CH 1 NIGHT EVERYTHING BROKE
The mansion was too quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that came with peace—
the kind that settled like dust inside the lungs, heavy, choking, warning of a coming storm.
Porsche felt it the moment he stepped through the main doors.
The air was too still.
The lights too dim.
The guards too stiff, eyes carefully avoiding his.
Something was wrong.
And he knew exactly who it was about.
Kinn.
Porsche swallowed, his throat dry. His footsteps echoed in the marble hallway as he made his way toward the private lounge. The door was slightly open, a thin line of warm light spilling across the floor like a warning.
He paused.
Kinn’s silhouette stood inside—rigid, unmoving, staring out the huge glass window overlooking the city lights. His posture wasn’t angry. It was worse than angry.
It was controlled.
Too controlled.
“Kinn?” Porsche called softly.
Silence.
Porsche took a breath and pushed the door wider.
Inside, the air was thick, suffocating, heavy with tension. A half-empty glass sat on the low table. Not alcohol—Porsche could tell from the scent. Kinn was entirely sober. Entirely aware.
That scared him more.
“Kinn,” Porsche tried again, stepping closer. “I’m back. Earlier you—”
“Where were you?”
The voice was cold.
Carefully flat.
But hiding a flame that could burn the whole world down.
Porsche blinked. “I told you. I was meeting—”
“Yes.” Kinn turned around slowly. “I know who you were meeting.”
His eyes—dark, sharp, drowning in something that looked too much like hurt—locked onto Porsche’s.
Porsche’s heart sank.
He knows.
But not the truth.
“You followed me?” Porsche asked quietly.
“No.” Kinn’s smile was thin. Humorless. “I have enough people willing to tell me when my lover meets another man in secret.”
Lover.
The word sounded poisoned.
Porsche felt his lungs tighten. “Kinn, listen—”
“Don’t.” The word dropped like stone. “Do not lie to me again.”
Porsche’s jaw tightened. “I never lied.”
A bitter laugh. “Of course. A hug isn’t a lie. A whisper isn’t a lie. Sneaking around behind my back isn’t a lie.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“No?” Kinn stepped forward, slow, predatory, eyes never leaving Porsche’s face. “Explain it, then. Explain why the man you were with touched your face like he owned it. Why you smiled at him. Why you held his hand like—”
“He’s my cousin,” Porsche snapped, louder than he intended. “My cousin, Kinn! I told you I needed to meet family—why won’t you believe me?”
Kinn froze.
Only for a second.
Then something ugly flickered across his expression.
“Family,” he repeated, mocking. “Convenient.”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“Because you’ve been distant,” Kinn answered, voice cracking even though he kept his expression cold. “Because you’ve been avoiding me. Because every time I touch you, you flinch like I’m hurting you—”
“I’m tired!” Porsche burst out, hands shaking. “I’m just tired, Kinn. You’ve been stressed, I’ve been stressed, the attacks haven’t stopped—”
“Don’t you dare turn this around,” Kinn hissed. “Don’t you dare pretend I’m imagining things.”
Porsche took a slow breath. “I’m not pretending. I’m trying to talk.”
But Kinn wasn’t listening.
He was relying on the one thing he trusted more than logic—
His fear.
“You think I didn’t see the way he held your waist?” Kinn asked, stepping closer until he was in Porsche’s space. “You think I didn’t notice how comfortable you were with him?”
“That’s because he’s family!”
“Then why didn’t you tell me his name?” Kinn countered immediately. “Why didn’t you let me come with you?”
“Because you’ve been losing sleep for three nights straight and I didn’t want you involved in—”
“So instead you chose him.”
The words were soft.
Damaged.
Dangerous.
Porsche felt them cut through him.
“Kinn,” Porsche whispered. “Please. Listen to me. You’re letting your fear twist this into something it’s not. I’m not cheating on you. I wouldn’t. I—”
“You wouldn’t?” Kinn stepped even closer until Porsche could feel his breath. “But you did.”
Something inside Porsche snapped.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“But I saw you!” Kinn exploded, voice raw now, no longer controlled. “I saw you with him and I—” He cut himself off, breathing hard.
Porsche stared at him.
“You saw… what you wanted to see,” he said quietly. “Not what was real.”
Silence.
A crack appeared in Kinn’s expression—so quick, so fragile, Porsche almost missed it. A glimpse of doubt. Of fear.
But then it hardened again.
“You made me look like a fool,” Kinn whispered. “You made me feel like—like I wasn’t enough.”
Porsche’s heart broke a little. “Kinn, you are enough. You’ve always been enough. This misunderstanding—”
“No.” Kinn shook his head, stepping back. “You betrayed me.”
Porsche felt the floor drop beneath him.
“Is that what you want to believe?”
“It’s what’s true.”
Porsche inhaled sharply. “Then nothing I say will matter, right? Because you’ve already judged me. You’ve already decided I’m guilty.”
Kinn’s jaw clenched.
Porsche continued, softer now, voice shaking, “You’re punishing me for something I never did. And you don’t even see how much that hurts.”
Kinn’s eyes flickered. Pain. Hurt. Love twisted into something sharp.
“I trusted you,” he whispered.
“And I trusted you,” Porsche answered. “But right now, you don’t trust yourself. Your fear is louder than my truth.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Kinn asked.
“No,” Porsche said. “It’s supposed to make you understand.”
Kinn didn’t speak.
He looked at Porsche like a drowning man staring at the only piece of driftwood—
and refusing to grab it
because he was terrified it wouldn’t hold.
Porsche took a cautious step forward.
Kinn took one back.
That alone told Porsche everything.
“You’ve already lost me in your mind,” Porsche said softly. “Before I even had a chance to explain.”
Kinn’s throat bobbed. “You shouldn’t have gone to him.”
“You shouldn’t have assumed the worst.”
Porsche’s voice broke.
“Kinn… why is it so easy for you to believe that I would hurt you?”
Kinn flinched.
Actually flinched.
“Because I can’t lose you,” he whispered, voice shaking.
“And because of that fear,” Porsche whispered back, “you’re pushing me away.”
Kinn’s breathing grew uneven. “I just— I just need to know the truth.”
“You already know it,” Porsche replied. “You just don’t want to accept it.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Porsche’s eyes burned. “What do you want me to say, Kinn? That he kissed me? That I wanted him? That I was planning to run away?” Porsche shook his head, voice breaking. “If I told you that lie, would it make your fear make sense?”
“Stop,” Kinn whispered, voice trembling.
“I can’t stop,” Porsche said, tears finally slipping down. “Because you’re hurting both of us with this… this thing you refuse to let go of.”
Kinn looked at him—
really looked.
The redness in Porsche’s eyes.
The tremble in his hands.
The exhaustion in his face.
And instead of softening—
Kinn hardened.
“If you cared about me,” he said slowly, “you wouldn’t have gone to him.”
Porsche froze.
Those words—
they weren’t anger.
They were the breaking point.
“So that’s it,” Porsche whispered.
“You’ve decided I’m wrong. You’ve decided I betrayed you. No matter what I say, you’ll hold onto this story inside your mind because it hurts less than trusting me.”
Kinn swallowed but didn’t deny it.
Porsche felt something inside him fracture.
Quietly.
Irreversibly.
He stepped back slowly.
“I can’t fix a wound you keep reopening,” Porsche whispered. “And I can’t fight a man who refuses to fight his own fear.”
Kinn looked pale. “Porsche…”
“No,” Porsche cut in. “Tonight… tonight you didn’t just accuse me.”
His voice shook.
“You broke something.”
Kinn’s eyes widened—not with guilt, but with terror.
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t say that.”
“You broke something,” Porsche repeated, tears falling freely. “And I don’t know if it can ever go back.”
Kinn reached out—hesitation, regret, confusion all tangled in his fingers.
Porsche stepped out of reach.
That small movement—
that tiny recoil—
shattered Kinn completely.
His expression crumpled, just for a second, before he forced it back into coldness.
“You’re leaving,” Kinn whispered, voice hollow.
“I never said that.”
“You’re pulling away.”
“I’m hurting,” Porsche said softly. “And you can’t see it.”
Kinn looked sick. “I only see him touching you.”
“And that,” Porsche whispered, “is the problem.”
Silence.
A long, aching silence.
Finally, Porsche turned toward the door.
Kinn spoke, voice breaking, “Porsche—don’t walk away.”
Porsche paused.
“I’m not walking away,” he said.
“I’m stepping out before we damage each other more tonight.”
Kinn closed his eyes tightly, like the world was collapsing behind them.
Porsche opened the door, his hands shaking.
“Kinn,” he whispered without looking back, “I didn’t betray you. But tonight… you betrayed us.”
And then he left.
Leaving Kinn alone in the quiet lounge with nothing but his own fear—
and the night everything broke.
