The temptation of my brother-in-law

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five

Cecilia’s POV

I’d been hiding in my apartment for days. Ever since my uncles had shown up at my door that first time with their threats and their lawyers and their barely concealed rage at my father’s will. The walls of this place had started to feel smaller with each passing day, pressing in on me until I could barely breathe without feeling trapped.

Malachi was used to this kind of life. I knew that much about him. He’d spent years in Dark City after Emily died, living in the shadows, building something dangerous and powerful away from everyone who knew him. He seemed comfortable in darkness, like he’d made peace with it in a way I never could.

I remembered Emily from back then, though we weren’t close. My father had business with Pa Wood, which meant I’d see the Blackwoods at occasional gatherings. Emily had been beautiful. Not just pretty, but luminous in a way that made everyone else fade into the background. I’d envied her so much. She had Malachi and Travis both circling around her like devoted guards, ready to protect her from anything.

I’d been young then, maybe fifteen, but old enough to understand what it meant to want something you couldn’t have. I’d wanted what Emily had. The attention, the protection, the way Malachi looked at her like she mattered more than anything else in the world.

Now Emily was dead and I was here, supposedly under Malachi’s protection, and he looked at me like I was an obligation he’d inherited along with a dying man’s last request. Nothing more.

I loved him anyway. Had loved him for years even when it was pointless, even when he disappeared into Dark City, even now when he treated me with polite distance and nothing else. There was something about his reserve that drew me in, the way he never showed emotion or weakness, the way he seemed untouchable. I kept thinking if I was patient enough, if I proved myself worthy enough, he’d eventually see me. Really see me.

But he never did.

I couldn’t spend another day locked in this apartment. The walls were suffocating me and my thoughts were getting darker with each passing hour. I needed to feel normal again, needed to do something mundane like buy groceries and pretend my life wasn’t falling apart.

The store was close, just a ten minute drive. Broad daylight. Safe neighborhood. Nothing could happen in broad daylight.

I was loading bags into my car when I felt hands on me.