ABSOLUTE INSANITY: A forbidden bond-Chapter 225: Midnight call

Chapter 225

KATYA POV

It was almost midnight and I still haven’t closed the closet door.

I sat cross-legged on the floor surrounded by shopping bags, tissue paper scattered like soft snow around me, smiling like an idiot.

I lifted one of the dresses from the shopping bag, holding it up in front of me. My lips twitched, then curved upward despite myself.

"He actually thought this would suit me," I murmured, shaking my head.

Another top. Another jacket. Shoes neatly boxed and stacked near the wardrobe.

A small laugh escaped me before I could stop it, I pressed my hand to my mouth, trying to suppress the giggle, but it slipped out anyway.

It felt strange... laughing. Feeling light. Letting myself enjoy something so normal.

So human.

I folded the clothes carefully, arranging them inside the wardrobe one by one, lingering on the textures, the colors, the fact that someone had picked these with me in mind.

Michael’s voice echoed faintly in my head—teasing, warm. I had to push the he-devil, Romeo as far back in my mind as I could.

Locked him away in a corner I refused to look at. After his little threat—if you could even call it that—Nonna had surprised me.

She hadn’t just defended me.

She’d scolded him.

Properly.

Her voice had cut through the tension like steel, sharp and unyielding, reminding him exactly who she was and exactly where his authority ended.

She’d told him, very clearly, that I was under her protection—and that if he ever dared speak to me like that again, there would be consequences even he wouldn’t enjoy.

Romeo hadn’t argued.

That alone had shocked me.

He’d only smiled, that unreadable smile, before stepping back like he was retreating on his own terms.

Still... Nonna standing between us had mattered. More than she probably knew.

I reached into one of the last bags and my fingers brushed against something cool and smooth.

I pulled it out slowly. The red dress spilled into my hands like liquid fire—deep red fabric, soft and elegant, catching the low light of the room.

White crystals were delicately sewn along the bodice, subtle but unmistakably expensive, shimmering every time I moved it.

I stared at it and I laughed again. A quiet, helpless giggle bubbled out of me as I remembered just staring at it for just a little second but michael still bought it.

"Oh my God," I whispered, half amused, half stunned.

I lifted the dress and pressed it lightly to my face, the fabric cool against my skin. I laughed harder this time, burying my nose in it without thinking and inhaling softly.

It smelled new. Clean. Expensive. And faintly... comforting.

"What am I even supposed to do with you?" I murmured, holding it up in front of me again. "Where would I wear something like this?"

I glanced around the room—the grand bed, the tall windows, the heavy curtains.

A mansion. A place where most days I stayed hidden, quiet, careful.

So many of this new clothes weren’t meant for staying indoors. Dresses meant for dinners. Shoes meant for walking into rooms full of people. Outfits that assumed a life I didn’t quite know how to live yet.

I couldn’t just wear this staying home....wait..WHAT?

Home? My fingers tightened slightly around the red fabric.

Home?

The word echoed again, unfamiliar and unsettling.

Since when did I start thinking of this place as home?

I lowered the dress slowly, my smile fading into something quieter, more uncertain. The giggles died down, replaced by a strange tightness in my chest.

This place wasn’t supposed to be that. It was temporary. It had always been temporary.

And yet... here I was, sitting barefoot on its floor, arranging clothes in its wardrobe, laughing in its silence like I belonged.

This wasn’t supposed to be permanent. I wasn’t supposed to settle, to soften, to let my guard down enough to use words like that so easily. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Yet there it was.

Uninvited.

Unavoidable.

A loud sound echo throughout the room pulling me out of my unreasonable thoughts, I scrambled to my feet, as the unknown sound continued without stopping.

I looked over to my bed where the sound was coming from and it was from tha slick phone gifted to me by Michael.

Quickly I moved to it, picking it up as soon as the sound ended abruptly. The screen black. "Huh?"

I frowned at the phone, turning it over in my hands. "That’s... weird," I muttered.

Why did it stop the moment I touched it?

Before I could think too hard about it, the screen lit up again.

The phone vibrated insistently, the sound filling the quiet room once more. My breath hitched as I looked down at the glowing display.

There was only one number saved.

Michael.

My thumb hovered over the screen for half a second—long enough for doubt to creep in, long enough for me to overthink—

Then I answered.

"Hello?" I said softly, my voice tentative, almost unsure of itself.

His voice came through the speaker instantly. Deep. Warm. Familiar in a way that settled something in my chest I hadn’t realized was wound so tight.

"Hey," Michael said, low and gentle. "Did I wake you?"

I exhaled without meaning to, my shoulders relaxing as if his voice alone had reached through the phone and steadied me.

"No," I replied quietly, sinking back onto the edge of the bed. "I was... still awake."

There was a brief pause on the other end, not awkward—comfortable.

"Good," he said. "I just wanted to hear you."

The words made my fingers curl slightly around the phone. I glanced back at the open closet, at the red dress hanging neatly among the others, its crystals catching the faint light.

"I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier if you reached home safely, I got hold up with something. What are you doing right now?" Micheal voiced

"I was organizing the clothes," I admitted, a small smile tugging at my lips. "You... bought a lot."

I could hear the smile in his voice when he answered. "Yeah. I figured if I was going to do it, I’d do it properly."

A quiet laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "There’s a dress in here I have absolutely no idea what to do with."

"Oh?" he said, amused. "Which one?"

"The red one," I said, lowering my voice for no reason at all. "The really fancy one."

Another pause—this one deliberate.

"I know," Michael said simply. "I saw the way you looked at it."

My cheeks warmed.

"I only looked at it for a second," I protested weakly.

"That was enough," he replied. "You don’t need a reason to wear it yet."

Yet.

The word lingered.

I leaned back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling, the phone warm in my hand. The room didn’t feel so big anymore.

So quiet.

Until it wasn’t.

The space between my closet door and bathroom opened and a shirtless and unmasked Romeo walked into my room.

"Mr Salvatore?!"

††

What’s Romeo doing there lol

Thanks for reading