Page 130 of Haunted

Tonight, she wears the emerald dress I chose—it clings to every curve I’ve memorized with my hands and mouth.

“Happy birthday, brother,” I raise my glass to Knox, who grins like the devil he is.

“Twenty-nine and still prettier than all of you,” Knox shoots back, his arm draped possessively around Bianca’s shoulders. She rolls her eyes but leans into his touch—a response that would have been impossible ten weeks ago.

“That’s debatable,” Vane counters from across the table, his fingers tracing patterns on Lia’s bare arm. She shivers at his touch, and I catch the way his pupils dilate in response.

Landon simply smirks, saying nothing, while Sadie sits perfectly still beside him, hands folded in her lap. But I notice how she automatically leans away when the server approaches—a learned behavior from whatever psychological games my most calculating brother has been playing.

“So,” Knox continues, cutting into his steak with unnecessary aggression, “are we going to pretend this is normal? Four claimed women at a family dinner?”

“Define normal,” I reply, my hand finding Mira’s thigh beneath the table. She doesn’t flinch anymore—another sign of how completely she’s adapted to my touch.

Bianca snorts. “Normal went out the window the night you dragged me kicking and screaming through that maze.”

“You weren’t exactly complaining by the end,” Knox points out, and Bianca’s cheeks flush crimson.

“Asshole,” she mutters.

Lia speaks up for the first time tonight, her voice soft but steady. “At least Knox didn’t spend months stalking you beforehand so he knew you better than you knew yourself so he could break you down.”

All eyes turn to Vane, who doesn’t look remotelyapologetic. “You needed to be broken down. Look how beautifully you respond now.”

The casual cruelty in his tone is detectable, but I recognize the satisfaction underneath. My brothers are as hooked as I am—they express it differently.

Mira’s fingers find mine beneath the table, squeezing gently. Two months ago, this gesture would have been impossible. Now, it’s instinct.

“What about you, Sadie?” Mira asks. “How are you adjusting?”

Sadie glances nervously at Landon before answering. “Learning. Always learning with him.”

Landon’s smile is razor-sharp. “She’s an excellent student. Very... dedicated to her studies.”

I feel Mira’s tension spike beside me at Sadie’s carefully neutral response. She knows what I know—that Landon is the most dangerous of us all. Where Knox uses brute force and Vane employs calculated cruelty, Landon operates on an almost surgical level. He doesn’t only break his victims; he rebuilds them into his vision.

Sadie’s posture tells the whole story. The way she holds herself perfectly straight, hands positioned on her napkin, eyes downcast unless directly addressed. This isn’t a natural submission—it’s programmed behavior.

“Sadie,” I say carefully, drawing Landon’s ice-blue gaze to me. “How’s your work going? Still freelancing?”

A flicker crosses Sadie’s features—so quick I almost miss it. Intelligence sparks in her dark eyes before she schools her expression back to careful neutrality.

“I’ve transitioned to more specialized projects,” shesays, her voice measured. “Corporate security consulting, mostly. The kind that requires discretion.”

Landon’s hand moves to the back of her neck, fingers curling around the base of her skull in what looks like affection. “Sadie’s been instrumental in upgrading our digital infrastructure. Haven’t you, sweetheart?”

Sadie’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. “It’s challenging work,” she continues. “Complex systems require... creative solutions.”

“She’s being modest,” Landon interjects. “Last week, she designed an encryption protocol that even I couldn’t crack. Fascinating mind.”

Knox raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’re putting her to work.”

“We all have our talents,” Sadie replies before Landon can speak. “Some people paint—” she glances at Bianca, “—some people investigate—” her eyes flick to Mira, “—and some people solve problems.”

Mira’s grip on my hand tightens. She hears it, too.

“What kind of problems?” Vane asks with casual interest, pausing his systematic destruction of Lia’s composure.

Landon’s smile spreads slowly across his face. “The kind that disappears without a trace. Sadie has such elegant solutions.”

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