Chapter 157
KATYA POV
"Marina." The voice cut through the hallway like a blade.
She froze. So did I. Her head snapped up as if pulled by a string. Roo stood at the far end of the hall.
No towel this ti. Just black joggers hanging low on his hips, bare chest still faintly damp, his dark mask covering the upper half of his face.
The hallway lights caught on the hard lines of his shoulders, the rigid set of his posture. He wasn’t rushing. He wasn’t shouting. His expression blank.
That was what made it terrifying.
Marina slowly stood, backing away from as though she’d only just rembered where she was.
What she was doing. Her earlier fury flickered—fractured—replaced by sothing tight and defensive.
I scrambled backward, palms slipping on the carpet as I pressed myself against my door, chest heaving, hands shaking so badly I had to curl them into fists to stop them from betraying .
Roo’s gaze dropped to for half a second—taking in my disheveled hair, my uneven breathing, my trembling hands, the way my body was curled inward like I was trying to make myself smaller.
Sothing shifted in the air, his eyes lifting back to Marina. He started walking toward us.
Each step was unhurried. The sound of his bare feet against the carpet was louder than any shout could have been.
Marina tried sounding confident but I could see her visible swallow as she whispered. "Roo..." The single word tentative, almost fragile—nothing like the woman who had been towering over seconds ago.
He didn’t answer.
He reached us and stopped, close enough that I could feel the weight of his presence shift the air.
One hand slid into the pocket of his joggers with deliberate calm. The other hung loose at his side. His eyes never left Marina.Not even for a second.
It was like I didn’t exist anymore—not because I was insignificant, but because whatever was happening now was entirely between them.
Marina straightened her spine instinctively, lifting her chin as if rembering herself.
"Oh my God," she said suddenly, her voice pitching higher, lighter—fractured in a way that made it sound rehearsed. "Roo, I—"
He didn’t react. No change in posture. No shift in expression. Nothing.
She hesitated for half a second, then stepped closer to him, deliberately positioning herself just slightly in front of .
"I didn’t know she was up here," Marina continued, her words spilling faster now. "I ca to talk to you and found her lurking outside your room. Watching."
My breath hitched, what was the bitch on about. Yes I admit I was watching what had transpired but it’s not that bad of a thing, I was just going to my room.
"That’s not—" I tried to speak, but my voice ca out thin, shaky. It didn’t even sound like it belonged to . I hated my self at tis like this.
Marina turned her head sharply, eyes flashing. "Don’t lie." She looked back at Roo imdiately, softening again like the snake she is.
"She was spying. I asked her why she was here and she got aggressive. I was scared, Roo."
Spying?! Scared?! I should b the one scared. This bitch literally dragged with my hair. The word felt unreal.
My hands trembled harder, nails digging into my palms as I stared at him—at the stillness of him.
He didn’t look at . Not even once, as if I was disgusting to look at. His eyes fully focused on the almost naked fiancee.
My chest tightened painfully. Why would he look at ? She was his fiancée. I was... whatever inconvenience I represented in this house.
"She wouldn’t leave alone," Marina went on, stepping even closer to his side. "I tried to walk away, but she kept dragging into it. If you hadn’t co out..." She let the sentence trail off aningfully.
My stomach dropped. This girl was trying to fra ! I shook my head weakly. "That’s not true. I was just going to my room. She—she ca after ." The words sounded pathetic even to my own ears but I had to defend myself sohow.
I was already hated, if this girl was truly going to be the Donna, I’m totally cooked. Roo still didn’t say anything.
He didn’t tell her to step back. He didn’t move away from her. That silence crushed more than anything else tonight.
Marina must have felt it too—because confidence crept back into her posture. She reached for his arm, fingers brushing his wrist like she belonged there.
Like she’d won. But before she could latch on fully, his gaze sharpened.
Just a look but it was sharp enough to make Marina’s hand freeze midair. She swallowed and let it fall back to her side.
For the first ti since he’d appeared, sothing in her expression flickered—uncertainty cutting through the act.
I stood there shaking, back pressed to the door, heart hamring painfully in my chest.
This was it, I thought dully.He was going to believe her. Of course he was.
I was already bracing myself for it—for the dismissal, the silence, the quiet understanding that whatever happened to tonight simply... didn’t matter.
And I’m definitely getting a death wish.
The quiet stretched. For the first ti since he’d stepped into the hallway, Roo’s gaze finally shifted.
It moved off Marina and landed on .
My breath caught instantly. The weight of it pressed into my chest. I couldn’t tell what he saw when he looked at .
Fear? Guilt? Nothing at all? His voice, when it ca, was flat. "Get to your room."
That was it.
Two seconds. Three words. No accusation. No comfort. No explanation.
Just an order. Marina’s head snapped toward him. "What?" she said sharply. "Roo—what do you an get to her room?"
Her tone shifted imdiately offended. "She ca at . She was spying on you. I was trying to protect myself—"
"Get to your room," he repeated, not looking at again.
My body reacted before my mind did.
I fumbled for the handle behind , fingers numb, heart hamring so hard I thought I might pass out. I didn’t argue. I didn’t wait for permission. I just turned, shoved the door open, and slipped inside as fast as I could.
Behind , Marina’s voice rose.
"Roo, are you serious right now?" she demanded. "You’re just going to let her—"
I glanced back just as my door was closing. Roo had turned away from entirely.
He held out his hand—not to , not to explain, not to acknowledge what had just happened—but open, calm, unmistakably inviting.
Marina stared at it. Still talking. Still furious. Still trying to control the narrative. But her words slowed.
Her eyes flicked from his hand... to his face.
And then—after a beat that felt heavy with sothing unspoken—she took it.
He didn’t pull her close. He just turned and started walking, guiding her down the hallway toward the elevator while she continued talking, her voice trailing behind them.
"You can’t just ignore this, Roo. This is unacceptable. She crossed a line—" The elevator doors slid open.
I didn’t wait to hear more. I shut my door quietly but firmly, leaning my forehead against the wood as the sound of the elevator doors closing echoed faintly through the floor.
I didn’t understand what had just happened.
He hadn’t punished . He hadn’t even acknowledged beyond telling to leave. And yet... he hadn’t sided with her either.
I slid down the door slowly until I was sitting on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around myself. My scalp still burned. My hands still shook.
††
Well?
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