Chapter 17 – He Sees Me

Chapter 17 – He Sees Me
RORY

Nikolai’s study was too quiet. The kind of quiet that feels heavier than shouting.

He didn’t sit down. He just stood there, staring at me like I was a puzzle with one missing piece.

“I don’t know who he was,” I said before he could ask again.

His jaw tightened. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I expect you to believe that I’m not exactly on first-name terms with every man who crashes your fancy parties,” I shot back.

He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell faint cologne and something darker—gun oil, maybe. “He called you your father’s daughter.”

I swallowed. “Maybe he just… knew who I was before you took me.”

Nikolai’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t just know. He was testing you.”

The problem was, I had been tested. And I had failed, because I couldn’t hide the way my body reacted when he’d mentioned my father.

“I’m not lying,” I said quietly.

Nikolai studied me for a long moment. Then, without warning, he opened the door and motioned for me to follow.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere you can’t run,” he said.

That didn’t sound like anywhere I wanted to be.

The halls were dim, shadows stretching across the walls as we descended the back staircase. He led me through a door I hadn’t noticed before, down into the belly of the mansion.

The air grew cooler, the light dimmer. We stopped in front of a set of heavy double doors. I expected a locked cellar. Instead, when he pushed them open, music hit me like a wave.

Low, pulsing beats. Laughter. The sharp clink of glasses.

The underground party wasn’t just literal—it was hidden. A long, sprawling room stretched out before us, glowing with amber lights. People in masks and gowns lounged in velvet chairs or leaned over card tables. The air smelled faintly of smoke and expensive liquor.

And everyone here radiated power.

I froze in the doorway, the gown I was wearing suddenly feeling more like a costume than armor.

Nikolai didn’t give me time to think. He guided me through the crowd with a hand at my back, moving like he knew exactly where he was going. People looked at him with a mix of respect and wariness. Some glanced at me, their eyes curious behind glittering masks.

Halfway across the room, I saw him.

The man from the ballroom.

He wasn’t wearing a mask now, and that made him even more unsettling—because it meant he didn’t care who saw him. His gaze locked on me instantly, like he’d been waiting.

Nikolai noticed. His hand pressed harder against my back. “Ignore him.”

But ignoring him wasn’t an option, because he started walking toward us.

“Nikolai,” the man said with an easy smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Twice in one night. How lucky for me.”

“You’ve had your chance,” Nikolai said coolly. “Don’t push it.”

The man’s gaze slid past him and landed on me. “Your father’s a clever man. But clever men make enemies.”

My stomach knotted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He chuckled, low and dangerous. “Of course you do. He made a deal. Then he broke it.”

Nikolai stepped between us again, but the man leaned slightly to the side so he could still see me. “Do you know what happens to people who break deals in this world, girl?”

“I said, enough,” Nikolai’s voice dropped into something sharp and final.

The man smirked, taking a deliberate step back. “We’ll talk again, Aurora. When he’s not listening.”

The use of my full name sent a shiver down my spine.

When he walked away, my knees felt weak. I turned to Nikolai. “What deal?”

“Not here,” he said, already steering me toward the far end of the room.

We passed tables stacked with poker chips, clusters of people speaking in low voices. No one here felt safe.

“Who was he?” I asked.

“Someone who’d like to use you against your father.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“No,” he said, “it doesn’t.”

I hated that calm, deliberate way he avoided telling me things. It was like he was measuring exactly how much I could know without becoming a liability.

We reached a quieter corner, tucked behind a row of tall curtains. Nikolai turned to face me, his expression unreadable.

“Whatever he told you,” he said, “don’t repeat it to anyone. Not Jace, not Kai, not Enzo. No one.”

I crossed my arms. “Why? Because they don’t know? Or because you don’t want them to?”

His gaze darkened. “Because the more you talk, the shorter your life gets.”

The warning should have been enough to shut me up. But my mind kept replaying the man’s words—he made a deal, then broke it.

My father wasn’t a saint, but I’d never imagined him tangled in anything like this.

The music swelled again, and someone laughed nearby. Nikolai glanced toward the noise, then back at me.

“We’re leaving,” he said.

We’d almost reached the door when a voice called my name.

Not “Aurora.” Not “girl.”

“Rory.”

The sound rooted me to the spot. I turned slowly.

The man was standing near the bar, holding a glass of something dark. His expression wasn’t mocking now—it was intent.

“You know your father’s not coming for you,” he said, his voice low but carrying over the music. “Do you want to know why?”

My pulse thundered in my ears. I shouldn’t respond. I should walk away. But my mouth betrayed me.

“Why?”

He smiled like he’d just won something. “Because he traded you for his own life.”

The words hit like a blow to the chest. I shook my head. “You’re lying.”

“Ask him yourself,” the man said. “If you can find him.”

Nikolai’s hand clamped around my arm. “Enough.”

He pulled me toward the exit, but I looked back one last time. The man was still watching me, sipping his drink slowly, like he had all the time in the world.

The door shut behind us, muting the music, but the words stayed loud in my head.

My father traded me.

When we reached the top of the stairs, I finally yanked my arm free. “Tell me it’s not true.”

Nikolai didn’t answer.

Which, somehow, was worse than a yes.