Nightfall (Devil's Night, #4)

by Penelope Douglas

“Mr. Sandman” by SYML

CHAPTER 1

“Hi,” a small, hesitant voice said.

Dinescu? As in, Dinescu Petroleum Corporation? It couldn’t be the same family.

He cocked his head, his hair disheveled and the tail of his wrinkled Oxford hanging out. “We’re not allowed around the women,” he said, sounding just as confused as me. “Are you with the doctor? Is he here?”

“The locations change,” he said, and I backed up a step for every step toward me he took. “But the name stays the same. Blackchurch.”

Ahhhhhhhhh its giving borraca

He shrugged. “I can’t answer that. We could be in Siberia or ten miles from Disneyland,” he replied. “We’re the last ones to know. All we know is that it’s remote.”

Who else was here? Where were they? And where the hell was I, for that matter? What was Blackchurch? It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t think right now.

“There’s no one here with you?” he asked, as if he couldn’t believe that I was really standing here. “You shouldn’t be so close to us. They never let the females close to us.”

“The nurses, cleaners, staff . . .” he said. “They come once a month to resupply, but we’re confined to our rooms until they leave. Did you get left behind?”

They never let the females close to us.

“Don’t worry,” he offered. “I just wanted a little sniff. He’ll want the first taste.”

“What is Blackchurch?” I asked. “A prison.”

“Nice prison,” I mumbled.

Giving scandinavian prisons lol

“It’s off the grid.” He sighed. “Where do you think CEOs and senators send their problem children when they need to get rid of them?”

“When we become liabilities, we’re sent here to cool off. Sometimes for months.” He sighed again. “And some of us for years.”

Then it hit me.

No, he had to be lying. I remembered hearing about this place. But it was just an urban legend that wealthy men threatened their kids with to keep them in line.

“Oh, several,” he crooned. “Grayson will be back with the hunting party tonight.”

“Grayson?” I muttered, more to myself. “Will Grayson?”

I was in the middle of nowhere with who knew how many men who’d been without any source of vice or contact with the outside world for who knew how long; one of whom had a great desire to torture me if he ever got his hands on me again.

But he just smiled down at me. “Please, do run,” he said. “We’re dying for some fun.”

He might want to hurt me, but he wouldn’t. Would he?

This wasn’t happening. There had to be surveillance. I refused to believe Mommy and Daddy sent their heirs and assets here without some kind of insurance that they’d be safe. What if someone were injured? Or gravely ill?

Blackchurch wasn’t real. In high school, Will hadn’t even believed this place existed.

And we weren’t in Thunder Bay. We weren’t anywhere near Thunder Bay.

I wrung my hands. I couldn’t care less who dumped me here. Right now, I just needed to get somewhere safe.

How long had he been here? Where were his friends? Did he have me brought here as revenge? What the hell? I told him not to push me all those years ago. I warned him. This wasn’t my fault. He got himself put here.

He stepped into the kitchen, moonlight casting a dim glow on his face, and something inside me ached.

I swallowed, trying to wet my dry mouth.

He didn’t have any tattoos the last time I saw him. The night he was arrested.

“This won’t end with you in my sleeping bag this time,” he warned.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I taunted. “You’re still not the alpha.”

I locked my jaw, but I remained silent. A wicked smile spread across his face, and I knew this was it. I didn’t think it would happen like this, but I always knew it was coming.

He served two-and-a-half years in prison because of me.

I dropped my eyes for a moment, knowing he didn’t deserve it, but I also knew I wouldn’t have done anything differently if I could. I’d told him to stay away from me. I’d warned him.

He glared, those words far more familiar than he wanted to remember, and if I weren’t so fucking scared, I’d laugh.

“Time to meet one then,” he said.

CHAPTER 2

I didn’t want to quit.

I couldn’t explain, even if not explaining meant that she’d misunderstand my silence as being irresponsible and selfish.

“No one’s giving me a scholarship for swimming,” I spat out. “I need to spend my time doing things that will get me into college. This was a waste.”

This sucked. I was going to pay for this. It wasn’t over. I knew that. But I had no choice.

I was glad I got out of there before she asked why I wasn’t quitting band, too.

It was just all I had left now that got me out of the house, and I didn’t have to wear a swimsuit to do it.

Just keep it together. Time would pass. Life would move on. I was heading in the right direction.

It was still a bit before the first class started, but I could go hide in the library to kill time. It was better than being home.

He is going to find out I quit.

Maybe I had a few days’ peace before that happened, but a knot tightened in my stomach. I could still taste the coppery cut in my mouth from two days ago.

He was going to find out. He wouldn’t want me to quit swimming, and pointing out why I had to ...