The Fall
Flashback
“He never touched me gently. But he looked at me like I was the only thing he couldn’t kill.”
I shouldn’t have followed him.
But I did.
Of course I did.
I was nineteen, bored out of my mind, dressed in silk and secrets, stuck in a mansion where every hallway echoed with lies and duty.
And then there was him.
Always quiet. Always watching.
Always slipping away when no one else noticed — except me.
So when I saw Silas disappear through the service corridor that night, I waited ten seconds… then followed.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
Barefoot. Silent. Adrenaline buzzing through me like a dare I hadn’t said out loud yet.
He went past the guard gate. Past the outer gardens. Past the estate’s edge like it meant nothing.
I trailed him. Stupid. Stubborn.
Curious in that dangerous kind of way.
I saw him meet someone near the trees — quick, low conversation, hands moving fast.
Steel glinted. Money flashed. A deal. Maybe something worse.
And then—
My foot snapped a twig.
Shit.
Before I could blink, everything flipped.
I was yanked forward. Slammed against a stone wall.
His hand clamped over my mouth. His body—too close. Too solid. Too him.
Silas.
His eyes burned into mine, all fury and fire and that terrifying calm he always wore like armor.
“What the hell are you doing?” he growled, voice low and harsh against my cheek. “Are you trying to die?”
I squirmed. He didn’t move.
His arm pressed into the wall beside my head. His chest heaved once — just once — like it took everything in him not to lose it.
“Do you have any idea who that was?” he hissed. “If he saw you—”
“I’m not a child,” I snapped the second he pulled his hand away.
“No,” he said coldly. “You’re worse. You’re curious.”
That word hit harder than it should’ve.
Like he could see everything I’d been hiding behind red dresses and trained smiles.
And then something shifted.
He looked down at me — eyes dark, unreadable — and I swear the air between us changed.
I couldn’t tell if he hated me… or if he was about to ruin me.
He kissed me.
Hard. Fast. Like he didn’t want to but couldn’t stop.
Like maybe he was punishing us both for how close we’d let it get.
I gasped — surprised, burning — then kissed him back.
No hesitation. No fear.
It felt like falling off a rooftop and choosing not to scream.
After that, we didn’t talk about what it meant.
We just… kept finding each other.
A glance in the hallway.
A brush of fingers in the elevator.
A stolen moment on the rooftop when the house fell asleep and the moon looked like it knew our secrets.
It wasn’t romantic.
It wasn’t sweet.
But when he touched me, the world went quiet.
And when he looked at me, it was like I was the last real thing in a life full of death and orders and blood.
One night, I came home late.
Hair messy. Lipstick gone. Still tasting his name on my tongue.
My mother was in my room.
She didn’t yell. Didn’t ask questions.
She just sat there, calm and cold and terrifying in the way only my mother could be.
She poured herself a drink and said, quietly:
“You can’t love anyone in this world, Aria.”
She took a sip. Met my eyes.
“Everyone is for sale. Even the ones who say they’re not.”
I didn’t answer.
I didn’t need to.
Because the truth was already sinking in.
And I didn’t care.
Because I was already falling for him.
Even if it ended in fire.
Even if I knew he’d never be mine.
I fell anyway.
—
Silas never walked with the others. He never ate with the staff. Never spoke unless spoken to. He existed like a shadow — useful, dangerous, always slightly out of reach.
But I watched him. Always had.
So when he slipped through the back courtyard at midnight, all silent and sleek and dressed in black, I knew he wasn’t just out for air.
And maybe I should’ve gone back to bed.
Maybe I should’ve stopped being this girl — this desperate, reckless girl who couldn’t stop chasing the one thing she wasn’t allowed to want.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I followed him through the gardens and out past the gates. Barefoot. Heart pounding. Silk robe clinging to my skin like it knew I was being stupid.
I saw him meet someone near the treeline. A man in a leather jacket — hands twitchy, voice sharp. Money passed. Something silver flashed. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the tension in the air was thick enough to bite through.
Then I stepped on a twig.
The sound cracked like a gunshot in the silence.
I didn’t even have time to flinch.
I was slammed back against a cold stone wall — hard. My breath flew out of me as my back hit it, and before I could scream, a hand clamped over my mouth.
Silas.
He was so close I could smell the leather and gunpowder on him. His breath was ragged. His eyes — furious. Wild.
But under that, something else.
Panic?
His voice was low, a threat stitched into every word. “Are you out of your mind?”
I tried to speak — I think I tried to say I was fine, that I was careful — but his hand was still pressed to my mouth.
“Do you know who that was?” he hissed. “If he saw you—”
He cut himself off, like saying it out loud might make it worse.
He pulled his hand away. My lips were trembling.
“I was just watching,” I said. “I—I didn’t mean—”
“You don’t follow people like me, Aria,” he growled. “You get people like me killed.”
That stung.
I shoved his chest, even though he barely moved an inch.
“I’m not stupid,” I snapped. “And I’m not afraid of you.”
His eyes flicked down to my mouth. “You should be.”
I swallowed. “Why?”
He stepped closer.
My spine pressed tighter against the stone. I could feel the heat coming off him. His hand hit the wall next to my head. His body boxed me in. His voice dropped lower, darker.
“Because next time you follow me… I won’t be the one to catch you.”
My chest was rising too fast.
He looked at me like I was something forbidden. Fragile. Dangerous.
And then, he kissed me.
Fast. Angry. No hesitation.
I gasped into him, but I didn’t pull away.
I kissed him back, fingers curling into his shirt. I didn’t care that this was wrong. I didn’t care that he worked for my father. I didn’t care that this could destroy everything.
I wanted to be ruined by him.
When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against mine. We didn’t speak. Didn’t breathe.
Everything felt like fire.
We didn’t talk about it after.
Didn’t say what it meant. We just… kept meeting. Always in secret.
Stolen minutes between meetings. Quick touches in dark corridors. Heated whispers on the rooftop under the stars.
He never smiled. I never stopped chasing the high.
Once, he found me waiting in the backseat of a car. I didn’t say a word — just pulled him in and kissed him like the world was ending.
Sometimes it felt like it was.
Then came the night my mother waited in my room.
She wasn’t wearing makeup. Her earrings were gone. She looked tired. Like something in her had finally cracked.
She poured herself a drink with shaking hands and sat on the edge of my bed.
“You can’t love anyone in this world, Aria,” she said softly. “Everyone is for sale. Even the ones who swear they’re not.”
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
Because deep down… I already knew she was right.
But I didn’t care.
Because I was nineteen.
And he looked at me like I was the only thing he couldn’t kill.
And that was enough.