think you can charm her?" he hissed.
"You think you can whisper in her ear, brush her hair back, play the knight while you call me cheap behind my back? You think you can take her from me? You're nothing. You're a leech. A Ravencroft-by-marriage parasite who's been waiting your whole life for me to fuck up so you can steal what's mine."
Ryan wiped blood from his lip with the back of his hand, eyes dark, furious, but still smiling that cold, calculated smile.
"You're losing it," he said softly. "Look at you. Violent. Unhinged. Exactly what the board needs to see."
Nyx's fist rose again, trembling with the effort not to swing.
Bianca moved then, fast, graceful, stepping between them.
"Nyx, stop," she said, voice sharp, commanding. She put one hand on Nyx's arm, the other on Ryan's chest, trying to separate them.
Nyx shook her off, hard.
"Don't touch me," he snarled at Bianca.
"You're worse. You pretend to care while you plot with him. You smile at Grandfather while you whisper poison. You're all the same. You want me gone. You want me locked away. You want my trusts, my name, my life."
Mia scrambled up from the sofa, voice high, panicked.
"Nyx, please, stop. You're bleeding him. Grandfather's going to..."
Nyx rounded on her, eyes blazing.
"Shut up," he spat. "You don't get to speak. You've never been anything but a spoiled shadow. You think you'll get a piece of this when I'm gone? You'll get nothing. You'll all get nothing."
He turned back to Ryan, still gripping his collar, knuckles smeared with his blood.
"You went to her office," he whispered, voice cracking now, rage giving way to something rawer.
"You think you can have her? You think she'll look at you the way she looks at me? She hates you. She told me. She said 'don't touch me.' She looked at you like you were nothing. Because you are."
Ryan's smile finally vanished, replaced by cold fury.
"You're delusional," he said quietly.
"She'll never want you. Not really. You're a child playing with fire. And when you burn yourself, when you finally go too far, she'll be the one who locks the door behind you."
Nyx's fist tightened, fabric tearing slightly in his grip.
Then, slowly, he released him.
Pushed him back onto the sofa.
He landed hard, blood trickling down his chin.
Nyx stood over him, chest heaving, eyes glassy with unshed tears and pure hate.
"You want to play this game?" he said, voice low, trembling.
"Fine. Play. But know this: if you ever go near her again, if you touch her, if you speak to her, if you so much as breathe in her direction, I will destroy you. Until there's nothing left of Ryan Ravencroft but a name no one remembers."
He stepped back, shaking.
Bianca reached for him again, gentler this time.
"Nyx..."
"Don't," Nyx snapped, voice breaking. "Don't pretend you care now."
He turned, walked toward the door.
Paused.
Looked back at all of them, Ryan bleeding on the sofa, Mia frozen, Bianca pale, the whole glittering cage of a family staring at him like he was the monster.
"You want me gone?" he said quietly. "You'll have to kill me first."
The door slammed behind him, echoing through the penthouse like a gunshot.
Silence fell, heavy, ugly, final.
Ryan wiped blood from his mouth, slow, deliberate.
His smile returned, small, cold, victorious.
"He just proved my point," he said softly.
Bianca looked at him, eyes hard.
"You pushed too far," she said.
Ryan shrugged, wincing as the motion pulled at his split lip.
"He pushed first."
Mia finally spoke, voice small.
"What now?"
Ryan stood, slowly, straightening his torn shirt.
"Now," he said, "we wait. He'll explode again. He'll make a bigger mistake. And when he does..."
He looked toward the door Nyx had stormed through.
"...we'll be ready."
The city lights glittered outside, indifferent, endless.
And somewhere in the tower, Nyx stood alone, fists clenched, breathing ragged, tears finally falling.
Not from weakness.
From rage.
From betrayal.
From the sudden, bone-deep certainty that the people who shared his blood were willing to destroy him to keep what he was born to inherit.
And from the knowledge that tomorrow, 9:00 a.m., he would walk back into Rowan Blackwood's office.
~~^-^~~
The consult room door opened again minutes after Nyx left, Sara and Emma slipping inside like they'd been waiting in the hallway the whole time. They closed it softly behind them, eyes wide, searching Rowan's face for cracks.
Sara spoke first, voice hushed, urgent.
"What happened? He looked like he would explode when he walked out. Eyes black, fists clenched, guards practically dragging him away before he said something he'd regret."
Emma nodded fast, leaning against the door.
"Yeah, Ro. He was shaking. Like, visibly. We thought he was gonna storm back in or throw something. What did you say to him?"
Rowan sat back in her chair, slow exhale, shoulders finally dropping a fraction. For the first time in days, a small, real smile touched her lips. Tired. Worn. But satisfied.
"Nothing dramatic," she said quietly. "I just... reminded him of his place."
Sara's brows shot up.
"His place?"
Rowan nodded once.
"I told him about Ryan. About how he came here yesterday, interrupted a session, tried to charm me, called him cheap and unstable behind his back. That every time he flirts, every time he pushes, he's handing them ammunition. That he's not winning. He's losing."
Emma let out a low whistle.
"And he just... took it?"
Rowan's smile faded slightly, replaced by something colder.
"He got angry," she said.
"Really angry. Not at me. At them. At Ryan especially. I could see it, his whole body locked up when I said his name. When I told him he called him cheap. When I said he's trying to get to me. He looked like he wanted to tear the building down."
Sara stepped closer, voice softening.
"That's great, Ro. Means you're safe. If he's turning that rage on his family instead of you... maybe he'll back off. Maybe he'll realize this obsession is costing him more than it's giving."
Rowan looked down at her hands, still faintly trembling from earlier.
"Not ever," she said quietly. "Not until his obsession stops."
Emma frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Rowan lifted her gaze, eyes steady now, but shadowed.
"He's not going to stop because I told him to. He's not going to stop because his family's plotting. He's going to stop when he believes he doesn't have a chance. When he finally realizes I'm not going to break. That I'm not going to give him what he wants, reaction, surrender, anything. When he sees me as unbreakable... maybe then he'll lose interest."
Sara exhaled, slow, worried.
"And until then?"
Rowan's smile returned, small, grim, determined.
"Until then," she said, "I hold the line. Every day. Every session. I document. I enforce boundaries. I don't react. I don't give him the satisfaction. And if he escalates, if he touches me again, if he threatens, if he crosses into harassment, I report it. No hesitation. No mercy."
Emma nodded slowly.
"You think he'll actually leave? Walk away?"
Rowan looked toward the closed door, toward the corridor where Nyx had stormed out minutes ago.
"I think he'll fight harder first," she said quietly.
"But eventually... he'll have to face the truth. That this..." she gestured between herself and the empty patient chair "...isn't a game he can win. Because I'm not playing."
Sara reached over, squeezed Rowan's shoulder once, firm and grounding.
"We're right outside," she said. "Every day. You say the word, we're in here. Or we're calling security. Or we're going over admin's head. Whatever it takes."
Emma nodded, fierce.
"You're not alone in this."
Rowan looked between them, eyes softening for the first time all day.
"I know," she said quietly. "Thank you."
"There is an idea," Emma said. "To get him away from you."
Rowan looked up, eyes tired, wary.
"What?"