Chapter 18:: A Planned Fate
1375 Words
Chapter 18: A Planned Faith
RHYS ADRIAN
God. I couldn’t watch the tears streak down her face as I pulled the car over.
I lowered my gaze to the dashboard, willing to do anything to avoid meeting her eyes.
I didn’t want to see that same look from that night—when she had collapsed, half-naked in the streets of London. It'd haunted me since then.
Tonight, it was deadlier, alive with something toxic and sharp, burning straight through me. Her gaze seared my skin.
“Let me out!” she screamed again, but I didn’t.
Other things I would do didn’t matter, but letting her out of the car before dropping her home was the one thing I wouldn’t do.
“What do you want from me, Rhys?” Her voice cracked as she wiped her tears.
For a moment, I wished I dared to tell her, to meet her eyes.
But it had fled the second I tore my mask off. I let her scream. Let her rage. I wouldn’t let her out of this car.
“What the f**k do you and your brother want from me?” Her fist slammed against my chest, and she kicked the foot space in frustration.
I felt her anger, her exhaustion, the raw weight in her spirit.
My brother? No. Not him. I hated that name as much as she did. Even more than.
“He’s Dylan,” I said, but the pause was heavy, too late to take back. “I am Rhys.”
She froze, I couldn't tell if she was looking at me or the glass behind me.
I didn’t lift my head. I couldn’t. Not yet. Not while she teetered on the edge of tears.
Dylan and I were two men from different worlds—different goals, different blood running through our veins.
He loved men. I loved women.
After a tense back-and-forth, she finally told me her street—no house number. She insisted she could walk the rest.
“You’re here now,” I murmured, trying to ease the tension in the car, which felt like it could explode at any second.
She said nothing. She opened the door, stepped out, and stood on the side of the road.
Determined. Defiant. Refusing to leave until I did.
Twenty-five minutes of waiting, neither of us gave in. I finally started the engine.
Stay safe, Stella,” I murmured as I drove past.
There was a clear difference between wanting to and having to.
This night, I didn't want to but I had to.
STELLA ROSA SCOTT
~One month later~
My eyes drifted apart, taking in the soft glow of sunrays that spread into the part of my bed I lay on.
I smiled—not because I was happy, but because there was hope. Hope for a better day.
Valerie was out of town again for important business, and here I was, in the one-room apartment I had rented the moment I emptied my savings account.
I sniffed the aroma of coffee flowing in from the room next door. A neighbor had moved in a week ago, though I hadn’t met them yet.
My phone buzzed, and I reached for it, yawning until my eyes turned teary.
A smile worked its way to my lips as I read the email from the company I had ordered fiction books from.
My books had been delivered at my doorstep.
It was such a good way to start the day—fabulous.
I found my way to the door and stretched for a few seconds before my eyes finally fell on the box of my books on the floor, intentionally placed beside my door.
I bent to pick up my box—but there were two boxes.
I reached for the box with my name, but the name on the second box…
No way…
RHYS ADRIAN
APARTMENT 2B
I didn't lift my head, I squeezed my eyes and opened them again to be sure I wasn't hallucinating.
Nothing changed.
The door beside mine opened, diluting the fresh air with the strong scent of coffee. The sun rays from that room reflected through the door, kissing my skin with the slight hard-soft harshness.
The occupant walked out. A man.
“And that's probably mine." He bent to pick the box but I didn't lift my head even as our fingers touched slightly. I didn't raise my head yet because I hoped. Hoped it would be someone else who happened to bear the same name as him.
That was Rhys’s voice—edge-driving roughness.
Someone knew I was here. How did he find me?
I stood to face him. Even though a part of me hoped I was dreaming, I couldn't turn.
“Stell—" He drew back as shock spread across his face like splashed paint.
How could he? What was he doing in a place like this?
No way this was a coincidence. No way he hadn't known beforehand.
“What are you doing here?” I asked immediately. He looked dumbfounded as I was, the moment I spotted his name. —as though he wasn't expecting me to be here.
“Are you stalking me?" I threw another question at him.
“Stalking you?" He repeated, glaring in disbelief, as he leaned forward with a bitter smirk.
He shook his head. “No, there's probably a misunderstanding here" He dropped his box to the floor, right beside mine.
“What misunderstanding?” What excuse could he probably give? "What do you both want from me? Haven't you both stripped me of everything?” I didn't care if I was loud. I said everything, just as I felt it within. I held nothing back.
"You have to calm down.” How could he remain stupidly calm at this point? Was it not enough of a big deal for him to explain?
"I am not stalking you, Stella. I have—”
"You're a liar. How did you find me?” I pushed all questions at him till the point I cornered him with no escape or excuse.
"I am not a liar. I have—”
Again. I cut him off, "You Lindseys never know how to say the truth. Always lying at every damn opportunity you get—”
"I am not lying.” He went around me, shutting my door close, then he pulled me into his room by my wrist.
"What do you think you are doing?” I blurted, freeing my wrist from his grip. I'd thought his grip would leave a mark but thankfully, he was gentle.
“Now listen to me, Stella." He walked towards me slowly, his eyes fixed on mine, but my legs wouldn't stop moving until my back met the wall.
In his eyes, I couldn't tell what I was seeing. Hate? Anger? Disgust?
“I am here because I needed a low place to crash at, away from—"
I blinked, as he pulled back. I could finally release the toxic air I'd been holding in my lungs.
He pinched his bridge, as though he was trying to blink back the tears.
“How can I make you believe?" He asked but oddly, I couldn't feel any touch of sincerity in his tone. Maybe because I didn't want to.
“I am here because… because of the same reason as you".He raised his eyes to mine, but I felt nothing.
No shame. No compassion. No guilt. Nothing human.
I could have wanted to care but I didn't. I didn't feel the need to.
“And I am not a Lindsey." He corrected me, pulling away as he went back to pick up the box he'd left outside. “I am Rhys Adrian." He returned.
Second time. This was the second time he was trying to establish a difference between himself and Dylan.
The words he'd said that day had been pinned in my mind since then.
A cold of nothingness washed over me. I felt for him but again, I didn't.
“They’re after me, Stella. After you, too. After us. All of them. "
He released a breath. "Maybe this is fate bringing us together to fight and survive”
- Writer
