Tied By Ruin.

Giselle

I wasn't supposed to be noticed.

That night at the Benji house, everything felt too loud, too polished. Hayley and Katie stood where they were meant to, dressed perfectly, smiling like they belonged. I stayed back, half-hidden in soft fabric and silence, hoping no one would look too closely.

Until I felt it.

His gaze.

Kian Lo'ai.

He didn't move like other people. Everything about him was controlled-his dark suit, the glint of silver rings, his expression that barely changed. And his eyes... they didn't match. One green, one brown, both distant, like nothing impressed him.

He was supposed to choose someone else.

Not me.

But he kept looking.

My heart wouldn't slow down. I told myself it didn't mean anything-that I was imagining it. Girls like me don't get chosen by men like him.

Except... I was.

No-he didn't choose me.

He took me.

I didn't argue. The words never came. My hands trembled, but I followed because I didn't know how not to. I kept waiting for someone to stop him, to say it was wrong.

No one did.

Kian

I was given two options.

Hayley or Katie.

Then I saw her.

She wasn't part of the deal. Not positioned, not prepared. Hidden in the background like she believed that made her invisible.

It didn't.

Giselle.

It was inconvenient.

And interesting.

I don't act without reason. Every choice I make serves a purpose. But her... she disrupted that. The way she avoided attention, the way she held herself like she expected nothing-it made her different from everyone else in that room.

She didn't belong in my world.

That's why I took her.

Not because I needed her. I didn't.

But because she was something I couldn't predict.

Now she watches me carefully, like she knows I'm dangerous. She's not wrong. What she doesn't understand is that this was never about necessity.

It was about control.

And she's the one thing I chose without it.