Louis POVI tried to be gentle at first but soon I was taking her in like she was air and I had drowning been before. I probed and nibbled at her lips. They were alluringly warm and soft. My mind drifted to thoughts of how many others had had this experience before me. She was not fighting me anymore, she felt numb beneath me probably with surprise. Against every longing that threatened to smother me, I drew back but just enough to rest her forehead on mine. I let go of her hand and held her face. I took in a breath of her and had to force my eyes from rolling back. I could have devoured her. She did not push me away, she let the silence wash over us. I was the first to oust some distance between us but only to be able to look into her eyes. She looked up at me searchingly. For what I suspected was reassurance that I was not just deceiving her. After what I had done to her in the past combined with the incident today, she had every right. I let her find what she was looking for, me

Zoe’s POVWe had to talk but ruining this moment felt like sin. It had been about two weeks since the whole birthday party incident and things between Louis and I were smooth. Sandra had not reached out to me at all. I was hurt by her actions but I could not hate her. I was hoping that not all we had had been a charade on her part. I remembered the look on her face in the elites’ classroom. The agony and vulnerability. She had not jibed at me like the rest of them. Even though, deep down I knew that if the prank had ruined my relationship with my brother, I would feel differently. But Andy did not alienate me like he alienated Regina. I was glad that he did not understand the complexities of the situation. He did not need his innocence tainted more than it already was. Yet he took it maturely and said, “Kissing is what grownups do and that those mean kids should mind their business.” He had told me that the only reason he had cried was because he did not like what they were calling me

Zoe’s POVI jumped out of bed with a yelp. I looked around and panicked. Regina was still in bed blissfully unaware of the danger. I yanked off my covers, rushed to her bed and shook her by the shoulders. She stirred a bit before falling back into slumber. I glanced back at the fire to see it was spreading even faster. Soon the entire room would be engulfed in flames with us in it. Without a second thought, I slapped Regina hard across the face. She jolted awake, cursing. “What the fu…” But the sight of the fire left her speechless. “Let’s go,” I Pulled on her arm. For the first time, she actually listened to me and stepped down off the bed. She gripped my arm like a lifeline as we tried to escape the room running through a path in the fire that was least likely to cause us too much harm. The door was locked shut which was strange because we had not locked it.“We have to break it down,” I told Regina. She nodded and we moved back a bit and ran into the door. It took about five tries

Zoe’s POVMy world stopped at that moment and I gaped at my sister. My lips quivered as I tried to retrace my step. Where had it gone wrong? Had we been so late? “But it's not what you are thinking, “ She continued, picking her words carefully. “What?” I managed to ask. “What do you mean?” “They are not dead, they have disappeared,” She revealed. At this point, I did not know what to think. First, there was a relief and then questions started to mount each other again. “When, where, and for how long?”“After you got Andy out of the fire, the ambulance carried all of us here,” She said. “You and Andy were in the most critical condition, you have been asleep for four days,” I kept mute so that all the details would sink in. “Mum woke the next day after we got here, she was okay until she started acting weird.”“Weird?” I asked.For a second Regina kept quiet again. “You were stable but Andy’s condition got worse. The doctor believed that he wasn’t doing too well because he is you

Zoe's POVLouis gave me time to get 'accustomed' to my new office which was situated beside his. It had a door that led directly into his office. I didn't think much of it until I stepped into my office. I cursed under my breath and rolled my eyes. The room had its wall painted a dark green and had a leather sofa. It had beige tiles and ugly jade curtains, I was pretty sure that any other person would insist it was not bad but not me. My childhood memories consisted too much of my stepfather coming home and puking in the house or on the steps. The colour was a sickening green shade that stuck with me. Now, even at the age of twenty-six, green reminded me of vomit. If I concentrated enough on it, I could smell it and I had stupidly told Louis this. And to add to my list of problems was the fact that the office was not even tidy. The next few hours were hectic, to say the least. But it was nothing compared to what I was used to.The former Assistant must have been a very disorganised p