The bass of the music throbbed through the club, lights flashing over the writhing crowd in waves of red and gold. Kashi sipped from her glass.
Across the room, Alex had already found Zarri or perhaps Zarri had found him. The two of them were tangled in yet another playful argument, her rolling her eyes with theatrical irritation while he leaned in far too close, clearly enjoying every second of her annoyance. Her gaze drifted again and again toward the entrance, each time the doors opened and it wasn't him, something in her chest sank before she could stop it.
Alex's eyes found Kashi. He caught her staring at the door again, smirked knowingly, and tipped his glass in her direction before sauntering over with his usual lazy swagger. Behind him, Zarri glared at his retreating back.
"Kashiiii" Alex said slyly, leaning against the edge of her table. His voice dripped amusement. "You've looked at that door ten times in five minutes. I don't even need to guess who you're hoping for."He tilted his head, grin widening.
Kashi turned to him and smiled, cool and bright. "Who says I'm looking for anyone? It's a party. I'm here for the night." She grabbed a bottle and stepped backward toward the dance floor, her chin lifting. "I don't need anybody."
Alex's grin stretched wider, a quiet chuckle rumbling from his chest as he watched her disappear into the crowd. "Ahhh, there she is," he murmured to himself. "Kashi Saints, the queen who insists she needs no king."
Zarri smacked Alex's arm. "Stop staring, pervert. She said she doesn't need anyone."
Alex bent slightly toward her, his smirk never fading. He lifted his drink casually. "Don't worry, querida. I won't tell her little secret."
[Darling]
On the dance floor, lights strobed over Kashi's face as she raised the bottle and let the music swallow her. Her smile glittered radiant, untouchable. After a while, the heat of the club began to suffocate her.
Kashi danced until the ache in her legs and the noise in her head became too much, then slipped away from the crowd in search of air. She moved quickly through the quieter hallways and up toward the rooftop, desperate for a moment of silence, just one breath that belonged only to her.
The rooftop was empty.
For the first time that night, she exhaled fully.
The cool air brushed her skin, sweeping away some of the heat, and she tipped her head back, eyes closing for only a second.
Then a voice cut through the silence. "Nice to see you again, princess."
Kashi's eyes snapped open. She turned sharply and froze.
She recognized him immediately. The same man from the last club. "You," she breathed, the word sharp with disbelief. Her eyes darted across the rooftop, but there was no one else there. "What do you want this time?"
She took a step back.
He took one forward.
Fear tightened around her ribs. Kashi's gaze flicked around wildly, searching for anything, anything she could grab, anything she could use. But the rooftop was bare.
"Get away from me," she warned, her voice trembling despite her effort to steady it.
He kept coming.
Kashi turned to walk to the door, but he lunged first. His hand caught her before she could make it two steps, jerking her off balance hard enough to send panic crashing through her.
"You escaped last time," he snarled near her ear, his voice ugly with satisfaction. "No one's saving you tonight."
Terror ripped through her.
Kashi struggled with everything she had, her breaths breaking into frantic gasps, her heart slamming against her ribs as she fought to get free. She clawed, shoved, and twisted against his grip, refusing to go still even as fear blurred the edges of her vision.
Kashi realized, with a sickening wave of dread, just how alone she was.
Kashi fought against his grip with everything she had. "Let me go!!!"
Her fists struck his chest, her nails clawed at his arms, her heels scraping desperately against the concrete as she tried to break free. But the man only tightened his grip, his patience thinning as she continued to struggle.
"Stop it," he snapped, irritation creeping into his voice.
Kashi didn't stop. The man's lips curled in anger. "You were lucky last time," he said bitterly. "That man stepped in and shoved me aside like I was nothing."
The memory flashed through her mind instantly, Chaos appearing out of nowhere, pushing the man away as though he weighed nothing.And suddenly Kashi laughed, completely unexpected.
The man frowned, his grip tightening. "What the hell are you laughing at?"
Kashi lifted her head, strands of hair falling across her face as her eyes glinted with bitter amusement.
His expression darkened. "You're still the talk of the industry," he spat back, venom dripping from every word. "The unloved heiress. The woman who went after some poor girl like Natalie and used her power to crush her." His voice hardened with contempt. "I despise people like you the most."
Kashi spat at him. "If I were at the peak of my villain era," she shot back, her voice trembling with fury rather than fear, "you'd already be ripped apart, rib to career."
The man scoffed, clearly unimpressed. His hand clamped down harder around her arm, the sudden force making Kashi cry out as pain shot through her. He laughed. "You're under my mercy now," he sneered. "Keeping quiet would be the smartest thing you've done tonight."
Before she could react, he shoved her violently. Kashi lost her footing and crashed onto the hard pavement, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. Her head struck the ground with a dull crack, the world spinning violently for a moment as darkness crept at the edges of her vision.
The rooftop seemed to tilt around her.
And the man loomed above her, blocking out the moonlight.
Kashi forced herself upright just enough to look at him, panic finally breaking through the stubborn defiance she'd been clinging to.
"What do you want from me?" she screamed.
He didn't answer.
Instead, his hand shot down, gripping a fistful of her hair and yanking her upward.
Kashi let out a sharp whimper, not entirely from pain, but from sheer disbelief. "You fucker," she gasped, clutching at his wrist. "This hair cost quite a lot." The words slipped out before she could stop them.
For a moment the man just stared at her.
His brow lifted slightly, surprise flickering across his face at her ridiculous defiance.
Then his expression darkened. "You little shit," he growled, his grip tightening. "You think you're something, huh?"
His voice lowered, thick with ugly satisfaction.
"I was watching you the moment you walked into the club," he continued slowly. "Watched you the whole night… right up until you came up here."
Kashi's stomach dropped, the rooftop suddenly felt far too quiet.
His lips twisted into a cruel smile.
"I'm going to have my fun with you," he said.
His fingers tightened painfully in her hair as he leaned closer.
"You can scream all you want."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"No one will save you."
And in that moment, whatever sarcasm or bravado Kashi had been clinging to vanished.
The sharp edge of her wit disappeared, replaced by something far more fragile.
Pure, unfiltered horror settled in her eyes.
The man smiled the moment he saw the change in her expression. "That's right, pretty girl," he murmured.
Then he struck her.
Pain burst across Kashi's cheek, sharp and blinding, and for a second the world tilted. The sting pulsed through her skin, but what followed was worse, the way her mind immediately splintered, not from the panic alone.
From memory.
From Damian. From Natalie. From the whispers, the headlines, the judgment. From every wound she thought had already scarred over. Just when it seemed she had survived one storm, another rose to swallow her whole.
Her head spun. Sound rang in her ears.
The man grabbed her, but Kashi barely noticed anymore. The rooftop blurred at the edges. The music below became distant, muffled, like it belonged to another world.
She wasn't fighting.
She wasn't screaming.
For a terrifying moment, she wasn't even fully there.
The man's hands were rough and invasive, his grin widening at her stillness. He muttered something ugly under his breath, something about her skin, about her body, about what he thought he could take simply because he had overpowered her.
And Kashi… sank deeper. Her thoughts turned vicious, clawing through her from the inside out.
What did I even do to deserve this one?
Every time I think I've made it past one stage, the next one comes.
A man like this… a nobody… touching me like I am nothing.
She was Kashi Saints. Heiress. Daughter of the Saints name.
And yet beneath him, trapped in that terrible moment, she felt stripped of all of it.
Nothing.
The thought hollowed her out.
Then his hand moved lower and Kashi snapped back into herself.
Her nails slashed upward, digging hard into his face, his eyes. The man screamed, jerking back with a howl of pain. Kashi twisted, trying to shove herself up, desperate for breath, desperate for distance.
But he was faster. His hand came down on her again, harder this time, the blow knocking her sideways.
"You fucking bitch!" he roared.
As he reached for her again, Kashi's lungs burned. Her body felt heavy, slow, battered. Panic slammed into her all at once, and for one awful second, she thought this was it. That this was the moment everything ended.
And at that moment when she felt all was lost
Like wind, something was sent flying across from her. She heard a thud. Was it her body, but why wasn't she feeling pain?
She didnt process it totally, she just laid there. Facing up the skies flat against the rooftop, her breaths shallow and ragged.
And then she heard it, a jab, a punch, it came down fast, very fast and then she turned her head and saw it. A brutal, rapid succession of punches landing with terrifying force.
Her attacker was on the ground now, his face already bloodied, his body pinned beneath someone larger, faster, more vicious.
A dark figure loomed over him like wrath made flesh.
And Kashi's breath caught.
Chaos.
Was that… Chaos?
When had he gotten there?