Misunderstood By My Stepbrother

Chapter 4

Freya's POV :

The music was too loud the crowd was too close, and I couldn't breathe.

I had slipped away to the side of the room pressing myself against the wall trying to pull air into my lungs without making it obvious.

My chest kept rising and falling too fast my heart still hammering from what had happened outside. I needed to calm down.I needed to think.

And then a hand landed on my shoulder from behind.

I spun around so fast I nearly lost my balance,my heart leaping straight into my throat.

For one terrifying second I was convinced it was him,Hayden and every muscle in my body had already braced for impact.

But it wasn't him.

It was Mom.

"Freya…" Mom's brows were knitted together her eyes scanning my face with that look she gets when she already knows something is wrong but is waiting for me to say it first. "What happened to you? Why are you panting like this? And where did you disappear off to outside like that?"

I forced my breathing to slow.Forced my shoulders to drop.Forced a version of a normal expression onto my face.

"N,,,nothing,Mom. I'm fine!" My voice came out slightly too bright slightly too fast. "And as for going outside—the network wasn't working inside, so that's why."

Mom didn't look entirely convinced.Her eyes dropped to my neck my arms my face, doing that quiet mother's scan that misses nothing.

"Oh… but why are you sweating so much? If you're feeling unwell tell Mom."

"Mom,I'm fine don't worry." I managed a small smile this time more controlled. "I'm just feeling a little hot. You stay here,I'll go freshen up."

She still had that worried crease between her brows, but she nodded slowly. "Ok honey. If there's any problem tell Mom,ok?"

"Ok Mom." I gave her a nod and turned before she could read anything else in my expression walking toward the washroom with measured unhurried steps,as though nothing in the world was wrong.

The moment the washroom door clicked shut behind me I exhaled.

I stood in front of the mirror and immediately wished I hadn't.

My hair was half-undone. My cheeks were flushed. My eyes were glassy in a way that looked dangerously close to tears.I looked like someone who had been through something and the worst part was,anyone paying close enough attention would see it too.

Get it together,Freya.

I turned the tap on and cupped cold water in my palms pressing it against my face once twice three times.

The shock of it helped a little.I gripped the edge of the sink and stared at my reflection trying to push it all down,the memory of outside the way he had looked at me the way he had.

A small sting pulled my attention downward.

My lips.

I leaned closer to the mirror and my stomach dropped.The corner of my lip was cut,a thin red line that hadn't been there at the beginning of the evening.I lifted my fingers and touched it gently and my eyes immediately burned.

Of all the,,,

"Oh my god, my lips…."

I pressed my fingers there and felt the sting sharpen.The anger that rolled through me was immediate and hot and had one very specific target.I glared at my own reflection and cursed Hayden inside my head with every word I knew.

He had done this.He had no reason to, no right to,I hadn't said anything wrong to him.I had done nothing to deserve any of it.

I stayed angry at him the entire time I dug through my purse for the darkest lipstick I owned applying it carefully over the cut until it was hidden well enough that no one would notice.

I stayed angry at him as I straightened my hair, fixed my expression,and made myself look like a person who was perfectly fine.

Then I walked back out into the party and pretended that I was.

By the time we got home,every single part of me was exhausted.

"Mom, I'm very tired. I'm going to sleep.

Good night Mom."

"Ok sweetheart,good night." She kissed my forehead and Rose echoed the good nights beside me, and the two of us headed upstairs together.

I didn't hear the rest of the conversation between Mom and Hendrix.I didn't want to.I just wanted my bed,my pillow and for this entire night to be over.

I got my wish,the moment my head hit the pillow, I was gone.

But even in sleep,I couldn't escape him.

I don't know how I knew it was a dream.Maybe I didn't,maybe it felt completely horribly real. Hayden was in my room, standing there and the way he was looking at me sent shivers down my spine.

And alarms ringing in my head.

So I ran....

I didn't make it far.His arm caught me from behind, wrapping around my stomach like iron pulling me back against him so firmly I couldn't move.

"Let go," I started.

He didn't.Instead,he reached up and brushed my hair away from my ear with a kind of terrifying patience and then his hand was at my throat, not hurting, just there,and his voice came low and quiet against my ear like he had all the time in the world.

"Shhh… don't move . Don't move at all,I don't like it."

"P-please.." My voice was shaking so badly I barely recognised it. "Please let me go."

“Let you go?”He chuckled darkly.“You shouldn’t have caught my eye than.”

He moved my hair aside slowly and I felt his lips against my neck and then something tightened there, wrapped around, and the pressure became pain,

“I will make you pay with your life.”

I screamed.

I sat up gasping,my hand flying to my throat.

My room.

My bed.

The familiar ceiling above me, and outside the balcony curtains swaying gently in the night breeze.

Moonlight was pooling softly across the floor. Everything was quiet.Everything was still.

I was alone.

I pressed my hand flat against my chest waiting for my heartbeat to slow down and then I grabbed a fistful of my own hair because I didn't know what else to do with the frustration crawling under my skin.

"What is happening to me?" I said it out loud to no one. "Yesterday at the party all that happened, and now this devil is even coming into my dreams… ugh!"

I shoved the blanket off and got up.I wasn't going to be able to sleep like this anyway.

After washing my face and changing into something comfortable,I felt marginally more human.

I reached for my water bottle out of habit and tilted it to find it completely empty.

I stared at it.

Of course.

"The water just ran out right now, and there's no one awake either," I muttered under my breath, already heading for the door."I'll have to go downstairs and get water."

The house was dark and quiet as I padded downstairs to the kitchen.I drank straight from the tap first,then filled my bottle properly and turned to head back up.

That's when I heard it.

A sound,coming from the room directly across from mine.I paused on the landing head tilting. Everyone was supposed to be asleep.The whole house had been silent when I came down.

I should have kept walking.I should have gone back to my room,locked my door and gone back to sleep.

Instead,I found myself standing in front of the door.

Is it locked?

I reached out and curled my fingers around the handle,and when I turned it, the door swung open without any resistance at all.

I blinked.

Then slowly, I leaned forward and peeked inside.

And I forgot to breathe.

The room was enormous,the kind of space that didn't feel like it belonged in a house at all.

"A low platform bed sat at the center,with soft,warm light glowing gently beneath it.One entire wall was stone,a waterfall feature cascading silently down its surface.Multiple fireplaces cast the room in a soft amber glow. And the windows,floor to ceiling stretching the full length of the far wall, framed a breathtaking view of the midnight sky outside, the city lights scattered below like fallen stars.

Plants. Sleek furniture. The kind of quiet elegance that felt curated and deliberate and achingly beautiful."

I stood there in the doorway with my water bottle clutched to my chest,completely still.

Whose room is this?