“I’m back.”

  I raised an eyebrow. The door opened again to reveal Leon. A couple of hours had passed since he’d come into my room with his unconscious crush in his arms, but this time, he’d come alone.

  “Sent El back, did you?” I asked while cleaning my gsses.

  “About that…” Leon paused, his eyes avoiding mine, gncing down at my hands instead. I also paused. I had a bad feeling about this.

  I put my gsses on, “Is he still here?”

  “No.”

  “Then your house?”

  Leon nodded. How very unsurprising.

  “So…what are you going to do with him?”

  Leon furrowed his brows, likely still moody from before. He opened his mouth, then closed it back, as if changing his mind at the very st minute, his eyes still looking away.

  He didn’t want to answer me. I pursed my lips.

  “If it’s because the guy keeps threatening to spill what’s happened, I can ask Uncle for help,” I said calmly, “He won’t be happy, but I’ll tell him it’s all your fault, and you can deal with the aftermath.”

  Leon’s expression immediately stiffened at the thought. His jaw tightened, and his hands clenched together into a fist.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to throw you into an arranged marriage before you make any more trouble. As for what would happen to Elliot?” I paused for extra effect, leaning in to observe Leon’s reaction.

  “Rowan.” Leon finally said. “Don’t make me angry.”

  But his eyes were already burning with anger as he finally raised his head to look at me. A jolt of electricity went down my spine as he did. I leaned back, looking away, satisfied with his response. I wasn’t pnning to cross a line today anyway.

  “I’ll try.” I said, making a gesture to the chair, trying not to let my lips curl up into a smile. “You should sit, Leon.”

  The atmosphere was heavy, as if we were talking deep underwater, but I didn’t care. In fact, the tension woke me up, made me more excited. I liked it and how familiar it felt—no faking nice.

  Leon hesitated before lowering himself onto the chair. His eyes furtively gnced between me and the door.

  “Tell me what you’re pnning to do, Leon. Do you need my help or not?”

  “I just can’t let him go. I need him.”Although he was trying to hide it, Leon’s deep voice sounded softer, almost desperate, “I want to make him completely mine.”

  “Define ‘completely mine’.” My voice was ft.

  Leon hesitated, struggling to answer.

  “Do you want to rape him?” I asked.

  Leon froze, his eyes widening with shock and rage. His voice stuttered, broken, and his breathing quickened as if the very thought made him sick, “N…no, no. I would never do that. He wouldn’t… want that… That would hurt him—”

  “You say that as if kidnapping him is any different, but fine.” I cut him off. Leon looked relieved, “Let’s continue. So you want to confine him there? In your house? For how long?”

  Leon exhaled sharply, voice cracking, “As long as it takes.”

  And what was that supposed to mean?

  “For as long as— ah.” I studied Leon closely.

  Leon's brows loosened, and his ears reddened until they were the color of cherry tomatoes. He lowered his line of sight to the ground, and even his eyeshes seemed to flutter shyly with desire. It was subtle, and his expression remained pin, but I could tell somehow.

  My throat felt dry, “You're hoping he’ll fall in love with you.”

  Leon didn’t refute.

  I didn’t hold back my ridiculing snort. That expined why he was acting so amiable instead of keeping his lips shut like he usually did; if his pn was long term, then he would need my cooperation.

  How stupid.

  “And even if he doesn’t love me, he’ll still stay with me forever. I’ll be his entire world.” Leon said, his voice dangerously calm.

  “I don’t care if he'll hate me,” He paused, fingers curling into his palm, as he tried to find the words to expin. His eyes burned intensely, "That would be enough."

  I sighed, avoiding Leon’s eyes, trying to ignore my own racing heartbeat. For some reason, I couldn't look at him directly, though I was unsure why. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it felt like I was about to… snap, somehow.

  Looking away helped. I pursed my lips together and paused, thinking.

  There were more pressing matters. I forced myself to loosen up and focus on them, hands delicately tapping on my desk as I pondered. The biggest matter being how Leon was going to fucking get away with this. Right now, I was just hoping Leon had at least properly covered up his tracks, but he didn't seem like himself with matters reted to Elliot. It worried me.

  “Elliot is dirt poor, isn’t he?” The way I said it was more of a statement, less a question, “I’m guessing he’s also an orphan, maybe even unregistered. That’s the only reason he has to not have any hospital records.”

  Leon nodded.

  “And he doesn’t know your identity.” I hummed. “What’s the name of the bar he worked at?”

  “The Rat’s Nest.” Leon said.

  “Got it. And you took a private car there and didn’t leave any evidence behind, right? Else it’ll be a pain in the ass to delete the camera footage—”

  “I took care of that.” Leon nodded, rexing as he realized I wasn’t nagging at him any longer. The tension in his shoulders disappeared, “You just need to keep your mouth shut.”

  And head over immediately if he ever needed me, I assumed, but I only nodded in agreement. We both already knew that, after all.

  “Fine. Call me if anything happens. Or even if you just need some advice.” I said the st part as an afterthought, “But you know you’ll owe me after this one, don’t you?”

  Leon turned, about to leave, not wanting to talk to me anymore. How rude. He’d barely been here for thirty minutes, and all we’d done was talk about Elliot. I mean, I was technically the one who brought it up, but I didn’t expect him to leave so soon.

  Come to think of it, it’d been ages since we’d st grabbed a drink, too.

  I also stood up, following him to the door, but Leon was quicker. There was the sound of my front door closing, and the whooshing sound of the elevator as the doors slid closed.

  “Don’t forget your debt!” I shouted. His figure disappeared from my eyes.

  Leaving me behind, alone, bnkly staring at thin air.

  StoneInky