OLEANDER
“You…” I whispered, my brows drawing together as I stared at him.
The stranger from school.
What the hell was he doing here?
“What are you doing out here?” he grunted, ignoring my question completely.
My frown deepened.
“What are you talking about?”
“You should be indoors,” he snapped, his voice clipped.
“Not standing out here.”
Why the hell was he getting mad at me?
I hadn’t seen him in five days.
And now, out of nowhere, he showed up again—in the most unlikely place.
No explanation.
No greeting.
Just a scolding glare and a tone that grated on my nerves.
Before I could respond, Celina came barreling toward us from wherever she’d disappeared to.
She launched herself into his arms like he was a long-lost friend.
Why do I feel weird seeing them just like that?
“Hex!” she cried.
“Did Dante ask you to come here? I told him we’d be fine!”
“Hex?” I echoed, shaking my head as if that would clear the confusion.
“What is going on?”
I glanced from him to Celina, then back again.
His gaze stayed locked on me, jaw tight, eyes sharp.
“You two know each other?”
Neither of them answered right away.
Then Celina shifted uncomfortably.
“Um… I’m not sure what’s happening, but yeah. He’s like… the second big brother I have.”
Big brother?
A cold dread washed over me.
My stomach twisted.
Suddenly, it all made sense—seeing him in places no one else should have been, the strange coincidences, his warnings, the tension in his eyes…
My breath hitched.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“You’re with Dante.”
He didn’t respond.
He just kept staring at me like my face held more answers than my words ever could.
“You stalked me,” I breathed, my voice trembling.
“I thought you cared… defending me against Riley, against Mark… but all along, you were just preparing me to meet him. Because you’re with him.”
Silence.
My anger surged.
“How could you, bastard?!”
A few heads turned.
I didn’t care.
Let them stare.
Let them hear it all.
He’d betrayed me.
I had trusted him.
I thought, despite how rough he looked, he was different.
He had helped me, saved me.
And I’d been stupid enough to believe he was one of the good ones.
My hands shook at my sides.
“Maybe going home to argue would be better than doing this in public?” Celina offered carefully.
I shot her a look that made her shrink back, hands raised in surrender.
Turning back to him—Hex, if that was even his real name—I felt my voice rise, raw and shaky.
“God, how long have you been watching me?” I demanded.
“Are you even a student at Stanton College?”
All those times I’d felt something off whenever I stepped into my room, things slightly out of place, I had blamed myself.
I thought maybe I just didn’t remember how I’d arranged them.
But now?
Now, I couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in my gut.
No.
I didn’t want to believe he was behind all those things.
He couldn’t have broken into my room.
Could he?
“Tell me, bastard!” I shouted, my voice echoing across the space.
“Olea,” he started, reaching for my hand.
“It’s Oleander to you!” I barked, jerking away and pointing a finger at him.
“Stay the hell away from me!”
I turned and stormed off, fury blazing in my chest, but his hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me back.
“Let me go!” I screamed, panic rising in my throat.
He didn’t listen.
Instead, he started dragging me out of the mall, and Celina trailed behind, flustered.
My heart pounded like a drumbeat of dread.
The image I’d built of this stranger, the protector, the quiet savior, shattered in an instant.
All I could see now was danger.
A criminal.
Another monster like Dante.
A killer.
And what terrified me most was that no one else seemed to care.
I looked around wildly.
Shoppers continued browsing as if this were nothing unusual.
No one batted an eye.
I was being dragged out, and they just kept walking.
My gaze locked on Celina.
“Help!” I screamed, my voice breaking.
She rushed forward and grabbed my other hand.
The force of it made Hex stop cold.
I tried to yank my hand free, but his grip was unyielding.
“You have to be quiet, Oleander,” Celina scolded gently.
“Trust me, Hex is the last person you should be afraid of.”
No.
She was wrong.
She didn’t understand.
She hadn’t been the one whose family was torn apart by people like him.
Her impression of him and her brother’s meant nothing to me.
“Where are you taking her?” Celina asked, stepping closer.
“We’re not even done with our shopping, and—”
“Continue with yours,” Hex grunted, cutting her off.
“She’s coming with me.”
Celina’s lips pressed into a tight line.
“I brought her here. Not you. You don’t have the right to tell me to continue without her.”
“Celina.” His voice dipped, low and dangerous.
A growl rumbled beneath it—inhuman.
His eyes flared gold, just for a second, then faded back to their usual toffee-brown.
Weird.
And terrifying.
“Whatever,” Celina muttered, spinning on her heel.
I stared in disbelief.
“Are you leaving me with him? What happened to me being here to shop with you?!”
She glanced back at me with an apologetic smile.
“Sorry?” I echoed, stunned.
But she was already gone.
Hex dragged me outside, only stopping once we reached the parking lot.
Then, finally, he let me go.
The moment his grip loosened, I spun around and tried to bolt back inside, but he was faster.
He caught me, slamming me against a car.
My back hit the metal with a jolt, pain arching up my spine.
Tears sprang to my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
I sniffed them back, biting down the urge to cry out.
“What do you want with me?” I murmured, my voice shaking despite how firm I wanted it to sound.
“Do you enjoy seeing me suffer?”
“No, Olea. No.” He said roughly.
“For goodness’ sake, stop looking at me like I’m the villain in your life.”
“But you are!”
“Well, maybe I am,” he replied quietly.
“But I’m only trying to help you.”
“Help me?” I scoffed, shoving at his chest.
“By handing me over to him?” He staggered back slightly from the force.
“You’re an even greater jerk than he is.”
“I am.”
“You’re a monster.”
“You’re right.”
“I hate you!”
“I don’t blame you for that. You have every right to your feelings.”
“I wish you’d drop dead this instant,” I spat, my teeth clenched.
“If I could. And if that would make you happy, I would.” He stepped forward again, closing the distance between us.
My back met the car once more.
“I’m not here to fight with you, Olea.”
“I said don’t call me that!” I snapped.
He ignored me.
“I’m here to warn you.”
Warn me?
About what?
“Don’t defy him,” he said.
“Do whatever he asks you to do.”
“You can’t be serious,” I murmured, disbelief tightening in my throat.
“I am.” His gaze hardened.
“If he asks you to strip, do it. If he wants you to parade in front of him naked? Do it. If he wants to fuck you—let him.”
My stomach lurched.
Nausea curled up inside me like poison.
What the hell was wrong with him?
How could he say that?
How could he suggest I give in to those things?
To my captor?
“Because,” his voice dropped lower, his eyes dragging slowly down the length of my body before meeting mine again, “he’s going to take it either way, and it’ll be in a way far less favourable to you.”
I stared at him, my skin crawling.
He wasn’t making sense.
Not to me.
And I was done listening to this twisted bullshit.
“You’re just as awful as he is,” I snarled, shoving past him.
He didn’t stop me this time.
Good.
I stormed back into the mall, heart pounding, my hands trembling.
I needed to find Celina.
And I hoped I never saw him again.