Chapter 30: Sleeping with the Enemy

Ellie stormed out of the restaurant, the cold night air biting at her skin, but she barely felt it. Rage boiled in her veins, seething, poisonous. Her footsteps echoed down the quiet street, each one pounding with the same thought—

I'm losing him.

No.

I already lost him.

The idea sent a sickening chill down her spine. Ben was still breathing, still warm, still flesh and blood—but Victoria had him in ways Ellie never could. She was inside his head, his body, his memories. She was the ghost he couldn't let go of.

Ellie clenched her fists so tight her nails dug into her palms.

"Not anymore."

A sudden gust of wind howled through the street, sending a shiver down her spine. It wasn't just the cold—it was her.

Victoria.

Watching.

Waiting.

Ellie turned, her breath coming fast, her pulse hammering. "You like ruining things, don't you?" she hissed into the empty night. "You like taking everything from me."

A soft, mocking whisper curled around her ear. "I don't take, sweetheart. I just remind him who he belongs to."

Ellie froze.

The whisper was too close.

Something moved behind her. A shadow. A flicker in the dim glow of the streetlights.

And then—

A breath.

Right against her neck.

Her entire body went rigid.

She spun around, but—

No one was there.

Her skin crawled.

She needed to leave. Now.

Ellie practically ran back to her apartment, slamming the door behind her and locking it twice. She stood there, panting, her heart threatening to claw out of her chest.

But the moment she turned—

Ben was there.

Sitting on her couch.

Waiting.

Ellie jumped. "How the hell did you get in here?!"

Ben didn't answer right away. He just looked at her, his eyes dark, shadowed. "I needed to see you."*

Ellie swallowed hard. "Why?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "To tell me you chose her?"

Ben's jaw tensed. "No.

He stood, stepping toward her slowly. There was something different about him. The way he moved. The way he looked at her—

Like he wasn't entirely Ben anymore.

Ellie took a shaky step back. "Ben…"

"I missed you," he murmured, his voice thick, low.

Ellie's breath hitched.

Something about this wasn't right.

His fingers brushed against her arm, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. His touch was warm—but there was something else beneath it. Something cold.

Ellie looked up at him, her pulse racing. "Is it really you?"

Ben exhaled shakily. "Yes. Just me."

Liar.

But even as her brain screamed at her to run, her body betrayed her.

Because when Ben leaned in—his lips barely ghosting over hers—Ellie didn't pull away.

And when he kissed her, slow and desperate, she let him.

Her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. His hands gripped her waist, firm, possessive.

But just as her heart started to surrender—

She felt it.

A second presence.

A breath of laughter in the air.

A whisper against her skin, soft and mocking.

"Do you like how he touches you, Ellie? Because I taught him how."

Ellie ripped herself away, her chest heaving. "Get out," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Get out of my house."

Ben's expression darkened. "Ellie—"

"No." Her hands shook. "I know she's inside you. I can feel her."

Ben's lips parted, his body going rigid. His eyes—for just a flicker of a moment—weren't his own.

They were hers.

Ellie's blood ran cold.

She backed away, pressing herself against the wall. "She's using you, Ben."

Silence.

And then, finally, his voice dropped into something unnatural.

Something wrong.

"Oh, sweetheart…" Victoria purred through his lips. "I'm not just using him."

Ellie's heart stopped.

"I own him."