Bound to my Enemy novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Chapter SIX.

I was sixteen then. Ivy was barely eight then hollow-eyed and silent in a way no child should ever be. I still remembered the way she’d stood in the doorway of Lucas’s old apartment with a single suitcase, like she was afraid to take up too much space.

Lucas hadn’t hesitated. He’d taken her in without discussion, without conditions. Noah and Caleb followed soon after, rearranging their lives around a girl who wasn’t technically their responsibility but became their sister anyway.

And me?

I’d just slid into place beside her, the way I always did.

The security guard recognized my car and waved me through without question. The gates opened smoothly, familiar and comforting in a way my grandfather’s house never was.

I parked and went inside without knocking.

The house smelled like coffee and something baking and..... burnt? probably one of Lucas’s failed attempts at pretending he enjoyed domestic life. The sound of footsteps echoed upstairs.

"Ivy?" I called.

"In my room," she answered, her voice tight.

I took the stairs two at a time, my chest heavy with everything I hadn’t told her yet. When I reached her door, it was already open.

She was pacing.

Back and forth. Barefoot on the rug. Phone abandoned on the bed. Her hands kept fisting in the hem of her sweater, like she didn’t know what to do with them.

She looked up when she saw me, and her face crumpled immediately.

"Oh thank God," she said, crossing the room in three quick steps and wrapping her arms around me.

I held her tightly, pressing my chin to the top of her head, breathing her in. She smelled like vanilla and laundry detergent. Familiar and Safe.

"I’m so tired," she whispered into my shoulder. "I don’t want to this."

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