Chapter Eight: Collapsing Walls

(Ariadne Asselina Ildelfonso's POV)

The silence in the elevator stretched, thick and suffocating.

I was keenly aware of every inch of space between us—of how little there was.

Gavyn stood just behind me, his presence looming, his gaze a weight on my skin.

"You’re quiet," he murmured, voice smooth and low. "That’s unlike you."

I exhaled sharply, keeping my back to him. "There’s nothing to say."

He chuckled. "That’s a lie."

A sharp prickle of irritation rose in my chest.

I turned to face him, glaring. "What do you want, Gavyn?"

His eyes darkened.

Dangerous. Calculating. Unreadable.

Then—

The elevator jerked.

The lights flickered.

And just like that—

We stopped.

My breath caught.

I turned toward the panel, pressing buttons. Nothing.

No movement. No response.

No escape.

A voice crackled through the intercom. "Apologies, we’re experiencing a temporary malfunction. We’ll have you moving again in about twenty minutes."

I cursed under my breath.

Trapped.

With him.

Of course.

I ran a hand through my hair, taking a slow breath. "Great."

Gavyn, on the other hand, looked utterly unbothered.

His lips twitched. "What’s wrong? Nervous?"

I shot him a glare. "Not in the slightest."

His smirk deepened.

God, I hated him.

I hated how easily he got under my skin.

Hated how, even now, in a situation that was beyond frustrating, my heart still betrayed me—still beat just a little too fast.

I leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "If you have something to say, just say it. Otherwise, let’s just wait this out in silence."

Gavyn hummed. "Alright."

I blinked. "Alright?"

He tilted his head slightly. "You want silence? Fine. But you should know…"

He took a slow step forward.

And suddenly—

The space I had clung to disappeared.

I froze.

He leaned in just enough for me to feel him—heat radiating from his skin, the scent of his cologne seeping into my senses, something dangerous crackling in the air between us.

My breath hitched.

"You’re already trembling," he murmured.

I snapped out of it, forcing myself to shove him back. "I’m not trembling."

Gavyn let me push him, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes.

Like he could see through me.

Like he always did.

My stomach twisted.

I had spent years building walls between us.

But right now, in the tight confines of this elevator, those walls felt dangerously close to crumbling.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I wouldn’t.

I took a step away, inhaling deeply. "Why did you come to my hotel room last night?"

The question hung in the air, sharp and demanding.

Gavyn watched me for a moment before answering.

"Because I needed to see you."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "That’s not an answer."

He exhaled slowly. "I had questions. Questions I thought I’d buried."

My throat tightened. "Then bury them again."

He shook his head. "It’s not that simple."

I clenched my jaw. "It is for me."

Gavyn studied me, his gaze searching, peeling back the layers I had carefully constructed over the years.

"Is it?" he murmured.

Something in his voice sent a shiver down my spine.

I hated this.

The way he could make me feel like I was seconds away from unraveling.

I swallowed hard, glancing at the elevator doors. "How much longer until this thing moves again?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Fantastic."

Silence.

Thick. Unyielding.

Until—

"You still wear it."

I stiffened.

Slowly, I followed his gaze—

To my wrist.

To the bracelet.

My stomach dropped.

I had forgotten.

Forgotten that I still wore the delicate silver chain he had given me years ago.

A piece of the past I should have discarded.

A symbol of something that should have died.

I forced a cold smile. "It’s just jewelry, Gavyn."

He hummed, unconvinced. "Is it?"

I turned away. "Don’t do this."

"Do what?"

"Act like you still know me."

A beat of silence.

Then—

"I never stopped knowing you, kitten."

The way he said it—

Low. Certain.

Like it was an undeniable truth.

I hated the way my body reacted—

The way my pulse betrayed me, the way something in my chest ached.

"I don’t care," I bit out. "I don’t care what you think, and I don’t care what you regret."

Another step.

And suddenly—

He was too close again.

I felt my breath catch as he lifted a hand—slowly, deliberately—fingertips just barely grazing the skin of my wrist.

"Then why are you shaking?"

I snapped.

"You think you can just waltz back into my life and—"

"Yes."

His answer was immediate.

Confident.

Like he had already decided.

Like I had no choice in the matter.

Anger flared in my chest. "You arrogant—"

But before I could finish, before I could hurl whatever sharp words were teetering on the edge of my tongue—

Gavyn moved.

And then he kissed me.

The world stopped.

The fight, the anger, the years of built-up resentment—

All of it disappeared in an instant.

Because this—

This was familiar.

This was dangerous.

His lips pressed against mine—demanding, hungry, unapologetic.

Like he had been waiting.

Like he had always known this was inevitable.

I should have stopped him.

I should have shoved him away, screamed at him, done something.

But I didn’t.

Because the moment he deepened the kiss, the moment his fingers curled around my waist, pulling me against him, I realized—

I had spent years convincing myself I didn’t want this.

And now?

Now my body was betraying me in ways I couldn’t ignore.

I hated him.

But I hated myself more.

Because I kissed him back.

My hands fisted in his shirt, my breath stolen, my mind racing.

Everything about him was the same—the way he tasted, the way he moved, the way he made me forget how to breathe.

And it was intoxicating.

But just as suddenly as it started—

I broke away.

Breathless. Trembling.

Horrified.

I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Gavyn watched me, dark eyes unreadable, lips still parted from the force of the kiss.

Then—

A slow, knowing smirk curled at the edges of his mouth.

I snapped.

I slapped him.

Hard.

The sound echoed in the elevator.

A sharp, stinging reminder of what I had just let happen.

Gavyn exhaled, tilting his head. "There she is."

I clenched my fists. "I hate you."

His smirk didn’t falter. "You already said that."

I wanted to scream.

Instead, I turned away, pressing myself against the farthest corner of the elevator, my pulse a thunderous roar in my ears.

And then—

With an almost infuriating sense of timing—

The elevator began to move again.

As if nothing had happened.

As if I hadn’t just lost control.

As if Gavyn Del Herrera hadn’t just wrecked me all over again.

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