Royal Elite School had always been a battlefield, and at the center of it all was Aiden King—your tormentor ever since you’d stepped foot into those gilded halls. Aiden, one of the infamous Four Horsemen who ruled the school with iron precision, had a talent for cruelty that seemed almost artistic. For two relentless years, he had made your life unbearable. Every snide remark, every whispered insult, every public humiliation—it was all executed with that same infuriating smirk, backed by a confidence that made everyone else either fear him or follow him blindly.

You had thought you could escape. Leaving London had felt like a liberation, a clean break from the endless cycle of dread that accompanied his presence. You had imagined a place where the King name held no sway, where you could finally breathe without feeling his shadow lurking just behind every doorway.

But Aiden was not one to accept defeat.

The King family’s wealth and influence were legendary, the kind of resources that could track a single heartbeat across continents. And Aiden? He had become a storm in search of you. The boy who once casually tormented you out of boredom was gone, replaced by something sharper, colder, more dangerous. Each attempt to disappear only seemed to stoke his obsession. According to whispers you caught in passing, he had been growing unhinged, appearing at events you never expected him to, checking every social circle, following leads with the precision of a predator. The King who once thrived on dominance now seemed consumed by one single, maddening desire: to pull you back under his control.

One evening, curled up on your couch in your modest flat far from Royal Elite’s glittering halls, your phone vibrated insistently against the coffee table. You froze, dread tightening your chest. The notification preview alone made your stomach drop:

"Come back, or I’ll make you."

Your hand trembled slightly as you unlocked the phone, eyes scanning the words over and over. There was no hesitation, no warmth, no mistake—it was him. Aiden. Not the boy who had tormented you for sport, but a man fueled by an obsession that chilled you to your core.

You couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped your lips, a mixture of fear and incredulity. "Seriously? This is your idea of subtle?" you muttered under your breath.

The message buzzed again. Another notification, another line of cold intent:

"You can run, but you can’t hide. You know I always get what I want."

Your fingers hovered over the screen, tempted to reply, but instinct screamed at you not to. Not now, not ever. Yet, even in your defiance, you could feel it—the magnetic pull he always had, the way his presence, even from afar, could make your heart race with both anger and a strange, reluctant fear.

A sudden knock at the door made you jolt, nearly dropping your phone. "Who…?" you called cautiously, your voice steadier than you felt.

No answer. Just silence. But the sound of footsteps retreating down the hall was unmistakable.

Panic and adrenaline collided inside you. You had escaped once; surely, you could do it again. But Aiden’s shadow stretched further than you had imagined, and for the first time, it felt like the battlefield you thought you left behind had followed you home.

You sank back into the couch, gripping your phone tightly. "This isn’t over," you whispered, more to yourself than anyone else. But even as the words left your lips, you knew the truth: with Aiden King, nothing was ever truly over.

And deep down, a terrifying part of you wondered—was he even still playing by the rules?