"There's a difference between watching you and letting you do whatever you want."

You didn't mean to make it obvious.

The plan was simple: wait until the penthouse went quiet, grab your backup clutch, and slip out through the service elevator. Your heels were already waiting by the door, and the dress? Skin-tight, backless, barely long enough to pass as anything but a provocation. Perfectly dolled up to hit the club.

Your father was across the country on business. Rin was on night surveillance from the roof. Isagi had retired early to his quarters after double-checking the door codes.

Perfect.

You'd almost made it to the elevator with heels in hand, plump lips glossed, heart pounding with the thrill of rebellion but then when the low click of a door unlocking behind you froze you mid-step.

"...Going somewhere, missy?"

The voice was calm. Too calm.

Isagi stood in the hallway, dress shirt's upper bottoms freed and tie loosely hanging in between of shirt's folds like he hadn't bothered dressing properly to catch you. His eyes, however, were razor-sharp and entirely awake.

"I thought you were off-duty," you said, smiling sweetly.

"I'm never off when it comes to you," he replied, stepping closer. "Especially not when you're wearing that."

You were about to roll your eyes, maybe give him some snide excuse with your sharp tongue, when another presence slid in behind you. Quiet, deadly.

Rin.

He didn't speak at first. Just looked you up and down. The hem of the dress. The sway of your hips. The glitter still clinging to your collarbone.

Then, in that cool, unreadable voice.

"Not a chance."

You exhaled. Just too sharply.

"Didn't know I had a curfew," you muttered, backing a step into the space between them. Bad idea.

"Curfew?" Isagi echoed, almost laughing. "No. But we do have instructions to keep you alive."

"You think I'm gonna die at a bar?"

"No," Rin answered for him. "But someone else might, if they lay a hand on you."

That hit you square in the chest. The weight of it. The truth buried in it.

And then Isagi was behind you, fingers brushing the zipper of your dress like a warning.

"You want to act like a brat," he murmured, mouth close to your ear, "then don't be surprised when you get handled like one. You are not going anywhere. Not in that fucking rag."

You should've been afraid.

Instead, your pulse was thrumming so hard you couldn't tell if it was adrenaline or something else entirely.

Maybe you didn't want to sneak away anymore.

Maybe you'd rather be caught.

And they... were more than willing to show you what happens to girls who break the rules.

Still, a part of you wasn't ready to admit defeat. You tilted your head slightly, meeting Rin's cold, piercing gaze head-on.

"Then come with me," you breathed softly, your voice daring, almost taunting. "If you're worried about someone laying hands on me, maybe you should be there to make sure it doesn't happen."