KYRIE.
I know I have one of the best memories in the world, but this time... it was like my memory was playing tricks on me.
I knew I had seen those eyes before. But the question remains... Where? I had been fighting with my instinct since Saint and I walked into the hall, and my gaze rested on the woman I had come to know as Eve.
Every instinct in me screamed that she was the girl from that night. The one Saint and I had been searching for like lunatics. The one who disappeared after stealing from us. The one who had haunted the darker corners of my mind.
They both had the exact same eyes. Deep, blue, endless eyes. But... what if I was wrong? What if they weren't the same person?
If there is anything I hate with a passion, it's embarrassment. What should I ask her? "Hey, were you the one i and my best friend fucked some months ago?"
Yeah. That would go over well.
And if I was wrong? She'd either slap me or faint from the shock. And I'd be the idiot who mistook Saint's stepsister for some random slut with matching eyes.
But, well, here I am either way... Just couldn't let it slide.
"Hello, Eve," I said casually.
She jumped.
She actually jumped, like I'd fired a bullet past her ear. Her drink nearly slipped from her fingers. Only a quick fumble saved the glass.
Well, that was interesting... Startled like a guilty little secret.
She turned to me slowly, brushing a few loose strands of her dark brown hair behind her ear, trying to compose herself.
That hair. That skin. Those fucking eyes.
She was… beautiful. Not just surface-level, either. The kind of beauty that made time warp around her. It pissed me off a little, actually.
Oh, and she was with the pack's cheapest woman. I had to protect my best friend's new stepsister from people like Hazer. Otherwise, in less than three weeks, Eve would have fucked half the men in this pack and she'd end up knee-deep in scandals while at it.
"Oh, hi," Eve said nervously.
There was something about the way she avoided my gaze that kept tugging at the edges of my control. She was scared.
And it wasn't fear of strangers. No. It was sick recognition.
She knew me. And that only confirmed what I'd been dreading. I knew her too.
Fuck. Did I mention that she was beautiful?
Yeah. I did. But I had to acknowledge it again.
I had to keep myself together; otherwise, I'd be tempted to have a taste of my best friend's sister. Not that I cared. I mean, Saint once fucked my cousin and I was cool with it. He wouldn't mind if I just...
"Kyrie..." Hazer brought me out of my thoughts, and I almost slammed her face against the wall for that.
"How are you enjoying the party?" I asked Eve, totally ignoring the pest standing beside her.
Eve's throat bobbed. She swallowed hard, like the question had caught in her windpipe. Then she gave me a strained smile. It tried to be warm but didn't quite make it past her lips.
But fuck. What... she had dimples? Okay. I had to leave now. Really. Because each second spent around this lady makes me want to study her some more. I was going to end up memorizing every line of her face. And the temptation to press a bit further and test her to see if she'd flinch at the right questions was building dangerously.
This girl was going to be a problem.
"Uh... fine. Thanks."
There was something about the way her eyes refused to settle on mine for more than a heartbeat. The way she shifted her weight between her feet like she wanted to disappear into the floor. The way fear tasted faintly in between us.
She was hiding something.
And I was getting dangerously close to sniffing it out.
"This might sound very awkward, but…" I started, tightening my tone just enough, "I was wondering... Have we met before?" I went straight to the point. Yeah. That's one of my weaknesses... but sometimes I call it my strength... going straight to the point.
She visibly flinched, and for some reason, the nagging feeling that she might have been the girl I thought she was became very unsettling.
"No. I'm certain we haven't met," she said quickly, eyes darting toward the crowd as if looking for an escape. "Your face doesn't ring a bell at all."
I tilted my head slightly, watching her squirm like something caught in a snare.
"Hm..." I studied her unstable reaction. She was panicking. It made me even more suspicious of her. So, I leaned in slightly, just enough to make her a bit uncomfortable, and said, "I could swear we met at The Vanity."
There it was.
That barely-there twitch of her fingers tightening around the glass.
She masked it fast, tossing out a laugh so brittle it might've shattered if I looked at it too hard.
"Ha... that's absurd. Never been there. It's uhm..." She swallowed again and took a sip from her drink. "I don't go to such places."
Liar.
But before I could press again, Hazer chimed in.
"The Vanity? Are you kidding?" she gasped like Eve had just confessed to being a virgin at an orgy. "It's literally the best place to indulge in sin! You can't tell me you're from Lanry Side and you've never been there!"
Her voice grated down my spine.
Eve's face had drained of color.
I clenched my jaw, tired and irritated. Hazer's timing was always shit.
"Leave, Hazer," I growled through gritted teeth, still not looking at her.
She blinked, startled by the sharpness in my voice, and scurried away like the overpainted rodent she was.
Good.
Now, back to the real problem standing in front of me.
I opened my mouth to speak again, ready to press harder, just enough to watch her crack at the seams, when the atmosphere around us shifted.
That chill that clings just before a storm rolls in. Like the oxygen itself had suddenly gone still.
I didn't need to turn to know he was there.
Saint.
The devil himself in black.
That fucker carried that fucking depressing aura like a perfume.
"Is there a problem here?" He asked, and she flinched the second he spoke. I saw it as clear as day.
Whatever expression she'd been trying to hold onto crumbled. Her hand tightened around the stem of her glass like she might throw it just to make an escape.
"No," I said, turning slowly to face Saint, "We were just talking. Getting to know your new stepsister. And to think that she looks too familiar got me more interested."
Saint's gaze flicked from me to her... Deadpan and cold, dissecting her without mercy.
And her reaction?
She trembled.
But before she could make that move, she tried. "If you'll excuse me, I..." Saint caught her wrist with that iron grip of his.
"Why the hurry… sister?" There was venom in the way he said it, like it tasted like rot in his mouth.
Her hand had started to tremble.
Fuck.
This wasn't normal.
I knew Saint. I knew the way he handled disrespect, disobedience, and even annoyance. But this? This cold, patient, poison? It wasn't casual. It wasn't just discomfort from a stranger in his territory.
No. This was personal.
Eve forced a breath and lowered her gaze. "I just needed to catch my breath," she muttered. Her voice was small, brittle, and almost defeated.
Saint held her wrist a second longer before releasing her like she'd contaminated his skin.
"Don't let me stop you, then," he said flatly.
She stepped back immediately, nearly stumbling over her heels, trying to escape. And when she disappeared into the crowd, I didn't miss the way she avoided every corner Saint might see her from.
I stayed quiet for a moment, watching her vanish.
"She seemed nervous," I said.
Saint didn't answer as usual. He always acted like he saved his voice for emergencies.
I ran a tongue across my teeth, watching the last glimpse of her dress disappear around the corner.
The evening just got even more interesting because now more than ever, I'd do anything to find out who that girl truly is.