Secrets and sins
671 Words
Chapter Eight: Secrets and Sins
Saraphina’s world tilted.
Not dramatically — no shattering glass, no lightning crack.
Just quietly. Deeply. Like the earth had shifted beneath her feet.
Lucian’s words echoed in the silence between them.
> “Your family killed my sister.”
She stared at him, her lips parted, her heart crashing against her ribs. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
“I didn’t know,” she said at last, her voice barely a whisper. “I swear, I didn’t know—”
“I believe you,” Lucian interrupted. “You would’ve been what? Twelve?”
His voice wasn’t angry. It was calm. Cold. That somehow made it worse.
Saraphina stepped back, but he followed — like a predator trained to track every weakness.
“Tell me what happened,” she said. “Tell me what they did.”
Lucian’s jaw flexed. “Her name was Isabelle. She was sixteen. My parents were too busy pretending their marriage still mattered, so I raised her. She was sweet. Too sweet for this world.”
Saraphina’s chest ached at the flicker of pain in his eyes.
“She got into a car one night with the wrong people,” he continued. “A deal was happening. One that involved Devereux security and Blackthorn financing. My father didn’t tell me the details. But Isabelle overheard something. She saw something.”
He swallowed hard.
“And then she disappeared.”
A long silence stretched between them. Saraphina couldn’t look away.
“I found her two weeks later,” Lucian said quietly. “Dead. Dumped behind a club owned by Devereux partners.”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“There were no arrests,” he said. “No trial. No justice. They called it an overdose.”
Saraphina shook her head slowly, tears blurring her vision. “I didn’t know. Lucian, I didn’t—”
“I know,” he cut in again, sharper this time. “But your father knew. Your stepmother knew. They covered it up. Paid it off. And I promised myself I’d burn the whole empire to the ground.”
She stared at him. “Then why did you marry me?”
Lucian stepped closer, his voice low, his presence suffocating.
“Because I thought you were part of the problem. A pawn. An easy way in.”
Saraphina’s voice cracked. “And now?”
He paused.
Their eyes locked.
“I’m not so sure anymore,” he said.
Her breath caught. Because underneath the hatred… there was something else in his voice. Something vulnerable. Something dangerous.
He was fighting himself. She could feel it — the war behind his eyes.
“I want to hate you,” he said quietly. “But you make it so damn difficult.”
Saraphina took a step forward.
“Then stop trying.”
The moment shattered.
Lucian reached for her — a fast, rough motion like he couldn’t stop himself. His hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer. His mouth hovered above hers, breath sharp, heartbeat louder than the storm outside.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he rasped.
“Then teach me,” she whispered.
And that was it.
Their lips collided in a brutal kiss — all teeth and hunger and fury. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet. It was war. Mouths crashing, hands gripping, pain and passion bleeding into one.
He pushed her against the wall. She didn’t resist. Her nails scratched down his back, pulling him closer like she needed to feel something real — something that didn’t lie or leave.
Lucian pulled back, just enough to stare at her, his forehead pressed to hers.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” he muttered.
“But it is,” she breathed.
He kissed her again — slower this time, deeper, like a man trying to memorize something he never thought he could want again.
And just for that moment… revenge, death, legacy — none of it mattered.
Only the chaos they created together.
- Writer
