The morning air was sharp with citrus and damp from early sprinklers. Somewhere outside, the garden was being trimmed, the hum of distant clippers blending with birdsong.
But inside Maddie’s room… there was only silence.
And the aftermath.
The sheets were tangled.
The room still warm with the scent of sweat, sex, and surrender.
Vanessa lay curled into Maddie’s side, one leg slung over her hip, her long dark hair spilled across the pillow like ink. She was still asleep—bare, vulnerable, arm loosely draped across Maddie’s waist.
And Maddie?
Maddie was watching.
Not Vanessa.
But the door.
Because it hadn’t latched.
And a moment ago, it had opened just a crack.
She’d seen the flash of a shoulder.
A shadow of blond hair.
Lucien.
He was gone again now, of course. Silent as a ghost. But she knew what she saw.
And more importantly—
She knew what he saw.
She let Vanessa sleep.
Slipped out of bed, wrapped herself in a pale silk robe. No underwear.
She didn’t need armor anymore.
Not when desire was the sharpest weapon in the room.
She padded barefoot down the hall, hips swaying slow and soft, her fingers still tingling from the way Vanessa had gripped them hours earlier.
She knew where he’d be.
Not in his room.
Not in the library.
No—he was a creature of habit.
And Lucien always hid in the garden maze when he didn’t want to be found.
So she found him.
He was leaning against a white marble column at the heart of the maze, shirt undone, cigarette burning low between his fingers, eyes cast to the hedge wall like it had answers.
He didn’t turn when she stepped onto the gravel.
Didn’t move.
But she felt the shift in his breath.
“You saw, didn’t you?” she said softly.
Lucien’s voice was quiet. Strained.
“Was I supposed to?”
Maddie walked up behind him. Close, but not touching.
“You wanted to.”
Lucien exhaled through his nose, jaw clenched.
“She was begging you.”
“She was.”
“She never begs.”
Maddie stepped around him. Faced him.
Her robe fell open just enough to show the curve of her chest, the faint bruises Vanessa had left with her teeth. She saw Lucien’s eyes drop. His throat bob.
“Did it make you jealous?”
Lucien’s voice turned bitter. “It made me furious.”
“Good,” Maddie said. “Because now you know how I felt when you hesitated.”
Lucien flinched.
And Maddie saw it.
All the cracks.
All the control he thought he had was gone. The charming, effortless lover. The cool observer. Now he was just a man who’d been left outside the heat.
And he hated it.
“You’re not playing fair anymore,” he said.
“I’m not playing,” she replied.
She leaned in, slow. Took the cigarette from his hand. Inhaled once. Let the smoke drift from her lips between them.
“You think this house belongs to you?”
He didn’t answer.
“To Vanessa?” she teased. “To Cole?”
She leaned even closer, eyes locked to his.
“You’re all just tenants now.”
Lucien’s jaw flexed.
His hands balled into fists.
“You’re pushing me.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
She whispered the next words, hot against his ear:
“Because I want to see what happens when you break.”
She left him there, the cigarette smoldering in her hand, her robe trailing open as she walked.
Lucien didn’t follow.
But she knew—
He would.
Soon.
Back inside, Vanessa was awake.
Perched on the edge of the bed, brushing her fingers along the indents Maddie’s teeth had left on her shoulder. Her expression was unreadable—part awe, part dread.
“He saw, didn’t he?”
Maddie nodded.
Vanessa ran a hand through her hair.
“He’s not going to let this go.”
“Neither am I.”
Vanessa looked up.
“What are you doing, Maddie?”
Maddie stepped in front of her.
Pulled her to her knees at the edge of the bed.
Tipped her chin up.
“I’m teaching you all how it feels to want something you don’t control.”
Later that evening, a guest was announced.
Unexpected.
An old friend of Vanessa’s, they said.
A woman.
Tall.
Blonde.
Sharp.
Maddie watched from the balcony as she stepped from the car, long legs unfolding, black boots clicking on the stone.
Her name?
Celeste.
And the way she looked up at the house?
Like she already knew there was blood in the water.
XOXO
Maddie’s Page