Chapter 7 Where I Draw The Line
Orion
The door clicks shut, the sound is soft and final, but it feels like Kade’s presence doesn’t truly leave the room.
I can still feel his presence lingering in the air, like a thick layer of black grease smeared across something I had worked so hard to keep clean.
His toxic energy remains stuck in the back of my head and heavy in my chest, manifesting in the way my muscles remain coiled and ready for a fight even though the bastard isn't here.
I stand there for a second longer than necessary, then I turn my focus back to the room.
Coralyn is curled tightly into herself on the plush sofa, her shoulders drawn in as if she’s trying to occupy the smallest amount of space possible.
Her eyes are fixed on a point on the carpet, seeing nothing and it looks like she's lost in the trauma of the last ten minutes.
She looks significantly smaller than she did before he arrived, looking like something vital and bright has been violently shaken loose from deep inside her.
For a fleeting moment, a dangerous, forbidden thought crosses the fortress of my mind.
I want to reach out and touch her, to pull her against me until she stops trembling.
I want to kiss her forehead and brush her hair from her face.
That urge breaks one of my oldest, most sacred rules is there.
I don’t assign emotional value to people; it is a fundamental weakness that I cannot afford.
Attaching yourself to others makes you careless, it makes you vulnerable and stupid and it makes you predictable to those who wish to do you harm.
I learned that lesson early in life, and I learned it in the most brutal ways imaginable.
But still, seeing her shattered and shaking like this… it cracks something open in me that I thought was sealed shut forever.
“Zilla,” I say, keeping my voice gentle to avoid piercing the fragile quiet.
She looks up from the floor, her small hands clutching Sprint the teddy bear tightly against her chest as if the toy is her only shield.
“Why is everyone mad?” she asks, her voice small and laced with fear that children have when they sense that something's wrong.
I crouch down in front of her, lowering my voice to a soothing, private rumble. “We’re not mad, Peanut. Just a little tired from the long day. Why don’t you take Sprint over to the balcony and show him the snow falling outside?”
Her eyes light up instantly, the darkness of the moment momentarily forgotten in favor of the magic outside.
“Okay Daddy! Come on sprint.”
She pads toward the large glass doors, already whispering a detailed explanation of the weather to the bear as if it can understand every word.
The sight is almost enough to break the tension… emphasis on almost.
I wait until the heavy glass doors slide shut behind her, creating a transparent barrier, before I finally turn my full attention back to Coralyn.
I take the chair directly opposite her, sitting down slowly so I don’t startle her further.
For a few long seconds, neither of us speaks, the only sound being the distant hum of the hotel’s climate control.
Then she finally lifts her head and looks at me, her eyes red-rimmed and searching.
“How,” she asks in a whisper that breaks my heart, “does someone like you be related to him?”
There it is… the question that has defined the path of my entire life.
I lean back, exhaling a long breath through my nose.
There’s absolutely no point in softening the jagged edges of the truth for her.
Sugarcoating the reality of my bloodline never helped anyone before, and it definitely won't help her now.
“My mother’s name is,” I begin, the name feeling like ash on my tongue, “Callista Merrick.”
She nods slowly, listening closely.
I can see the gears of her brain turning.
“She married my father just for his money and the social standing it provided,” I continue, my voice devoid of the bitterness I used to feel. “But she was never a faithful woman. She had an affair with another man—someone younger, one that I think she actually loved. That man is Kade’s father.”
Coralyn’s brows knit together as she processes the messy, fractured lineage of the Merrick family.
“She kept both of us under the same roof,” I say, remembering the cold hallways of my youth. “But she never once made an effort to hide who her favorite son was.”
I pause for a moment, choosing my words carefully.
“When my father died, the entirety of Merrick Enterprise was supposed to go to me. That was the plan, the natural order of things, and the legal paperwork existed to prove it. But Callista… she found a way to alter it.”
I see her breath catch in her throat as the weight of the betrayal sinks in.
“She handed everything to Kade,” I finish, my jaw tightening. “And then she effectively washed her hands of me, casting me out as if I were the stranger.”
Coralyn looks down at her hands, her expression softening into a deep, genuine pity that I usually despise, but from her, it feels different.
“I’m sorry,” she says softly.
I shrug, a careless movement intended to dismiss the ghost of that old pain. “Don’t be. I learned very early that affection in that particular family was strictly conditional. It always came with a fucking price. Kade learned how to be an entitled prick instead, and it has served him exactly as you’d expect.”
She looks back up at me, her gaze sharpening. “He’s running it into the ground, isn't he?”
“Yes,” I say plainly, stating the facts as if I were reading a balance sheet. “From drugs to a revolving door of women to alcohol… He has no discipline and absolutely no vision for the future. The company is bleeding out more money than it's earning.”
“Then why not take it back?” she asks, her voice rising with a flicker of indignation. “Why sit by and let him destroy everything your father built?”
I don’t answer her right away.
Instead, my eyes drift toward the balcony where my world begins and ends.
Zilla is crouched on the floor, pressing Sprint’s velvet nose against the cold glass and whispering secrets to him as if she expects the falling snow to whisper back.
“Because,” I say slowly, my voice thick with a sudden, protective weight, “engaging in that fight would cost me time. And time is the one thing I refuse to take away from my daughter.”
I turn back to Coralyn, needing her to understand the choice I made.
“I didn’t build Evian Tech to compete with my family or to prove a point to a dead man,” I continue. “I built it so Zilla would never have to grow up surrounded by the filth and the shadows that I did. I wanted clean money. I wanted clean work. I wanted a clean life for us.”
She nods slowly, a profound sense of understanding finally settling into the lines of her face.
“My mother sees things through a very different lens,” I add, thinking of the woman who birthed me. “She doesn’t care about the legacy or what Kade’s incompetence is doing to the company. She only cares about the bottom line and ensuring she doesn't go broke.”
“And she sent him here,” Coralyn says softly, the realization dawning on her like a cold sunrise. “To get to you.”
“Probably.”
My gaze drops down to Coralyn’s hands.
She’s still clutching that white towel, the one she borrowed from my side of the walk-in closet earlier.
Her dress is still damp and clinging slightly to her frame, the expensive fabric appearing darker in patches.
“You’re safe here,” I say firmly, my voice leaving no room for doubt. “Kade won’t get past me again.”
The words come out sounding confident and absolute.
Convincing.
But even as the sound of them vibrates in the air, I know deep down that I am lying to myself.
Kade is not a man who stops simply because he’s been issued a warning.
He doesn’t respect boundaries, and he certainly doesn't back off just because something—or someone—belongs to another person.
He doesn't love; he obsesses.
And obsession is a wild, unpredictable thing that can't be reasoned with.
Coralyn looks at me, her eyes searching mine for a truth I’m trying to hide.
“You really think he’ll leave me alone?” she asks, her voice trembling just a fraction.
I hold her gaze with everything I have, projecting a strength I hope she can lean on.
“Yes,” I say.
It’s the answer she needs to hear if she's going to sleep tonight.
It’s just not the truth.
I shift my weight forward slightly, trying to break the heavy spell of the conversation. “I can order room service for us. We need to get something warm in you.”
She nods faintly, the exhaustion finally starting to overtake the terror.
“I recommend the Dushamini Shiny Champagne,” I add, attempting a lighter tone. “It tastes like moonlit water. Clean. Light.”
Her lips twitch, just barely, the smallest ghost of a smile appearing.
“That’s a very specific description.”
“I’m a very specific man,” I reply, holding her eyes.
For the first time since Kade stormed out of the suite, I see some of the rigid tension ease from her slender shoulders.
I stand up, reaching for the bedside phone to place the order and begin the process of reclaiming our night.
Behind me, Zilla lets out a soft, melodic laugh at something only she and Sprint the bear understand.
And for a brief moment—just a fleeting, fragile moment—I let myself hope that warmth, good food, and the passage of time might wash away the grime that Kade dragged into our lives.
Even though I know better than to trust in hope.