Chapter 2

Before a reply could leave my phone, the door opened.

Roman stepped in with the smell of whiskey and the party still on him. His eyes caught the phone in my hand, and he took it without asking.

The screen had already gone dark.

Declan's message disappeared under black glass.

Roman saw nothing and tossed the phone back onto the bed. Then he came closer, caught my chin, and forced my head up.

"Why did you not make a scene?"

It did not sound like a question. It sounded like an interrogation.

My own calm voice felt strange even to me.

"You always said I was too strong. You wanted me to learn how to be generous."

His fingers tightened a little.

"The pendant and the bracelet are both hers now," I continued. "Is that not what you wanted?"

Roman's brows drew together. A moment later, his arms closed around me.

"Vivian's brother saved me years ago. The Cross family needs Calder protection now."

His voice lowered.

"Be good, and there will always be a place for you in Calder."

He was only offering a place.

Not wife. Not Consort. Not even lover.

Only a place.

A knock sounded at the door.

Vivian's voice floated through it, soft enough to feel planned.

"Roman, my chest hurts a little. Can you stay with me?"

Roman let go of me without a second of hesitation.

At the door, he turned back.

"There is a family charity dinner tomorrow night. Vivian just came back, and she does not know many rules."

He paused. The request sounded natural, almost casual.

"Have a servant bring her the black Consort notebook from your study. She should read it."

My eyes finally lifted to him.

The Consort notebook.

Calder had never officially recognized it.

But for seven years, that notebook held everything. Roman's stomach problems. Medicine for old wounds. The elders' taboos. Personal debts. Port routes. Guest lists. Who had to be calmed first after each crisis, and who had to be avoided.

Every page had been written by my hand.

It had no seal. No title.

Still, it was more proof of my years in Calder Manor than any gown or jewel.

Now Roman handed it to Vivian with his own mouth.

The next morning, a servant carried the notebook to Vivian's room.

Her door stayed open on purpose.

When I passed, she sat by the window, turning the crowded pages with careless fingers. The black cover lay across her lap, light and useless in the hands of someone who did not understand its weight.

"Serena, your handwriting is not bad."

Vivian looked up with a sweet smile.

"It is just too much. Only an old woman would write down so many little things."

She tore out several pages, crushed them in front of me, and threw them into the fireplace.

Fire caught the paper fast. My handwriting curled and disappeared.

The servants went pale.

No one dared stop her.

Vivian pulled out another page and pushed it under a vase.

"These old rules are so heavy. I will have my own way from now on. You do not mind, right?"

The blackened pages bent in the flames.

Something almost made me laugh.

Some things looked like promises only when they were treasured.

In the wrong hands, they were only paper in the way.

No time was wasted there. My feet carried me back to the main suite.

At the bottom of my desk drawer lay a silver key.

Roman had placed it in my palm seven years ago.

Back then, I had just woken from the crash. Nothing in my head was clear. Not my past. Not even my name. Roman brought me to Calder Manor and stood with me outside the top-floor suite.

He said, "Serena, from today on, this is your home too."

So I treated it as home.

The locks had been changed several times since then. That key could not open any door now. Still, I had kept it, as if holding it could keep a promise alive.

It was almost funny.

Seven years spent holding a useless key.

The Calder crest had gone dull under my thumb. Since I was leaving, some things had to be returned by my own hand.

The study door was not fully closed.

Roman's childhood friend was laughing inside.

"You really are not afraid Serena will leave?"

"The wolf pendant, the bracelet, the notebook. All of it went to Vivian. Serena followed you for seven years. She even took a knife for you."

Silence held the study for two seconds.

Then Roman gave a cold laugh.

"Where could she go?"

My steps stopped.

"She does not even remember who she is."

"Without Calder, she has nothing."

"I am only teaching her to lower her head. Once she understands reality, I will leave her a place."

No expression crossed my face.

The silver key landed in the trash can at the end of the hall.

My phone came out.

Declan's chat opened.

"Move it up. I do not want to wait forty-eight hours."