"Are you hurt?" His voice is shaking too, rough with fear. "Aurora, are you hurt? Did they hurt you?"
"No, I'm okay, I..."
"What the FUCK were you thinking?" The fear transforms into rage so fast it's like a switch flipping. "You snuck out? Went to a club? After everything I told you about staying safe?"
"I just wanted..."
"I don't care what you wanted!" He's shouting now, not caring who hears, not caring about the people with phones probably recording this. "You could have been killed! Do you understand that? Those men were going to kill you!"
"I'm sorry..."
"Sorry? You're SORRY?" He steps back, runs both hands through his hair like he's trying to physically hold himself together. "Get in the car. Now. All of you."
The drive back is silent and terrible. Axel's in the front seat, staring straight ahead, not looking at me even once. I'm in the back between Chloe and Tiana, both of them pale and shaking, Chloe's knuckles already swelling from the punch she threw.
We pull up to the estate. Axel gets out, slams the door so hard the entire car shakes on its frame.
"Inside," he orders, his voice flat and dangerous.
Chloe and Tiana follow me in without a word. Axel dismisses the guards with a sharp gesture, and suddenly we're alone in the massive foyer that feels too big and too empty.
"You two." He points at my friends, his finger steady despite the rage radiating off him. "Guest rooms. Now. You're staying here tonight where I can keep you safe."
"Axel..." I start.
"Not. A. Word." He's shaking with fury, his whole body tense. "Not one word until your friends are somewhere safe."
Margareta appears as if summoned, takes one look at the situation, and immediately leads Chloe and Tiana upstairs without asking questions. They both look back at me, their faces worried and scared.
Then we're alone.
"My office," Axel says, his voice deadly quiet now. "Right now."
I follow him through the house, my heart pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat. The second the office door closes behind us, cutting us off from the rest of the world, he explodes.
"What the hell were you thinking? Sneaking out of this house? Going to a club in the middle of the city where anyone could find you?"
"I just wanted one night! One night to feel normal!"
"Normal?" He laughs, and it's bitter and harsh and broken. "You're pregnant with a mafia boss's baby while your father has disowned you and enemies are circling like sharks smelling blood! There is no normal anymore!"
"So what, I'm just supposed to hide forever? Never leave this estate? Never see my friends?"
"If that's what keeps you safe, then YES!"
"That's not a life! That's a prison!"
"It's protection!"
"It's control!" I'm shouting now too, months of frustration pouring out. "Just like my father! Making decisions for me, telling me what I can and can't do, treating me like I'm too stupid to make my own choices!"
"Your choices almost got you killed tonight! Your choices almost got your friends killed! That man had his hands on you, Aurora! He was dragging you away, and if I'd been thirty seconds later..."
"Because I wanted to dance with my friends! That shouldn't be a death sentence!"
"In this world it is! In MY world, going to a club without security, without telling anyone where you are, makes you a target with a bullseye painted on your back!"
"Then maybe I don't want to be in your world!"