CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER-65. (MAZE LIKE MANOR).

For a moment, I thought my heart had stopped.

The way he said my name...no, the way he demanded it, shook something inside me.

My knees wobbled, and I gripped my arms as though holding myself together could keep me from falling apart.

I wanted to scream at him to stop, to not look at me like that, not make me feel like a wounded animal under his scrutiny. But the words tangled like thorns in my throat.

Instead, my mind ran wild.

He can’t know.

He definitely cannot know.

If he finds out, if he draws his own conclusions... no one will be able to stop him.

Not me, not anyone. He will burn it all down.

And maybe...maybe that should have comforted me.

Maybe I should have wanted his rage, his vengeance, to wash over Nicole, who had left me in this state. But it didn’t comfort me. It terrified me.

Because the fire in Dave was never clean. It never burned just what deserved to burn. It spread. Consumed. Took everything.

Moreover, a fight between these stepbrothers was the last thing I would have wanted to happen.

My lips trembled, but I forced the words out anyway. "Dave, listen to me... I’m fine. It’s not what you think."

He stared at me, his silence louder than a gunshot. I hated that silence. Hated how he didn’t believe me, not even for a second.

"I just..." I tried again, softer this time, my voice stumbling like a child begging for leniency. "I just lost my balance, that’s all. Tripped. I was careless. It’s nothing."

I even tried to laugh. A brittle, ugly little laugh that felt like shards in my throat. "You know me, I am a mess. You’ve seen worse, right?"

But his eyes... God, his eyes cut right through me. He didn’t blink.

Didn’t even breathe. The storm behind them was growing darker, blacker, and I knew...knew that he wasn’t buying a single word I said.

His jaw tightened, the vein at his temple ticking, and for a second, I thought he was going to explode right there.

But he didn’t, and I didn’t know whether that was for better or worse.

Instead, he turned on his heel. No words. No warning.

Just spun around and strode toward the exit, his steps sharp, each one carrying a weight that made my stomach plummet lower.

For a moment, I just stood there, dumb, frozen, watching him leave.

Then panic slammed into me.

No. No, no, no. He can’t walk out like this. Not with that look on his face.

"Dave!" I called, my voice shrill, desperate. My legs finally kicked in, and I stumbled after him, nearly tripping on the uneven ground.

My chest felt like it was caving in with every hurried step I took to keep up.

He did not slow down, nor did he turn around. His shoulders were stiff, broad, a barricade of anger moving farther away from me.

Goddammit, why won’t he just stop?

"Wait!" My words tumbled out too fast, too loud. "You can’t just..."

But I couldn’t even finish, because deep down, I was terrified of what he would do if he did stop.

My breathing was shallow, ragged, as I followed him.

I didn’t even know where we were heading, thanks to this maze-like manor.

And my mind...oh God, my mind wouldn’t stop racing.

Where is he going?

What is he going to do?

Who is he going to hurt?

Because Dave wasn’t just angry. He was fury wrapped in flesh, and I had just lit the fuse.

My nails dug into my already injured palms again.

The sting was sharp and instant. Some would think that I was insane for hurting myself...that too again. [It may or may not be about my life choices.]

But at least it was something real, something I could focus on instead of the pounding of my heart.

"Dave, please," I tried again, my voice cracking as the hallway stretched ahead of us. "You are misunderstanding. I am telling you, I am fine."

Still nothing. He kept walking, faster now, and I had to half-run to keep up with him.

My mind screamed at me to stop chasing him, to let him go, that maybe this was not my responsibility anymore to handle him like a freaking mother.

But the thought of him storming out and arguing with Nicole, or worse, fighting with him in front of everyone, left me no words to describe the upcoming roar of the storm that would sweep me away.

Because I knew him. I don’t know if it was an advantage or a disadvantage; I knew what he looked like before he snapped. And this was it.

The heavy silence. The clenched jaw. The stillness that was never still at all, just coiled violence waiting to strike.

If I let him go now, he would go straight to the source of his suspicion. He had torn through everything and everyone until he found someone to blame. And when he would do that...

The only image in my mind made me shiver to my core.

And all of it on me, because I had not stopped him when I had the chance.

My throat tightened.

No, I couldn’t let that happen. I would not let him do any harm.

So I pushed harder, my voice wobbling but desperate, cutting through the air between us.

"Dave! Please, listen to me! It’s not worth it!"

That got him. For just a split second, his steps faltered, his shoulders stiffened. He did not turn around, but I saw the pause, felt it like a tremor in the earth.

I swallowed hard, seizing the chance.

"I’m fine," I whispered again, more pleading this time, my words trembling. "I promise you. No one touched me. No one hurt me. It’s just me. Just me being stupid."

But even as the words left my lips, I knew he didn’t believe them. He could smell a lie better than anyone, and right now, my fear was painting me guilty in every color.

Still, I had to try.

I had to keep talking, keep running after him, because the alternative was letting him carry that storm out into the world, and God help anyone caught in its path.

My chest ached, my throat raw, but I didn’t stop.

Because no matter how badly I wanted to crumble, I knew one thing for sure.

If Dave walked out from here with his fury unchecked, I might never be able to bring him back.

And that terrified me more than anything else.