Chapter 10
OMARI
The night was too quiet.
I lay on my bed, hugging my pillow tight. My body was tired, but my mind would not rest. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Kael’s face. His split lip. His blood on the floor.
The triplets standing over him like monsters.
I pulled the blanket over my head. I wanted to vanish.
But the silence made me nervous. Too nervous. It felt like the walls were listening, waiting.
I sat up fast when I heard it, my door clicking.
My heart froze.
Slow. Careful. Someone was opening it.
I clutched the blanket tight to my chest. “W-who’s there?”
No answer.
Then the door opened wider, and the three of them slipped inside.
Leighton. Aston. Paxton. My step siblings are
They shut the door behind them. Locked it. Again.
My stomach dropped. “What are you doing here?” My voice was small.
Leighton smirked. “Couldn’t sleep, little mate. Thought we’d keep you company.”
“Get out,” I whispered. “Please.”
Aston stepped forward. “You really think you can order us around?”
Paxton leaned against my desk, his eyes sharp. “You tried to run. You made us look like fools.”
“I didn’t-”
“Yes, you did.” Leighton cut me off, his voice low. “And you let that boy touch you. Defend you. Lie for you.”
I hugged my knees to my chest. “Kael had nothing to do with this. Leave him out of it.”
“Leave him out?” Paxton’s laugh was cold. “You called him your boyfriend.”
My chest tightened. “I only said that to make you back off!”
Leighton’s grin widened. “You think words can keep us away?”
Aston’s hand shot out. He grabbed my wrist and yanked me off the bed. I stumbled into him, gasping.
“Let me go!”
He didn’t. His grip was iron.
Leighton came close, tilting his head at me. “You really don’t get it, do you?”
I shook my head fast, my heart slamming. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you.”
Paxton’s voice was soft, too soft. “Liar.”
“I’m not-”
Before I could finish, Aston shoved me back onto the bed. I scrambled to sit up, but Leighton was already climbing onto the mattress, trapping me with his weight.
My breath caught.
“Stop-”
His hand pressed over my mouth. “Shh.” His eyes gleamed. “Don’t wake the house.”
Tears stung my eyes. I shook my head hard.
Paxton leaned over me from the side. He held something in his hand. A silk tie. Dark blue.
“W-what are you doing?” I whispered against Leighton’s hand.
“Binding you,” Paxton said simply. “So you finally understand.”
He grabbed my wrist. I jerked, trying to pull away. But Aston was there, holding me down.
“No! Please!”
They didn’t stop.
The tie slid around my wrists, pulling them tight together. Not enough to hurt, but enough that I couldn’t move.
I panted, panic filling my chest.
“Let me go! Please, don’t-”
Leighton lowered his face close to mine. “You’re ours. Do you get it now?”
“No!” My voice cracked. “I’ll never be yours!”
His smile curved. “Your body disagrees.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “You’re wrong!”
Aston leaned near my ear. His breath tickled. “Then why are you shaking like this?”
“I’m scared!” I cried. “Not because I want you!”
Paxton’s fingers brushed down my bound arms. “Fear, desire… they feel the same sometimes.”
“Stop!” My voice broke.
Leighton brushed his thumb over my lips. “One day soon, you’ll beg us not to stop.”
“I won’t!”
“You will.” His voice was calm. Too calm.
The room felt smaller. Hotter. Their bodies were too close. Their eyes, too heavy on me.
I turned my face away, tears slipping down my cheek. “Please… don’t do this.”
Silence.
Then Paxton said, “We could have rejected you already, Omari. Do you know why we haven’t?”
I swallowed. I shook my head in fright
“Because you’re ours,” Aston said. “And we want you to understand it. To feel it.”
Leighton leaned closer until his nose brushed mine. “Bound. To us. Forever.”
“I don’t want forever with you,” I whispered.
His grin was sharp. “Too bad, darling.”
My chest heaved. The tie bit into my wrists as I pulled. “I hate you,” I said through my teeth.
Paxton’s eyes darkened. “Hate is still a bond. And bonds can’t be broken.”
Leighton laughed softly, stroking my cheek. “You’ll see. Soon.”
“I won’t-”
Suddenly, Aston grabbed my ankle. He pulled, dragging me lower on the bed. I gasped, thrashing.
“No! Don’t touch me!”
“Shh.” Leighton pressed a finger to my lips. “You’ll wake your precious mother.”
My body went cold. They were right. If I screamed, she would come. And if she saw this… she would know. Everything.
And the triplets would never forgive me.
Leighton smirked at my silence. “Good girl.”
Paxton’s voice dropped lower. “Now choose, little mate. Keep resisting us… or let us show you what it means to be bound.”
“I… I won’t…” My voice cracked. “I won’t choose you.”
Aston’s grip tightened. “Then we’ll choose for you.”
“No!” I screamed into Leighton’s hand, muffled and weak.
Leighton’s eyes gleamed like fire in the dark. “By morning, Omari… you’ll belong to us.”
And then the window slammed open with the wind. The curtain blew hard, knocking over a lamp. The noise boomed through the room.
All three of them froze.
My heart stopped.
Footsteps sounded in the hall. Someone was coming.
Leighton’s hand pressed harder on my mouth, his eyes wild.
“Quiet,” he hissed.
The footsteps drew closer.
The doorknob rattled.
“Omari? Are you awake?”
My blood turned to ice.
It was my mother. Again.