Chapter 67 067

Chapter 67 067

Rayna
The question stayed where I’d thrown it, lodged between us like shrapnel, and the worst part? None of us was even making s move to get it out, or diffuse the tension that was slowly building around us. I could feel it now, increasing by the second. It pressed down against my sides so hard it was a miracle how I hadn't passed out by now.

Miracle or not though, I just knew for a fact that I wasn't going to go down without answers, no matter what. I'd just dropped a bombshell, and I was willing to stand in the fire so long as it promised I was finally going to get clarity.

“Did you kill my sister?” my own words echoed loudly in my ears. Maybe there were other ways to have worded it better, but it didn't matter how, because the cat was already out of the bag, and there was no drawing it back in again.

Zero didn’t move. He didn’t speak, and he didn’t even look up.

The silence after it was worse than anything that had come before. It wasn’t empty anymore . This time, it was thick, coiled tight, like a held breath that had gone on too long. My heart slammed so hard against my ribs I thought he might hear it. I thought the vital organ was going to tear through my chest before landing in front of us in the most gory way ever.

I waited for the tightening of his jaw, the clench of his fists, something, anything, that would tell me I hadn’t crossed into a void where nothing answered back, but nothing came.

A sick, crawling doubt slid into me then. Maybe I’d gone too far, maybe I was wrong to put Lila’s name in his mouth like that, to weaponize my grief and hurl it at a man who had never once defended himself.

But the thought didn’t last, because not knowing was killing me. So,I swallowed, my throat dry and aching.

“Say something,” I said, quieter now, my voice scraped thin. You could tell I was on my last nerves, but I wasn't stopping. “You don’t get to sit there and let me tear myself apart while you hide behind silence.”

He remained still, his head bowed, and hands resting on his knees like always. He was the perfect image of cold, controlled and calm, but I hated it. That wasn't what I needed. I needed someone to talk to me, someone to tell me they knew about my sister and I wasn't just getting myself entangled into something that was going to drive me crazy at the end of the day.

“Do you know what this is doing to me?” I pressed. “Every day I walk this House wondering what you know. Wondering what you’ve done. Wondering if I’m sitting across from the man who…” My voice faltered, then hardened. “...who took her from me.”

If my words were even hitting Zero, believe me when I said he didn't show it. His eyes didn't even twitch in betrayal. The restraint in him felt deliberate now. Chosen almost, and something inside me snapped.

“Answer me,” I demanded, stepping closer. “If you didn’t do it, then say it. Shake your head. Do something.”

But he didn’t. He fucking didn't.

The silence stretched, and with it came a wave of anger, hot, reckless,and fueled by fear and exhaustion and too many unanswered nights.

“Or is that why you don’t speak?” I said bitterly. “Because you’re guilty?”

That did it.

I saw it then, the flicker. Not in his face, but in his body. It was a subtle shift, like a fault line cracking under pressure, but still something compared to the silence he'd been serving me all night.

“You sit there like some tragic monument,” I went on, my voice rising despite myself, “but maybe this is all just penance. Maybe silence is the only thing you have left because words would give you away.”

“Maybe you’re not silent because you’re disciplined.” I shook my head, a harsh laugh breaking out of me. “Maybe you’re silent because you’re a murderer.”

I didn’t even get to finish the word, because Zero moved. He actually did.

It happened so fast my body reacted before my mind could catch up. He surged to his feet in a single, violent motion, the mattress beneath him screeching as it was kicked back with brutal force. It was a small shift, but I didn't get to even acknowledge that because zero clearly wasn't done.

His eyes scanned the room, and I felt my heart drop to my feet, because I had no idea what he was looking for. Luckily for him, or not, he found whatever he was looking for, a lone chair in the corner, and before I could blink, he kicked it. Hard.

The poor chair skidded across the floor and slammed into the wall, the sound sharp and explosive in the confined room.

I flinched.

My breath caught painfully in my chest as I stumbled back a step, shock flashing through me like ice water. For the first time since I’d met him, the control cracked, it hattered and what rose in its place was raw, barely leashed fury.

He stood there, tall and tense, his chest heaving once before he forced it still. His fists were clenched so tight I could see the tremor in them, knuckles white,and veins standing out stark against his skin.

His head was still lowered, but the air around him felt dangerous now, charged and volatile, like a storm breaking containment.

I’d never seen him like this.

My heart pounded, fear and something darker tangling in my veins. Not regret, never that, but a sudden, visceral awareness that I’d finally hit something real. Something buried deep enough to hurt.

The silence didn’t retreat still. It roared and Zero didn’t speak, he didn’t look at me, but he was no longer still.

And as I stood there, pulse racing, staring at the man who had just come terrifyingly close to losing control, one truth cut through everything else:

Whatever I had accused him of, whatever truth lived behind his silence, I had just dragged it to the surface.

And it was ready to tear its way out.

Shit.