AN OMEGA'S CYCLE: TRAPPED IN HEAT WITH MY FOUR STEPBROTHERS.

NICHOLAS’S POV

My mother’s absence was the first thing I noticed when I reached the hallway outside Mr. Blackthorne’s room. She had said she was going upstairs after dinner, and I had assumed she would be nearby when I went to speak with him, but the hallway was completely quiet.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the closed door in front of me and wondering whether I should turn around and go back to my room. I already knew what he wanted to discuss. There was no reason for me to be there if I could avoid it, but ignoring him would probably create an even bigger problem. I took a slow breath, knocked and waited.

"Come in." I heard a rough voice and I opened the door.

Mr. Blackthorne was inside, and the room was much quieter than the rest of the house.

My eyes immediately went toward the doorway behind me, almost expecting my mother to appear, but there was no one there. That made me more nervous than I wanted to admit.. "You asked me to come?"

He looked at me for a moment before answering. "Close the door."

I hesitated.

"Nicholas." He grunted.

Nodding, I closed it.

He remained where he was for several seconds, studying me. I tried not to show how uncomfortable I felt, but my mind had already started running through possibilities. I kept wondering whether he was going to bring up what had happened before, whether he had somehow discovered that I’d been thinking about it, or whether he’d noticed how nervous I’d become around him. I didn’t want to be alone in that room with him, and the longer he stayed silent, the more uncomfortable I became.

"I just wanted to remind you of something," he finally said and I nodded cautiously.. "What happened between us stays between us."

My stomach tightened. "I haven’t told anyone."

"I know. I’m making sure you understand that it needs to remain that way." His smile was nothing short of stiff.

"I understand."

He moved closer, and I instinctively stepped backward. He noticed the movement and his expression hardened. "You don’t need to be frightened of me."

I said nothing.

"You need to understand that whatever happened, nobody else needs to know about it. Not your mother, not the boys, nobody. Do you understand?" He spaced his words carefully.

"Yes." I nodded fervently.

He stepped closer again, and before I could move away, he caught my shoulder and forced me backward until my back struck the wall. The sudden movement startled me, and I stared at him with my heart pounding.

"I asked whether you understood." I growled.

"I said yes." I squeezed my eyes shut.

He held me there for another moment before releasing me. "Good."

I immediately moved away from him. "I can keep a secret."

"I expect you to. Wouldn’t want your sweet mother finding out, would we?"

I didn’t answer and he looked at me for a few more seconds before finally stepping aside. "That’s all."

I didn’t need to be told twice before I opened the door and left.

My mother was just coming out of her room when I stepped into the hallway. She looked surprised to see me there and immediately frowned. "Nicholas? What were you doing in his room?"

I froze. "I..."

She waited. I needed an explanation quickly. "He wanted to ask me something about the company."

She looked toward the room. "At this hour?"

"He was telling me about the tour he mentioned at dinner. I thought he wanted to explain something about it." I forced a smile.

My mother studied my face. "You couldn’t have talked about that tomorrow?"

"I didn’t know what he wanted until I went inside." I tried to keep the fear out of my face.

She continued looking at me, but eventually her expression softened. "Alright. Come and get some sleep. You look exhausted."

"I will." I returned to my room as quickly as possible and shut the door behind me. The moment I was alone, I sat on the edge of my bed and released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I didn’t want to think about the conversation again. I didn’t want to think about what he’d said or the way he’d forced me against the wall. I simply wanted the night to end.

My phone was still on the bedside table and I picked it up.

There were more messages from the stalker.

I didn’t open them immediately. I simply stared at the notifications, trying to decide whether reading them would make things better or worse. Eventually, I opened the conversation and went through the messages carefully.

He was trying to get a reaction out of me so I didn’t respond. Not tonight.

I turned the phone facedown and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual.

The house was already beginning to come alive, and I knew my mother was home. That meant there was no way I could stay in my room all day without being questioned. If I told her I wasn’t going to school, she’d immediately want to know why, and I wasn’t prepared to explain everything. I decided it would be easier to pretend I was going to class and leave the house as usual.

I dressed in my school clothes and went downstairs to see my mother was already at the table.

She looked up as soon as she saw me. "You’re ready early."

"Yeah." I pulled out a chair and sat down.

Adrian entered the room a moment later. He looked at me, then at my clothes, and immediately smiled. "You’re actually going to school?"

I frowned. "Why wouldn’t I?"

He looked toward my mother. "Did he tell you he’s suspended?"

I nearly choked on the water I’d just picked up and my mother stared at me in horror. "Suspended?"

I glared at Adrian and he raised his hands. "What? She was going to find out."

My mother turned toward me. "Nicholas, what is he talking about?"

"It’s nothing." I sighed.

"How can suspension be nothing?" Her voice rose slightly.

"I mean, it’s not permanent." I finally looked at her.

Adrian leaned back in his chair. "That’s one way of putting it."

I kicked him lightly under the table and he gave me an offended look.

My mother looked between the two of us, completely confused. "Would somebody please explain what is going on?"

I sighed. "There was an incident at school. The principal suspended me for a month. That’s all."

She didn’t say anything for a second. "Why didn’t you tell me?"

I looked down at the table. "Because I didn’t want you worrying."

"You should have told me."

"I’m sorry"

She looked disappointed, but I couldn’t bring myself to explain everything while the others were sitting around us. I lowered my eyes and continued eating and Adrian didn’t say anything else. Neither did I.

Breakfast was quiet after that, and when I finished, I stood up and picked up my bag. "I’m leaving."

My mother looked at me. "You’re really not going to class?"

I nodded. "I have somewhere else to be."

"Where?"

"I’ll be back later." I answered vaguely.

She looked like she wanted to question me again, but I didn’t wait.

I left the house and headed toward the place where Jayden and I usually met, but he wasn’t there.

I knew he had classes that morning, so I wasn’t surprised, but sitting there alone made the place feel completely different. I ordered something to drink and spent the next few hours trying to keep myself occupied.

I checked my phone repeatedly. No new message from my stalker. That should have made me feel relieved, but it only got me worried.

At one point, I noticed someone sitting farther away from me. I couldn’t clearly see the person’s face because they were looking down at their phone, but when I looked up again several minutes later, they were still there and I ignored it.

I was becoming too suspicious of everyone.

After everything that had happened, it was easy to assume every stranger was watching me, and I didn’t want to become paranoid enough to start accusing innocent people.

I stayed there until the afternoon. Jayden finally arrived with his bag over one shoulder and dropped into the chair across from me. "You look bored."

"You’re here finally because I am."

"You should have come to class with me. At least then you’d have something to complain about." He suggested.

"I’d rather be bored." I rolled my eyes.

He laughed. "Fair enough."

We stayed there for a while before I finally stood up. "Come with me."

"Where?" He asked.

"You’ll see." I shrugged.

He followed me without arguing. We walked for several minutes until we reached a technology shop in a busy part of town.

Jayden stopped outside and looked at the sign before turning toward me. "What are we doing here?"

I looked at him.. "I’m going to find out who the stalker is."

His expression immediately changed. "How?"

"I’m going to start with the messages."

He frowned. "You said you didn’t know how to find them."

"I didn’t." I pushed the door open. "That’s why we’re here."

Jayden followed me inside, still looking confused. "You’ve already figured something out?"

"Not exactly." I walked toward the counter. "I just realized that if someone keeps sending me messages, they have to be sending them from somewhere. They have to leave a trail eventually."

Jayden stared at me. "And you think these people can find it?"

"I think they can help me find the IP address connected to the messages."

He looked at me for a moment before lowering his voice. "Nicholas, are you sure this is a good idea?"

I paused for a second. "No." I looked down at my phone. "But doing nothing hasn’t exactly worked either."

He sighed and followed me toward the counter. "So what’s the plan?"

I looked at the technician behind the counter. "Find the stalker."

Jayden shook his head slightly. "You really decided to take this seriously."

"I’ve been taking it seriously, what do you mean?" I looked at him.

"No. Before, you were scared. Now you’re actually doing something."

My brows furrowed. "Yeah well, I’m tired of being scared."

He nodded. "Then let’s figure it out."

I pulled out my phone and opened the message thread. The stalker’s latest message was still sitting there. "I’ll get you."

I stared at it for a moment before showing it to the technician.

The stalker wouldn’t get the chance to make the first move. I would find them first.

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