The Stolen Savior: Bleed for Me

Clara shattered the last vase my mother left behind. She did it on purpose. But Cole—the boy I grew up with—pointed his finger dead at me just to cover for her.

Lawrence didn't even ask for my side of the story. He forced me to my knees right on top of the jagged porcelain. Hours later, Dorian carried me out of that pitchblack room.

He sat me down and carefully bandaged my ruined knees. "I know it wasn't you." The elegant, untouchable man stood at the sink, quietly washing my blood from his fingers.

He walked back over, his cool thumb brushing against the corner of my eye.

His tone didn't shift a single octave. "But you've been drawing too much attention to yourself lately, Fallon.

It's only natural that Clara felt threatened." He tilted my chin up. "You're the older sister.

You'll always protect her, won't you?" Chapter 1 I didn't quite catch his meaning at first.

I hesitated. "…Drawing too much attention?" "It seems you really haven't realized it." Dorian scrutinized me. A faint smile touched his lips.

His fingertips tapped a slow, rhythmic beat against the edge of the firstaid kit.

He let out a soft sigh, as if dealing with a difficult child. "You're just as slow on the uptake as always, Fallon. I hear you've been learning to make soup lately?" A hint.

A warning. My mind flashed back to the past few days. Every time I walked out of Lawrence's study with an empty soup bowl, Clara's face would instantly sour.

It finally clicked. "Lawrence said my soup tasted just like my mother's.

That's why I—" "That is not your place." Dorian cut me off, his voice smooth and entirely unhurried. "This family has plenty of staff to cook." I looked up, staring at him.

I knew that wasn't what he really meant. Fallon. Just as I thought. He leaned in, his heavy hand pressing down on my shoulder.

His dark eyes locked onto mine, dead calm. "One person is enough to carry the weight of those memories. Clara is a fragile girl." "She needs a tremendous amount of love to survive.

I made that perfectly clear before I brought you back to this house, didn't I?" My shoulder was already bruised. Dorian didn't hold back his strength.

Every instinct screamed at me to flinch away from his grip, but I forced my muscles to stay still. He had warned me. Back when they found me in the slums.

Back when they told me I was the longlost eldest daughter of the family. The immaculately dressed young man had swept his cold gaze over me.

His very first words were: "Clara needs a sister who won't fight her for what's hers." On the drive back, Dorian had kept a wide distance between us.

Even though I had scrubbed myself raw and changed into clean clothes. Back then, I thought it was just his personality. Until later.

Until the countless times I watched Dorian look at Clara, his eyes overflowing with a sickening tenderness. And even after all these years.

Not once had that tenderness ever been directed at me. "I understand." I nodded, the compliance practically muscle memory by now.

The suffocating tension in the room finally dialed back a fraction. "You've always been such a good girl, Fallon." Dorian smiled. He lifted his hand from my shoulder.

He picked up the gauze from the kit again and finished wrapping the final layer around my knee. He tossed the words out casually. "Clara did go a bit too far this time.

What do you want to make up for it?" A sharp, biting agony radiated from my kneecaps.

Dorian hadn't bothered to pick the tiny shards of glass out of my torn flesh before wrapping them up. I knew this was his real punishment.

Just like Cole pointing his finger at me in front of Lawrence. All because I dared to make Clara unhappy.

But to make up for it… Chapter 2 "I want first place in the campus competition." The words tumbled out before I could even stop them. My mind raced.

If I could actually get this out of the deal, kneeling on broken glass wasn't a total loss. "First place?" Dorian's hands paused.

A calculating look crossed his face. "I recall Clara is also entering this competition." "Cole and I are teaming up!" I added quickly. Dorian hated Cole.

But of course, Clara adored him. I pressed my lips together.

A cold knot tightened in my chest the second the words left my mouth, especially when I saw the faint smile vanish completely from Dorian's face. I thought he was going to refuse.

But I didn't have anything else left to trade. I furrowed my brows, my fingernails digging lightly into my palms. Then Dorian finally broke the silence.

His expression was unreadable. "You've been getting close to him lately?" "Didn't you tell me to keep Cole and Clara apart?" I asked, genuinely confused.

I remembered his exact words from before: That Cole boy. If you like him, Fallon, why not go after him?

It was the very first time Dorian had ever given me permission to take something from Clara. Not that I actually wanted Cole. For once, Dorian was rendered speechless.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sharp exhale. "If you can keep him far away from Clara." He paused, straightening up to his full height. "I naturally won't object." I won the bet.

Dorian turned to leave. But just as he stepped into the doorway, he froze. He turned his head slightly. Half of his face was swallowed by the shadows in the hall.

Even in the dim light, I could feel the heavy weight of his stare lingering on me for a few agonizing seconds before he looked away. "Clara had a scare today, too." His voice was flat. "Once she's rested, make sure you go check on her." I was already digging through my drawers for pain patches.

I didn't even bother looking up. "Got it." Dorian didn't specify when exactly Clara would be considered rested. I sure as hell wasn't going to ask. A few days later, Cole showed up.

The spoiled rich kid had been coddled his entire life; even his apologies were awkward. He shoved a small bottle into my chest. "Here.

Take it." I looked down at the glass vial, my brain lagging for a second. "What is this?" "New healing serum from my family's lab.

Use it, and you won't scar." Cole ran a hand roughly through his hair. His eyes darted everywhere but my face. He mumbled, "You know—since Lawrence punished you.

How's… how's the injury healing?" It clicked. This was his version of compensation. I didn't reject the serum.

Cole threw money around like it was water, and his gifts were always toptier. I could pawn this off on the black market for a solid chunk of cash.

So I just nodded. "Dorian already took care of it." Even if he only did a halfassed job wrapping my knees. But I was used to having a thick skin.

The cuts on my back would heal up fine on their own in a few days. "Dorian?" It was like the name physically stung him. Cole snapped his head around, glaring at me.

His voice spiked an octave. "He treated your wounds? Since when is he that nice? No, wait—since when are you two so close, Fallon?" He fired the questions off like a machine gun.

I had no idea how to respond. I simply shut my mouth, picked up my pen, and went back to writing my list. This competition was critical.

I had a lot of supplies to prep, but my bank account was practically empty. I needed to stretch every single dime.

Chapter 3 "Fallon, you're ignoring me again!" Cole complained, grabbing my arm. He didn't gauge his strength. The movement yanked the halfhealed wound on my shoulder.

A sharp hiss ripped through my teeth. Cole froze, his hand hovering awkwardly in the air. He stammered, "Ddid I hit your wound?" "It's fine." I yanked my arm back.

Cole exhaled a breath of relief, but a deep frown quickly replaced it. "Didn't you say Dorian treated it?" "I knew that snake wouldn't be that kind.

Who knows what garbage medicine he used on you. It's been days and it's still not fully healed." Dorian hadn't used any serum on me. He probably wanted it to hurt longer.

To make sure the lesson stuck. But I wasn't going to tell Cole that. It wasn't like he would feel sorry for me.

So I brushed it off. "Maybe I just heal slow." "You're actually defending him!" The spoiled heir grumbled. "And why did you put the serum away?" "Don't hoard it.

My family has tons of this stuff. It works great." "I wanted to bring it to you earlier. But Clara got so scared seeing you punished that day. You know how easily frightened she is.

I had to stay with her—" Cole's voice snapped shut. He realized what he just said.

He shot me a guilty look, his words turning into a vague mumble. "Just… maybe you should use the serum first." "Okay." I didn't ask any followup questions.

My silence only made him more fidgety. "Fallon." Cole hesitated, scrambling for his words. "That day… I didn't mean to." "Clara said it was an accident.

She was terrified Lawrence would punish her." "She was even more afraid of disappointing him. And you two were the only ones home." His voice dropped to a low mutter.

He kept shooting me nervous glances from under his lashes. "You've always been tougher than Clara. Even if you get punished, it just hurts for a few days and you're fine.

But Clara is different. It took forever for her health to stabilize, and she can't handle pain." "You're her older sister.

Taking the fall for her… it's just the right thing to do, isn't it?" My fingers clamped around my pen until my knuckles turned white. I looked up. I stared dead at Cole.

His lips pressed into a tight, thin line. He violently broke eye contact, looking everywhere but at me. Actually. Clara had said the exact same thing.

She had smiled as she opened her fingers.

She let the vase—the one carrying all my mother's memories—shatter against the hardwood floor. "Sister." She tilted her head, her tone sickeningly bright. "This is your punishment." All because, for a few brief days, I had stolen Lawrence's attention.

Attention that supposedly belonged exclusively to her. Or maybe.

It was because Cole and I teamed up. "Cole." I breathed out his name, my chest heavy. "What exactly do you want from me?" Cole choked on his words.

A long moment passed before he dropped his head. His voice was muffled. "Because you refused to admit it that day, Lawrence is starting to suspect Clara.

He's been freezing her out." "I… I need you to go to Lawrence. I need you to confess. Tell him Clara had nothing to do with it." Confess. Take another punishment.

Force my own biological father to look at me with that crushing disappointment all over again. "I'll bring you the best healing serums!" So even compensation came with a price tag.

I already knew this. I understood the rules. But right now. Staring into Cole's expectant eyes. A phantom hand clamped around my throat.

The back of my tongue burned with bitter acid. I swallowed hard against the suffocating tightness expanding in my chest. Chapter 4 "Fallon?

Fallon!" "If I agree to this, can you guarantee you'll back me up in the competition?" I looked up, catching the familiar twitch of impatience in his jaw. I held his gaze.

Cole froze. His mouth opened. "I—" A sharp buzz cut him off. His phone lit up. A text from Clara. I didn't see what it said.

Cole instantly shot to his feet. "Got it," he tossed over his shoulder, already rushing out the door. "Got it" wasn't a guarantee. I frowned.

A cold prickle of unease crawled up the back of my neck. A second later, my own phone vibrated. A new message. From Dorian. [Come downstairs in a bit.

Everyone is here.] Cole hadn't left by the time I walked downstairs. He sat on the couch, making Clara laugh so hard she was doubled over.

Dorian, who rarely showed up at the house, sat in the single armchair closest to her. A laptop rested on his knees.

Every so often, he would tilt his head toward her, his eyes softening. I looked away. Out of pure habit, I picked the seat furthest from the center of the room.

The moment I sat down, the lively chatter flatlined. Clara was the one to break the dead air. "Is your body feeling any better, Sister?" "Yeah," I muttered.

The smile vanished from Lawrence's face. His voice turned to ice. "What are you doing down here?" He was still furious. He loved my mother.

That was why he spoiled Clara—she looked exactly like her. And me. I was just the sinner who shattered the last piece of my mother's legacy. Cole was staring at me too.

Naked expectation and urgency bled into his eyes. Dorian didn't even look up. His gaze remained locked on his screen. His long fingers tapped a lazy rhythm across the keys.

He acted like this entire confrontation had nothing to do with him. But I knew he was listening. I had played this script a hundred times before.

All I had to do was confess to the crime. All I had to do was take another step back and promise never to fight Clara for anything. But the words piled up like lead behind my teeth.

I opened my mouth. My fingernails dug crescent moons into the meat of my palms. My grip didn't loosen. "I asked what you're doing down here!" Lawrence's face darkened.

A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my sight!" "I broke the vase." I dragged in a sharp breath and locked onto his eyes. "It had nothing to do with Clara." "I broke it on purpose to frame her.

Because I was jealous that you only ever cared about her, even though I'm also—" Smack. The sentence died in my throat. A blinding heat exploded across my cheek.

The force of the slap whipped my head to the side.

My vision blurred, perfectly aligning with Clara's hidden, triumphant smirk. "Get out of my house!" Lawrence pointed a trembling finger at the door.

He raised his hand for a second strike. Cole lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Lawrence!" Cole hadn't expected it to go this far. His voice shook. Guilt. But not much.

I evaluated his reaction with dead, mechanical precision. Lawrence was breathing hard, his chest heaving with every ragged exhale. Cole stood in front of me, his jaw clamped shut.

The room suffocated under the standoff. Click. The soft sound of a laptop snapping shut severed the dead air. "Lawrence. Clara is still here. Don't frighten her." Dorian stood up.

Without a single wasted movement, he slid between Cole and me, slicing right through the tension.

His voice was perfectly level. "Let Fallon stay at my place tonight." I stared down at the tips of my shoes. I didn't make a sound.

Chapter 5 Just as I was about to get into Dorian's car, I stopped. I turned back and called out to Cole, who was heading for his own ride. "I did it.

So can you guarantee you'll back me up in this competition?" Cole clearly hadn't expected that to be my priority.

His face twisted into a complicated knot. "You…" He pressed his lips together, genuinely baffled. "Why are you so obsessed with this tournament?

Even if we get first place, the prize is just a pretty rock." "But to me, that rock is incredibly important." My deadserious stare seemed to burn him.

He jerked his head away, his posture stiffening. "I will," he muttered, distracted. "Thank you." Getting that guarantee felt like a weight lifting off my chest.

I managed to pull a small smile. Cole stared at me blankly. A dark flush suddenly crept up his neck. "Why are you smil—" He clamped his mouth shut.

Fumbling with his pockets, he pulled out another vial of healing serum and shoved it into my hands like it was on fire. "An apology," he mumbled thickly.

I accepted it without hesitation. Another deposit for my getaway fund. I pocketed the vial, calculating its blackmarket value.

When I finally got into the car, Dorian wasn't working. His tablet lay abandoned on the seat beside him. That was new.

I raised an eyebrow but didn't dwell on it, reaching out to pull open the passenger door out of habit. But the passenger seat was piled with files.

I blinked, turning to look at Dorian.

He kept his eyes locked on the window, perfectly still, pretending not to notice. "Miss Fallon, if you don't mind…" The driver shot me a cautious look through the rearview mirror.

I sighed, opened the back door, and slid in. I pressed myself flat against the glass, putting as much physical space between Dorian and me as the leather seats allowed.

The temperature in the cabin seemed to instantly drop ten degrees. Dorian let out a low, mocking scoff. "Drive." He didn't even glance my way. The rest of the ride was dead silent.

Just as we pulled up and I reached for the door handle, he dropped the question.

He made it sound casual. "Why did you confess?" "Cole asked me to." I hesitated, swallowing the second half of the truth. Dorian was too unpredictable.

If he found out how desperately I needed the energy core from the firstplace prize, he'd find a way to use it against me. "Cole asked you to?" He repeated my words, his voice totally flat.

I stood outside the car, looking down at him. From this angle, his face was unreadable in the shadows. "He tells you to jump, and you ask how high?

When did you become so obedient, Fallon?" I frowned. Didn't you literally just praise me for being a good, obedient girl a few days ago? What was his problem now?

He seemed to realize how that sounded the second the words left his mouth. His jaw tightened. After a few rigid breaths, he just shut up.

His expression darkened, and he ignored me entirely. Weirdo. I moved into Dorian's place for the time being. Living at his estate actually had its perks.

I didn't have to deal with Clara's face every day. Dorian was always busy and rarely came home anyway. But the best part? His house had a fully loaded underground training facility.

Whenever I wasn't at school, I practically lived in the simulation pods.

I barely even went back to my bedroom, throwing every ounce of my energy into physical and mental conditioning. Chapter 6 So when I heard Clara and Dorian were in a cold war.

And over Cole, no less. I froze for a few seconds before letting out a slow, delayed "Oh." But what did that have to do with me? Dorian had always spoiled Clara rotten.

They'd probably make up in less than twentyfour hours. I pushed it out of my mind, turned around, and climbed right back into the simulation pod.

Until someone forced an emergency override. It was Dorian. He smelled faintly of alcohol.

The man who usually looked like he was sewn into his tailored suits had the top two buttons of his shirt undone. The corners of his eyes were flushed with a faint red.

He glanced at the training logs flashing on the screen beside me.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Not taking a break?" "Reviewing my stats counts as a break." I sat up, making zero move to actually climb out of the pod. "Do you need something, Dorian?" "Can't I come see you without a reason?" Dorian tossed the question right back.

I didn't say a word. I just sat there and stared at him. "…Never mind." He must have realized how out of character he sounded. Dorian let out a soft exhale.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned toward the door. "I'm going to the study." I nodded and lay back down.

But even as I prepped to link my neural network back to the system, I never heard the door click shut. Maybe he forgot to close it, I thought. My training didn't last long anyway.

My communicator buzzed frantically. Dorian's secretary sounded like she was on the verge of a panic attack. Her voice literally shook. [Miss Fallon, is Mr. Dorian with you?

He has a critical board meeting tonight, and I can't reach him anywhere!] Dorian hated outsiders stepping foot in his territory.

So ninety percent of the time, it was just the two of us in this massive house. I groaned, dragging my hands through my hair.

Finally, I accepted my fate, climbed out of the pod, and headed upstairs. "Dorian?" I knocked. "Dorian!" I called out a few more times. Dead silence from the other side.

I even resorted to shouting that Clara was eloping with Cole. Still nothing.

Not a single sound. [Miss Fallon!] "Just make sure you tell him I didn't break his door on purpose," I said into the comms. "Because I definitely don't have the cash to pay for it." I cut the connection.

I lifted my leg and kicked the heavy door clean open. The lights were off. The only illumination came from the moonlight spilling through the floortoceiling windows.

Dorian leaned heavily against the glass. He raised his head a beat too slow. His expression was unusually blank. "…Fallon?" His neural energy was spiraling out of control.

It wasn't a huge deal. A single shot of a stabilizer serum would fix it in seconds.

But Dorian refused to take it. "You used to use your own energy to soothe it." He tossed the glass vial aside. It clattered against the hardwood floor.

He stared at me, a dark, irrational stubbornness bleeding into his eyes. He was genuinely wasted. I mentally noted that love was a poison nobody should touch.

It even made a ruthless man like Dorian lose his absolute mind. But his words did drag up a few old memories.

When I was first brought back to the family, the person I felt closest to was actually Dorian. He was the one who pulled me out of the slums, after all.

If he had shown up even five minutes later, those street thugs would have beaten me to death.

So when I found out his neural network was unstable, I tore through every medical database I could find.

I ran brutal experiments on my own body until I clumsily learned how to channel soothing energy. But Dorian didn't need it. Whenever he sobered up. He would always push me away.

Chapter 7 "Don't try to win me over like this." Dorian's voice was pure ice. A distinct layer of disgust bled through the syllables. "Remember your place." I listened to him.

I kept my distance.

So much time had passed since those early days that the neuralsoothing techniques I painstakingly taught myself had completely rusted over. "I don't remember how." I laid the truth out flat and cracked open a fresh vial of stabilizer.

I intercepted his hand before he could smack this one away too. "If you refuse to take the serum, I'm paging the family doctor." "Don't remember?" Dorian's fingers stalled.

His brows pulled together into a hard knot. He didn't ask; he stated it as a cold fact. "You just stabilized Cole's neural spike a few days ago.

That's why he agreed to team up with you." His tone dropped a few degrees. A faint, almost imperceptible edge of grievance hung on the last word.

My own brain must be rotting to think a man like him could sound wronged. My hands didn't stop.

I pressed the plunger, slowly feeding the clear liquid into his system. "I forced his network down." Dorian clearly didn't buy it. The room plunged back into heavy silence.

The only sound was the ragged, broken rhythm of his breathing. "Done. Your secretary is still—" The words died in my throat.

I blinked, looking down at him. "Don't move." A low, gravelly command pinned me in place as I tried to step back.

His fingertips—cold as marble—pressed firmly against the skin of my cheek.

He frowned. "Why didn't you use the healing serum?" It took a second to realize he was talking about the swollen handprint Lawrence left on my face.

I paused, then gave him the blunt truth. "I couldn't bear to waste it." I only had the two vials Cole gave me. They were my cash ticket out of here.

His fingers suddenly dug into my cheek, pinching the bruised flesh hard. Dorian let out a dark, breathless laugh.

The words scraped out of his throat, dripping with venom. "Couldn't bear to waste it? Or couldn't bear to use it because Cole gave it to you?" He was losing his mind again.

I knew the rule: the more you speak, the more ammo you give them. I snapped my mouth shut. Fallon. The usual calm, untouchable mask shattered. Dorian stared me down.

A sickeningly dark, obsessive paranoia swirled in the pitchblack depths of his eyes.

He scoffed, the sound rough and grating. "You actually think that Cole boy is any better than me?" His words clawed at the back of my mind that night, leaving a lingering, ugly unease.

I forced myself to swallow it down. I had saved Cole's life. He gave me his absolute guarantee. The competition would go off without a hitch.

I would secure the energy core, and I would finally leave this place behind. But that gnawing unease morphed into reality. The day of the campus tournament arrived.

I stood outside the arena gates for a long time. Students passing by shot me sideways, loaded glances.

They kept their voices low, but every single word carried over clear as glass. "She doesn't actually think Cole is going to team up with her, does she?" "Right?

She needs a reality check.

A beggar dragged out of the slums actually thinks she can compete with Clara?" "Honestly, I bet the only reason Cole agreed in the first place is because she pulled some dirty trick." "Tch.

She has no shame." I was used to the trash talk. It didn't matter. Cole had already given his word. None of their whispers could change the facts.

I tuned them out and kept my eyes glued to the entrance. Until Cole finally showed up. With Clara standing right by his side.

The second his eyes landed on me, his boots hitched midstep. A tangled, messy knot of emotions flashed across his face. Clara followed his gaze and turned her head.

A sickeningly sweet smile stretched across her face. "Sister! Why haven't you gone inside yet?" "I'm waiting for someone." Cole jerked his head away. Chapter 8