Aidan.

I had never seen Noah look at me the way he did today.

Not once in all the years I had known him, guided him, commanded him, had he ever walked away from me with such defiance burning in his eyes. Noah had always been disciplined, respectful. He listened. He obeyed. Even when he disagreed, he never crossed the invisible line between disagreement and rebellion.

Until now.

Until Maria.

I stood alone in Davian’s study long after the doors had slammed shut behind him, the echo of his departure still ringing in the walls like an accusation. My fingers curled slowly at my side as I replayed the scene in my head, every word he had thrown at us, every look that said he was no longer willing to bend.

Because of her.

Maria.

The name tasted bitter on my tongue.

She was my mate.

Fate had bound her to me long before Noah ever looked at her twice. The bond was undeniable, ancient, written in blood and instinct. And because of that truth alone, Noah was never meant to have her. Could never have her.

It was only natural—necessary—that he quit the competition. Step back. Face reality before the illusion shattered and cut him deeper than he could recover from. I wasn’t doing this to be cruel. I was trying to protect him.

He just couldn’t see it.

If he continued down this path, the pain would destroy him when the truth finally came to light. When the bond claimed what belonged to it. When Maria was taken from him in the most brutal way possible, not by choice, but by destiny.

I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down my face.

Why couldn’t he understand that?

Everything I was doing,everything we were doing, was to spare him that heartbreak. To end it early, before feelings deepened into something irreversible. The competition was never meant to be about love. It was politics. Power. Strategy.

Noah was letting emotion cloud his judgment.

The only reasonable solution was for him to withdraw now, lick his wounds quietly, and focus on his engagement to Anabel. A future that was already prepared for him. A future that made sense.

I was more than convinced it was the right one for him. I closed my eyes shut and the moments came flashing in.

Anabel.

She rushed in, her eyes red and swollen, tears clinging stubbornly to her lashes. Her usually perfect posture was gone, replaced by shaking shoulders and uneven breaths. She looked... broken.

"Brother—" her voice cracked as she stumbled forward.

I straightened instantly. "Anabel."

She didn’t wait for permission before throwing herself into a chair, her hands clutching the fabric of her dress as though it was the only thing keeping her together. Tears spilled freely now, streaking down her cheeks.

"I felt humiliated," she sobbed. "Completely humiliated."

My jaw tightened.

"What happened?" I asked, though a part of me already knew.

She looked up at me, her eyes glossy, wounded. "How could Noah do this to me?" she whispered. "How could he make me look so foolish in front of everyone?"

I closed my eyes briefly, her voice echoing in my mind even now.

"He would end up getting engaged to me anyway," she continued, her words trembling. "So why does he need that rogue? Why does he need Maria?"

Her hands clenched into fists. "What will people say about me? About us? When we finally get married, they’ll laugh behind my back. They’ll say I was the second choice. That he wanted someone else."

She broke down completely then, her sobs filling the room, raw and unrestrained.

Something inside me hardened.

Anabel had always been proud, composed. For her to cry like this meant the damage had already been done. Noah hadn’t just crossed a line, he had humiliated her publicly, whether he intended to or not.

I walked closer, the distance between us shrinking until I was right in front of her. Slowly, carefully, I rested my hand on her shoulder, feeling how tense she was beneath my touch, how fragile.

"Enough," I said, keeping my voice low, steady, even though something inside me was twisting hard. "I won’t allow this to continue."

Her body stilled at my words. Then she looked up at me, her face streaked with tears, eyes red and swollen. For a brief second, something flickered there, small and weak, but unmistakable. Hope. It trembled in her gaze as if she was afraid to believe it.

"You promise?" she whispered, her voice breaking around the word.

I nodded once, firmly, leaving no room for doubt. "I will handle Noah."

The moment the words left my mouth, a heavy weight settled in my chest.

I opened my eyes and let out a long, weary sigh, dragging my fingers through my hair as if the simple motion could clear my head. It didn’t. No matter how hard I tried, Anabel’s voice refused to leave me alone.

It echoed in my mind, soft, trembling, yet sharp enough to cut. Every word she had said earlier replayed over and over, relentless, like a curse I couldn’t lift. The sound of her crying haunted me, that broken, helpless sound. I could still see it so clearly: the way her shoulders shook as she tried to hold herself together, the way she failed.

Worst of all was the way she had looked at me. Not angry. Not accusing. Just desperate. As if I were the last line of defense she had left, the only person standing between her and everything she feared. And that look... that look refused to let me go.

Anabel was our baby sister.

From the day she was born, fragile and small, we had made a silent vow, to give her whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it. We had shielded her from pain, from disappointment, from rejection. The world had always bent itself around her needs because we made it so.

And now, it was painfully clear what she wanted.

Noah.

The engagement had never been finalized before. In truth, we had never demanded anything from Noah. He had always been free, free to fight, free to choose, free to live without obligations to us. He wasn’t bound by blood, yet he had grown beside us like a brother. Loyal. Respectful. Steadfast.

That was why this hurt more than I cared to admit.

But something changed the moment he stepped into the competition.

Something twisted in my chest, sharp and unwelcome, a sense of threat I couldn’t logically explain. Noah was capable. Too capable. And with Maria involved, everything felt... unstable.

He was like a brother to me. Truly. I didn’t want to see him broken, didn’t want to be the one to crush him. But there were limits, lines that could not be crossed.

I could not let him have Maria.

And I absolutely could not allow him to fail my sister.

Between the two, there was no choice at all.

That was how the decision was made, quietly, firmly, without his knowledge.

The engagement became official in our minds long before Noah ever suspected it. It was meant to be announced properly, ceremoniously, before the day of the competition. A clean solution. One that would force him to step back without unnecessary bloodshed.

But now?

Now, with the way he looked at us earlier, with defiance in his eyes and Maria’s name on his lips, I wasn’t so sure.

I turned slowly, my gaze settling on my brothers.

They stood scattered across the study, each lost in his own thoughts. Damien leaned against the table, arms crossed tightly over his chest, jaw clenched. Davian stared out the window, eyes distant, as though he was seeing a future he didn’t like. Adrien sat rigidly in his chair, fingers tapping once, twice, betraying his unrest.

I didn’t need to ask what they were thinking.

We were thinking the same thing.

Maria. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

She was slipping out of our control.

What had started as a simple plan, contain, observe, claim, had turned into something dangerously unpredictable. She was no longer just a rogue. She was no longer passive, no longer easy to direct.

She was influencing Noah.

And influence, in the wrong hands, was power.

Power that needed to be restrained.

I inhaled slowly, the air heavy in my lungs, and that was when it came to me.

The idea didn’t arrive gently. It struck like lightning, sharp, sudden, undeniable.

My lips curved before I could stop myself, a slow, knowing smirk spreading across my face. It wasn’t born of joy, but of certainty. The kind that comes when all the pieces finally align.

I lifted my gaze, glancing at my brothers one last time.

They noticed the change immediately. Their eyes flicked to me, wary, questioning. They knew that look. They had seen it before, right before things shifted irreversibly.

But I said nothing.

Words were unnecessary.

Turning on my heel, I walked toward the door of the study, my steps calm, measured. Each footfall echoed with intent. I didn’t look back as I reached the door, didn’t offer an explanation or a warning.

Some plans were better carried out in silence.

As the door closed behind me, my smirk deepened.

Maria had become a problem.

And problems, no matter how delicate, always had solutions.