Aurora's POV. 37.
Bad brother.
The air in the Hawthorne mansion was thick enough to choke on. Mia's voice kept replaying in my head, a taunt I couldn't escape. Luther hadn't denied it, or even accepted it yet. The confusion felt like a knife turning in my stomach.
I'd holed up in Luther's room all day. It was the only place in this monstrous house where I felt even a sliver of control. But even surrounded by his scent on the sheets, the ghost of his touch on my skin, Mia's words kept circling.
Luther's ex, pregnant. My chest felt tight, like the walls were closing in. I needed air.
I stumbled out of the room, desperate for space. But the moment I went downstairs, there he was. Richard.
He was leaning against the banister, smoking, his eyes locked on me. Like a predator, waiting
