Coco's pov
I couldn't breathe. The walls of the boutique felt too close, Camilla's laughter still haunting my ears. I wanted the ground to swallow me and vanish.
Kyle's arm slipped around my waist, firm and steady. "We're leaving," he said, his voice low but sharp enough that the staff froze in place. He didn't give Camilla a second glance. He just pulled me gently toward the exit, like I was something fragile he was protecting.
The moment the glass doors shut behind us, the air hit my lungs like a gift, but my chest was still tight. My heart was hammering so loud it almost drowned out the sound of the traffic outside on our way home.
As soon as we arrived Kyle spoke. "Coco…" Kyle tilted my chin so I had no choice but to meet his eyes. There was no judgment there, only warmth. "Don't let her get in your head. She's bad news. She thrives on trying to make people more miserable than she is."
The way he looked at me, like I wasn't small at all, it awakened something inside me.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, hating how shaky my voice sounded. "I just… I don't know… What if… "
"Stop." His thumb brushed my cheek, firm but tender. "You didn't do anything wrong. She's not even worth your breath."
I don't know why I sometimes struggle to believe him. I almost did though.
But then, he came too close to my lips, brushed his on mine in a slow reassuring kiss. Suddenly, a sharp vibration rattled from my bag. I fished out my phone, still trembling, and I froze when the screen lit up.
My name. My face. On social media.
Not just one post, dozens of them. Pictures from earlier, me and Kyle walking hand in hand, leaving the restaurant. Someone had recognized me. The captions were screaming in every direction:
"She's alive???"
"@CocoJinx was spotted with Kyle Carlisle today, what is even happening???"
"Didn't she disappear like… over year ago?" "OMG!!! The queen of the socials is back."
My mouth went dry. My heart plummeted straight to the pit of my stomach.
Kyle leaned closer. "What's wrong?"
I turned the screen so he could see. My social handle, I am trending. The one name I had abandoned when my world shattered. @CocoJinx.
The blood drained from my face. "They found me," I whispered.
Kyle frowned. "Coco, it's just a picture,"
"No, you don't understand." Panic clawed its way up my throat. "If this is out there… she'll see. Rose will see. And if she sees… sees me having something good that only belongs to me," My voice cracked. "She'll make my life hell again Babe." Shit, I just called him babe.
Kyle smiled as he his hand tightened around mine. "Hey, hey. Look at me."
I shook my head, tears burning hot behind my eyes. "You don't know what she's like and capable of."
"Then tell me," he said softly. "Tell me what you're so afraid of, so I can fight it with you."
And the way he said it, like he wasn't going anywhere, no matter how ugly my truth was, both terrified me and made me want to collapse into his arms all at once.
I felt my lungs collapse the second the phone screen lit up again with the trending hashtag.
#CocoJinx.
It's a matter of time before she finds this, and she will make me pay.
Kyle's brow furrowed. "Pay? Coco… what do you mean?"
I shook my head, my whole body trembling. The words tumbled out jagged, broken. "She controls everything. My life isn't mine. Since my dad died, it's like I became… property. She monitors what I wear, where I go, who I speak to. What I eat and when. She makes me hide the bruises. She says I embarrass her if I breathe too loudly, get sad or feel any emotions."
Kyle's jaw clenched, but he didn't interrupt. His silence gave me permission to pour it all out.
"She takes my phone. Deletes my social media posts, my messages. If I step out of line, she punishes me. She calls me worthless, useless, a burden. She cuts me off from people who care. She says I'm nothing without her. That nobody would ever love me or want me, not like this." I said pointing at both of us. My voice cracked. "She's right, isn't she?"
Kyle's grip tightened, almost fierce, as if he could squeeze the thought right out of me. "She's dead wrong."
Still I couldn't stop. Years of fear, years of swallowing words, came spilling free. "She makes me paint over the bruises she gives me, then parades me around like I'm some perfect doll. And if I dare step out of line, if I so much as blink the wrong way," I pressed my palms to my face, choking. "I pay for it. I always pay."
Kyle pulled me against his chest so suddenly I nearly collapsed. His heartbeat thudded under my ear, steady and strong, like it was willing mine to match.
Kyle's arms tightened around me instantly. His jaw was rigid, his breathing sharp, but his voice was calm for my sake. "Coco… no one has the right to do that to you. Not her, not anyone.
You don't have to go back there. Not now, not ever." "You're safe now," he murmured into my hair, his voice low but blazing with conviction. "She doesn't get to touch you again. Not while I'm here. Not ever."
The words burned through me. Too good. Too impossible. I wanted to believe them, but fear still wrapped its claws around my spine. I really wanted to believe the words that came out of his mouth. I wanted to sink into that promise and let it carry me away, but fear rooted in me too deeply.
"What if she finds out?" I whispered, trembling harder. "What if she ruins this?" "Kyle, I've been living in a nightmare. And I can't escape her, because she holds everything, my home, my name, my life."
Kyle tipped my chin up, his eyes searching mine with a fierceness that made my stomach twist. "Then she'll have to go through me first. And I swear to you, Coco, I won't let her win."
My tears finally broke into sobs, the ugly kind I'd never let myself cry before, but in his arms, for the first time in years, I didn't feel weak for breaking. I felt seen.
And maybe, just maybe, safe.
I wiped at my face with shaky hands, but the tears just wouldn't stop. The words kept tumbling out, too heavy to keep inside anymore.
Before Kyle could answer, another voice cut through the air, trembling with rage.
"She what?"
I jerked up, startled, my eyes darting to the doorway. Kairo stood there, her face pale and her eyes blazing. She looked like she'd just been slapped with a truth she never expected. She looked heartbroken as well.
"Kairo," Kyle started, but she raised her hand to silence him, her gaze locked on me.
"No, don't 'Kairo' me. I knew something was off. You don't flinch at people's voices, you don't tense at footsteps, you don't… you don't wear long sleeves in the Cape summer unless you're hiding something. She's a monster, and she's not going to get away with it."
"You mean to tell me this… this Rose," her voice dripped with venom on the name, "has been abusing you all this time? And you've been hiding it?" Her hands curled into fists at her sides, her whole body vibrating with fury. "No wonder you flinched at the slightest thing. No wonder you looked like you wanted to disappear when people stared at you."
Shame burned through me, and I dropped my eyes. "I didn't want anyone to know. It's… embarrassing, and if people found out, Rose would only make it worse. I tried reaching out to close family friends and my dad's side of the family, but my life was only worse for it afterwards. I stayed because of my house. I couldn't leave behind the one thing I have left of my dad's."
"What do you mean embarrassing?" Kairo's voice cracked as she strode forward, crouching to my level so I had no choice but to meet her eyes. Her own were glassy now, her anger threaded with something fierce and protective. "Coco, being hurt and controlled like that is not embarrassing. It's abuse, and that's as simple as that. She's the shameful one, not you."
Kyle rubbed my arm gently, murmuring, "She's right, my angel. You don't deserve an ounce of what she's done to you."
Kairo wasn't finished. She shot up, pacing like a lioness in a cage. "And to think my parents actually respect and trust this Rose woman, all polite smiles and fake charm. God, it makes me sick to my stomach. People like her always get away with it because they know how to manipulate the world around them." Her voice dropped into a growl. "Not anymore. Not if I have anything to do with it."
My lip trembled. "You can't stop her. She always wins. She,"
"No." Kairo's voice thundered with such conviction it made me stop. She came back to me, kneeling once again, her hands gripping mine tightly. "Listen to me, Coco. She doesn't get to win anymore. You've got me. You've got Kyle, and I swear on everything I love, if that woman even tries to touch you again, she'll have to go through us first."
Kyle's jaw tightened as he nodded in agreement. "She'll never hurt you again, Coco. Not as long as we're here."
And for the first time in years, as I stared at the two of them, fierce, unwavering, ready to fight for me, I felt a small, fragile spark inside me. Something I thought Rose had killed long ago.
Strength.
Kairo's jaw clenched. "That witch puts her hands on you and walks around like she's mother of the year? Nah. Nah, that's not sliding. I swear on my life, Coco, she touches you again and she'll wish she hadn't."
"Kairo," Kyle tried, but Kairo was already pacing like a storm barely contained.
I wiped at my eyes, but the tears wouldn't stop. "You don't understand. If she finds out I'm here, if she sees me online, she'll drag me back. She'll make my life worse than it already is. Rose… she's not someone you fight with. She wins every time."
Kairo stopped in her tracks, turning on me with such intensity I shrank back instinctively. Then her face softened, her voice steady and sure. "Not this time. Because she's not up against just you anymore. She's up against us. Me, Kyle, our whole family if it comes to that."
And as if to punctuate her words, Kyle leaned in, his forehead brushing mine. "You're not alone, baby. Not ever again."
For a fleeting second, Doubt wanted to creep in. I couldn't allow myself to believe that Rose's reign of terror could actually end.
But then my phone buzzed on the table beside me. And another buzz. And another.
Kyle reached for it before I could, his expression tightening as his eyes scanned the screen. "It's already out there," he muttered.
"Is it more posts?" My stomach twisted.
He showed me.
Other pictures. Of us. Walking hand in hand, laughing, sunlight catching the side of my face as we were going into the shopping mall. Another at the restaurant, with Kyle feeding me some of his food.
@SportsDailyZA:Spotted! Cape Town's golden boy Kyle Carlisle with mysterious girl, Hot!, except it's no mystery. That's @CocoJinx. Alive and looking great.
The comments were endless.
"Wait… wasn't she dead??"
"No way, this is staged. She disappeared for years and suddenly reappears in his arms? Clout chase much."
"@CocoJinx back from the grave lol."
"She's alive?? Omg I used to love her content."
"Does this mean Rose lied?? 👀"
My chest went ice-cold.
Rose's name. Already there. Already bubbling in the chaos.
Kairo leaned over, snatching the phone. "Let them talk. Let them speculate. They don't know you, Coco. They don't know what you've been through."
But my brain was already spiralling. She's going to see this. She's going to know. She's going to,
"She'll kill me," I whispered. "She'll make sure I never,"
"HEY." Kairo's voice was thunder, dragging me back to the couch, to her burning eyes. "She's got power over you because you think she does, but I promise you," she jabbed a finger into her chest, then at Kyle, "she touches you again, she even breathes wrong in your direction, she's done. She doesn't own you anymore, Coco, you're not livestock."
Kyle took my trembling hands into his. His voice was calm but deadly certain. "She's going to find out. That much is inevitable, but when she does, she won't be facing a broken girl she can push around. She'll be facing me. Us. And she's going to regret ever laying a finger on you."
And just like that, the room was heavy with a promise I hadn't dared to dream of before: protection. Not just the illusion of it, but real, unshakable protection.
Even if the whole internet was watching. Even if Rose was already plotting her next move.
For the first time in years, I felt the smallest flicker of something I thought had died with my father.
Hope.