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How could he read so much into my plan without me having to say a word? Is he psychic? Please don’t tell me the Heathens participate in cult activities and have actual pacts with demons.
“Can I join?” “No. It’s dangerous.” He grins. “Uncle Xan will chase me with his grandfather’s famous shotgun and paint a hole where my head used to be if I’m the reason his precious daughter is put in harm’s way.”
“Don’t worry about Papa.” “Have you seen your papa lately? He’s been sending us daily reminders that if something happens to you, we’ll all pay. In blood. I kind of need that inside my body, not outside it.”
throw a glance behind me to make sure Ava isn’t getting herself in trouble, but then I catch a glimpse of her hugging a bottle of tequila and sneaking outside. Goddammit. I need two of me to keep these children in check.
I go up on my tiptoes to get a better view of outside, but there’s no sign of that little shit Ava. I pull out my phone and tap the Find My Child app.
The one he’s currently dragging escaped earlier, but Nikolai is no different from a hunting dog. He can smell anyone, then track them down and trap them.
“We did promise to let him go,” I say, and the kid nods once. “I did no such thing, you did.”
“Tell me all about school. Is everything okay? Is anyone bothering you? Do you have a boyfriend, and does he know that if he touches you, his parents will lose a son? Or maybe it’s a girlfriend, who still shouldn’t touch you unless her parents are ready to lose a daughter?” “Papa!”
“You shouldn’t hit a guy either.” “Of course I would. Boys are little wankers.” I shake my head. “I’m straight, Papa. Annoyingly so.” “Ah, fuck. So you really have a boyfriend? Name? Family name? Age? Address? IQ?”
Something magical happens when Papa looks at her. His eyes soften before they explode in a myriad of stars.
but then she stuck earbuds in her ears and some assholes thought it was a good idea to follow her. Only I am allowed to do that.
Her eyes snap open and she freezes again, her bitten, red lips parting. Not again. I tighten my hold on her hair. “Don’t go there.”
Lisichka?”
“Why me?” “Because you had the audacity to capture my attention.” “Can I un-capture it?”
“Wake me up when this one starts to say the word cock. Sorry, I mean penis.” “You little—” I pause when I feel Ava’s body vibrating against mine. “Are you laughing?” “No, I swear.” She does a shit job at hiding her laughter. “I’m done.”
I grab him by the face, watching him intently before I tut. “Not the right one.” “Hey, what the actual fuck? I’m always the right one. It’s on my birth certificate right next to the aristocratic title.”
“I knew you’d taste like my new favorite meal.”
I take time to look around her room, the walls covered in manga pages like some edgy teenager. I move closer and study the names at the top of each, committing them to memory so that I can search what she likes to read.
My Ces. My. Ces. It takes everything in me not to smash the phone to pieces.
I can still taste you on my tongue. Ten-star meal. Would try again.
You still search for me. Did you miss the part where I want to avoid you?
I only read the part where you want to see me. I don’t want to see you.
My gaze strays to the dark stairs on my right. I swear some creatures of the night are lurking up there, waiting for my demise.
Maybe ghosts, too.
He’s holding a freaking knife to my neck. This isn’t what I signed up for—there was no mention of knives.
I crane my head back a little and all the breath is knocked out of my lungs when I’m met by the neon orange mask.
“You look so innocent, but that head of yours is a fucked-up place, Lisichka. My fucked-up place.”
Miss Knight showed up at the gate. She asked the front guard about Miss Volkov and then about you.” I narrow my eyes, absolutely loathing the heartburn flowing through my chest. It’s the injury. My doctor will be hearing about his incompetence in putting me back together.
“You’re mine, not anyone else’s, fucking mine.
“What do you want?”
“You,”
Whenever I attempt to defy him, he turns up the crazy a notch to put me back where he thinks I belong.
She chose me.
Deep down, Cecily has become part of who I am. I can’t be the cause of her pain.
“You are so much like your father, it’s revolting.” He speaks in a Russian-accented voice, then sighs. “And here I thought the years we spent together would enable you to pick up my superior character.”
In one entry, she wrote ‘Get over it, Cecily’ a hundred times, and those words were splashed with tear marks. That fucker will cry tears of blood instead.
This is the most beautiful fucking sight I’ve ever seen.
That motherfucker will wish for death when I get my hands on him.
emotions fester in my chest. “I’m the last person you should feel safe around, Cecily.” “But I do.” “Despite everything I do to you?” “I wanted that. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come here every day.” I thought she did it because of the threats. Well, fuck me.
She came because she wanted to?
She rubs the side of her nose with her index finger. Fucking adorable.
I appreciate the ease in his expression when he sees me and the softness
in his voice when he says, “Sleep. I’m not going anywhere.”
“What were you thinking about so intently that you totally door-slammed me?” Your brother.
“Yeah, like no one is worthy of our bloodline except for a Russian. I mean, not really, but secretly, they do think that. Maybe I can convince Creigh to start drinking vodka like it’s milk. Do you think he’d be game?”
“I think he prefers wine.”
“Stay out of this, Mia,” Annika snarls. “Your sister called me Nika and a midget. Today is her funeral.”
Clubs are really not my scene. And neither is peopling.
“My fucking property.”
“I’m not your property, Jeremy. I’m a person.” “My person,” he nearly growls the words. “Next time you let anyone touch you, I’ll fuck you in their blood and make you come all over their corpse.”
