MARIA.

The moment the door opened, my heart skipped violently against my ribs, as though it already knew what my eyes had not yet seen. A cold wave of dread swept through me, thick and suffocating.

This is it.

My worst nightmare was about to be confirmed.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe. My palms turned clammy where they pressed against the edge of the mattress. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out every other sound in the room.

Will my head be chipped off this time? I wondered wildly, fear twisting my thoughts into something irrational and desperate.

Adrien had only just pulled away from me. The warmth of his presence lingered beside me on the bed, but the moment the door creaked open, he stepped back as if burned. His body went rigid. He dragged a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply, the sound loud and strained.

I forced myself to lift my head.

And then I saw him.

Davian.

He stood in the doorway like a storm that had just broken through the sky. Tall. Unmoving. His frame filled the entrance, blocking the faint light from the hallway behind him.

But it was his eyes.

The anger in them was unmistakable.

It wasn’t subtle or hidden. It was raw. Sharp. Carved across his expression like something etched in stone.

My stomach dropped.

Of all the quadruplets, Davian was the one who had never tried to hide his dislike for me. The others were distant. Reserved. Calculated.

But Davian....He looked at me like I was something that didn’t belong.

"Slut!" he barked suddenly, the word striking me harder than a slap.

I flinched.

"Did you climb your way into my brother’s bed so he could think you aren’t guilty?" he continued, his voice rising as he strode toward me.

Each step he took felt like the ticking of a countdown.

My body reacted before my mind could.

I scrambled off the bed, my feet barely steady as they touched the floor. Panic surged through me, thick and blinding.

"No, I didn’t!" I managed to say, though my voice trembled against my will.

I lowered my face slightly, unable to withstand the intensity of his glare. Shame burned under my skin, not because his accusation was true, but because I felt so small beneath it.

Davian let out a sharp scoff, his lip curling with disbelief.

"You didn’t?" he repeated mockingly. "Then what are you doing shamelessly on his bed?"

The words pierced.

Shamelessly.

As though I had orchestrated this.

As though I had seduced my way here.

"I... I..." The syllables tangled in my throat. My mind raced, but nothing coherent formed. It was as if fear had stolen my vocabulary.

I looked up at him slowly, my vision slightly blurred from the pressure building behind my eyes.

Where had I gone wrong?

I hadn’t forced myself into this room. I hadn’t begged for Adrien’s attention. If anything, I had been trying to stay invisible, to survive the whispers, the accusation, the weight of the pack’s suspicion.

And yet here I was, standing in the center of another storm.

Surely he could see it.

Surely he could see the way Adrien was pacing the room like a caged animal. The way his jaw clenched. The way his breathing came out uneven and sharp.

Adrien wasn’t calm.

He wasn’t composed.

He was the one out of control.

Not me.

But Davian’s gaze never shifted to his brother.

It remained fixed on me.

Judging.

Condemning.

I swallowed hard, trying to gather enough courage to form a proper sentence. I needed to explain. I needed to say something that would make him understand.

But my thoughts kept breaking apart before they reached my lips.

The tension in the room grew heavier by the second.

And then...The door opened again.

All three of us turned instinctively.

Vanessa stepped inside, her brows drawn together in confusion. Her heels clicked lightly against the floor as she took in the scene, the disheveled bed, Adrien pacing, me standing there shaken, and Davian looming like an executioner.

"What’s going on here?" she asked, her voice sharp but controlled.

The question hung in the air.

But before she could say another word...Adrien moved.

It happened so quickly I barely registered it.

He stepped forward, closed the distance between them, and grabbed her.

His hand came up to her face, fingers curling against her cheek as he pulled her into a kiss.

A deep possessive one.

Vanessa gasped softly before melting into it, her hands rising instinctively to clutch at his shirt. A faint moan slipped from her lips, echoing in the room like a final blow.

I froze.

My heart, which had already been fragile, felt like it cracked clean down the middle.

Davian’s accusation still rang in my ears.

Slut.

Shameless.

And now this.

I stared at them.

I didn’t mean to. I told myself to look away, to give them privacy, to pretend I hadn’t just witnessed something that felt like a blade twisting slowly inside my chest.

But I couldn’t.

Adrien’s hand was still cupping Vanessa’s face. Her fingers were tangled in his shirt. Their bodies fit together so easily, so naturally, like they had always belonged in that position.

A dull ache began to spread across my chest, it was sudden, It was slow and heavy, like something sinking deeper and deeper until it settled somewhere beneath my ribs.

My breathing became uneven. The air felt thick, as if the room had shrunk around me.

Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, blurring my vision. They clung stubbornly to my lashes, trembling but refusing to fall.

What was I even thinking?

The question hit me with cruel clarity.

They are about to get married.

Of course he would kiss her.

Of course she would respond.

It was normal.

It was expected.

So why did it feel like something inside me was breaking?

Why did my chest tighten like I had lost something that had never been mine to begin with?

My fingers curled into the fabric of my dress, clutching it as if that would somehow steady the storm building inside me.

I was right.

The realization settled bitterly on my tongue.

I was just a vessel.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

A body.

A convenience.

Never a choice.

Never someone who would be claimed openly or kissed without hesitation in front of others.

The ache deepened.

I averted my gaze instantly, unable to keep watching them any longer. The sight was suffocating. Every second felt like humiliation stretched thin.

I lowered my eyes to the floor, focusing on the cold marble beneath my feet, trying to anchor myself to something solid.

But even that didn’t help.

I could still hear them.

The faint sounds. The closeness.

My throat tightened painfully.

Suddenly, I felt movement near me.

Before I could step back, Davian lowered himself to my level. His presence was overwhelming, his shadow falling over me like something deliberate and consuming.

Then...His fingers brushed across my shoulders.

The touch was brief, light, but it sent a jolt through my entire body.It wasn’t gentle, It wasn’t comforting, It was electric.

My breath caught sharply as something unfamiliar sparked beneath my skin, racing down my spine and into my limbs. My body reacted before my mind could process it.

I stiffened.

"What now?" Davian’s voice came low and mocking near my ear. "You cannot bear to watch?"

A sly smirk curved his lips when I finally glanced up at him.

His eyes weren’t soft.

They weren’t sympathetic.

They were cruel.

"Let me tell you something," he continued, his voice dropping just enough to make it feel personal. "There are some things that can never be yours."

The words struck harder than anything else that night.

They echoed loudly in my head.

Never be yours.

Never.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I moved.

I got off the bed abruptly, the sudden motion almost making me stumble. My heart pounded wildly, no longer dull but frantic, desperate to escape.

I couldn’t stay there. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

I couldn’t breathe there.

Without looking at any of them, I rushed toward the door.

My fingers wrapped around the handle, cold metal biting against my skin, and I yanked it open.

The hallway stretched before me, long and dimly lit.

And I ran without looking back.

My footsteps echoed against the stone floors as I moved as fast as my legs would carry me. The air burned in my lungs, but I didn’t slow down.

Everything felt like it was collapsing inside me.

I could still hear Davian’s words.

Some things can never be yours.

They replayed over and over, each repetition tightening around my heart.

Tears finally spilled down my cheeks, blurring my vision completely now. I wiped at them blindly, but more followed, hot and unstoppable.

Why did I feel this way?

Why did it hurt so much?

I was nothing to them.

I had always known that.

So why had I allowed myself to feel otherwise, even for a moment?

My chest ached with every breath.

I turned down the corridor without thinking, barely noticing where I was going. All I knew was that I needed distance.

I didn’t look back.

I couldn’t.

If I turned around, I was afraid I would shatter completely.

So I kept running.

The sound of pursuit only made the panic worse. My breathing became ragged, uneven, almost desperate.

"Maria! Stop there!" The voice was authoritative, commanding.

It wasn’t a request.

It was an order.