Chapter 5 Family Holiday

CHAPTER FOUR — Layla’s POV

I woke up that morning feeling a bit off, ike my body had moved ahead of my mind and left it behind somewhere I could not reach.

For a few seconds, I just lay still on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to remember what I was supposed to do with myself in a house that wasn’t mine.

I sat up slowly.

I had no where to go and no one had told me where to go.

And in this house, that usually meant you were not needed anywhere.

I got off the bed and walked out of the room without thinking too much about direction, just following empty corridors until I found myself standing in front of a door I had not noticed before.

It was slightly open, I hesitated for a moment before pushing it gently.

I stepped in slowly.

My eyes moved first to the jewelry.

Necklaces laid carefully in velvet boxes, some gold, some silver, some with stones that caught the light with every small movement I made.

Bracelets were arranged neatly beside them, delicate chains that looked like they had never been touched by anything careless.

Earrings shimmered under soft lighting, each pair placed like it had its own space in the world.

I moved closer without realizing it.

My fingers lifted slightly, hovering before I even touched anything, like I was afraid the beauty here might disappear if I handled it wrong.

Then I picked up a necklace.

It was light, too light for something that looked so expensive.

I let it rest in my palm for a moment, turning it slightly as the light hit the small stones embedded in it.

It was beautiful, my fingers brushed over another box.

A bracelet this time, then another.

I did not even notice I was smiling faintly until I realized my expression had softened.

For a brief moment, I forgot where I was.

Forgot everything that had been weighing on me since the wedding.

It was just… quiet beauty.

I lifted another small piece carefully, holding it closer to my face.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered without meaning to.

Then I heard voice came from behind me, my entire body froze instantly as though something inside me had been switched off without warning.

“What are you doing here?”

The words were not loud, but they carried through the room with a sharpness that made the air feel different, heavier, like it had suddenly lost warmth.

I did not need to turn to know who it was, but I still did slowly, because my body refused to stay still.

Jake was standing at the doorway.

And the moment my eyes landed on him, I felt something sink deep inside my chest.

His expression was not anger in the way most people showed it, it was something far more controlled and far more dangerous.

His eyes moved across the space first, slow and deliberate, taking everything in without haste, then returned to me and stayed there as though I was the only thing that mattered in the entire room.

“Who is in my fiancée’s secret room?”

The word fiancée did not feel like information, it felt like a warning that immediately changed the weight of the room.

Aria. My fingers tightened around the jewelry box I was holding without me even realizing it, and suddenly the room that had looked beautiful only moments ago began to feel completely different, no longer inviting or elegant, but private in a way that made me feel like I did not belong in it at all.

“I… I didn’t know—” I started, my voice already unsteady, but he cut me off before I could finish.

“Stop talking.”

There was no increase in volume, just anger, and command, clean and absolute, and my voice disappeared instantly as though it had never existed.

My throat tightened as he stepped further inside the room, each step measured and unhurried, yet the effect of it made everything feel closer, smaller, like there was less space for me with every movement he made.

“This is not a room you enter without permission, I don’t even want you at all in here” he said at last, his voice flat and controlled.

I looked around again slowly, as though seeing it properly for the first time, noticing the arrangement of everything with intention, the jewelry placed carefully, the framed photographs on a side table, the quiet order of it all that spoke of ownership rather than decoration.

And then it became clear to me in a way that made my stomach tighten.

This was not just a room inside the house.

This was hers.

Aria’s space.

I swallowed.

“It’s Aria’s room?” I asked quietly, almost unwilling to hear the answer even though I already knew it.

The moment the words left my mouth, his gaze sharpened immediately and locked onto me with more intensity than before.

“Yes,” he replied.

Only that, no explanation.m, no softness, just confirmation.

My body moved back slightly on instinct, my legbrushing against a chair behind me, and the sound seemed too loud in the silence that followed, making me flinch even though nothing had touched me.

His eyes dropped to that small movement instantly, then returned to my face as though measuring every reaction I had.

“You are shaking,” he said in a tone that carried no concern, only observation.

“I didn’t know,” I said quickly, my words coming out faster than I intended, because I could feel the situation tightening around me. “I swear I didn’t know this was her room, I was not trying to—”

“You did not need to know,” he interrupted, his voice cutting through mine again without effort. “You needed to stay out.”

The simplicity of it made my chest tighten further because it was not about misunderstanding, it was about permission I had never been given in the first place.

“I was just lost,” I said, trying to steady myself.

His jaw tightened slightly at that, not in reaction, but in irritation, as though my explanation only confirmed something he already disliked.

He stepped closer again, and I instinctively stepped back at the same time, until I realized there was nowhere left for me to go. The shelf was behind me now, and the space between us felt completely controlled by him.

His eyes dropped briefly to the jewelry still in my hands, then returned to my face as if deciding something about me that I had no access to.

“You were touching her things,” he said.

“I was just looking,” I replied quickly, because I could feel how wrong everything was becoming. “I didn’t take anything, I didn’t mean—”

“Put it down.”

The instruction came immediately, without pause, without room for negotiation, and my hands reacted before my thoughts did as I placed the jewelry back exactly where it had been, more carefully than before, as though even the way I breathed had become noticeable.

When I was done, I stepped back again, but my heel caught slightly and for a brief second I lost balance, enough that my body stiffened instantly, waiting for what would happen next.

Nothing happened.

But his eyes stayed on me, he was watching me and that silence felt heavier than any reaction he could have given.

After a moment that felt longer than it should have, he finally spoke again, his voice lower now, controlled in a way that made it even more unsettling.

“Jake looked at me for another moment, then his voice dropped once more, even colder than before as he finally made the boundary absolute.

“Listen carefully,” he said, and for the first time I felt my entire body react to the tone alone.

“If you enter this room again, it will not be a conversation.”

A pause. “Leave.”

One word and i did not wait for anything else.

I turned immediately and walked out, faster than I should have, as though staying any longer in that space would have consequences I did not want to understand.

And even after I left the room behind, I could still feel the weight of his presence pressing against my thoughts, not as anger anymore, but as something far more dangerous.

And the clear understanding that in his house, nothing was ever accidental, not even forgiveness.