Chapter 91 To stay or leave

Chapter 91 To stay or leave


I swallowed hard. "We're only friends."

It was a lie, but I couldn't help it. 

"I'm not going to argue with you, Calliope." Her voice was flat and cold. "I'm not going to threaten you. I'm going to simply tell you the way things are. You will end this, whatever this is, or you will leave. And if you leave, you will leave without a reference. Without a recommendation. Without any of the connections that have made your life here possible."

I stared at her. "You're threatening me."

"I'm warning you. There's a difference."

"Mrs. Vanderbilt..."

"I know you teenagers can be rebellious," she continued. "I know you think you're in love. I know you think this is the most important thing in the world. But I've seen what happens to people who get too close to this family. I've seen what happens to people who get too close to Romeo."

"What happens to them?"

She didn't answer. Just looked at me with those cold and empty eyes.

"This is your final warning," she said. "End things with Romeo. Or leave. The choice is yours."

I sat there for a long moment, my hands clenched in my lap, my heart pounding.

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

I walked out of the study without looking back.

\-———————-

Romeo was waiting in the annex. Kai and Ruby and gone out to get some food. 

He stood when I walked in, his eyes searching my face. "What happened?"

"She knows," I said. "About us."

His expression didn't change. "I figured."

"She wants me to end it. Or leave."

"Calliope..." 

"I couldn't even say anything. I told her we were friends."

He crossed the room and took my hands. "And what did she say?"

"That I had to choose between staying here or you." 

He looked at me, really looked, and something in his expression shifted. Fear, maybe. Or determination.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to stay," I said. "Whatever happens next, I'm going to stay."

He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair.

\-----------------------

The week that followed was the closest thing to normal I'd felt in months.

Marcus and Damien were gone from school. No one knew where they'd gone, transferred, suspended, disappeared into the ether like they'd never existed. The hallways felt lighter without their presence, the air less heavy. Romeo no longer needed to pretend that he was with Angel, so she kept her distance. 

Ruby went back to her house. I walked her to Kai's car as he had suggested to drop her off, hugged her tight, and watched her climb aboard with a smile that almost reached my eyes. "Text me when you get home," I said.

"Always."

She waved through the window as the car pulled away, and I stood on the curb, watching until it disappeared around the corner.

"She'll be okay," Romeo said, appearing beside me.

"How do you know?"

"Because Damien and Marcus are finally gone. And my uncle hasn't made any move yet. I think we're in the clear for now."

I looked at him, at the hope in his eyes, the tentative smile on his lips, and I let myself believe it too.

\-————————-

The new routine was simple.

Kai took me to school every morning. We drove together, talking about nothing, his classes, my rehearsals, the weather, the food in the cafeteria. He told me about his childhood, growing up in the pack house, learning to protect Romeo before he'd even learned to protect himself.

"Romeo was always wild," he said, one morning. "Even as a kid. He had this energy, this restlessness, that no one could contain. His mother used to say it was the wolf in him. His father just called it being a difficult child."

"Did you ever get tired of it? Of watching him?"

Kai was quiet for a moment. Then: "Sometimes. But we grew up together and he's my family. And family doesn't give up on each other."

I thought about my own family. My aunt, who'd tried to bleed me dry. The Vanderbilts, who saw me as nothing more than hired help.

"Family," I repeated.

"Yeah." He glanced at me. "You're family too, Calliope. Whether you like it or not."

I didn't know what to say to that. So I just looked out the window and watched the trees blur past.

\-———————-

At school, Romeo and I were strangers. Not complete strangers, but we had to keep up the charade for just a bit longer, in case there was another spy of his uncle around. 

We passed in the hallways like ships in the night, a brush of shoulders, a glance that lingered a second too long, the ghost of a smile before we looked away. It was a performance, a careful dance of avoidance and longing.

But at night, in the annex, we were ourselves.

He came to me after the house was dark, slipping through the back door like a shadow. We talked for hours, about everything, about nothing. We made love slowly, tenderly, the world outside forgotten.

"This is what I want," he said one night, his arms around me, his breath warm on my neck. "This. You. Us. Forever."

"Forever is such a long time."

"I know." He kissed my shoulder. "But i'm counting on it."

\---

The movie theater was in the next town over.

Romeo had suggested it, a drive, a night away, a chance to pretend we were normal teenagers on a normal date. The theater was new, recently opened, with red velvet seats and a big bright screen, and we sat in the back row, his hand in mine, his lips brushing my ear every time he whispered something funny.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed so much.

When the movie ended, we walked out into the cool night air, still holding hands. The parking lot was half-empty, the streetlights casting long shadows across the asphalt.

"That was perfect. A perfect date night," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." I looked up at him. "I wish we could do this every night."

"So do I."

He kissed me, the kiss was soft and slow, the kind of kiss that didn't need to be rushed, and I leaned into him, letting the world fall away.

Then his phone buzzed.

He pulled back, frowning, and glanced at the screen. His expression shifted, first confusion, then recognition, then something else.

"Romeo?"

He didn't answer.

I looked at his phone. The screen was bright, illuminating a photo that made my blood run cold.

Tyler.

He was in the hospital bed, the same one I'd visited him in. But his eyes were closed. His face was still. And the monitors beside him were flat.

'Your fault.' - Marcus. 

The text beneath the photo was short, brutal, and devastating.

"Romeo..." 

"We need to go." His voice was flat, hollow. "We need to go now."