“Yeah, thanks for listening to me.”

  “I’m always here. You can tell me anything. I love you.”

  Damn. I felt guilty all over again. I smothered a burst of emotion and forced a smile into my tone. “Love you, too.”

  The phone beeped twice in my ear signaling the end of the call. I lowered it and stared at my screen, seeing no new messages in my inbox. Dad still hadn’t replied. I was too much of a coward to see if he read my text. I couldn’t handle him ignoring me right now.

  So many thoughts and emotions were flying around inside my head. More than anything, I felt painfully alone. There was no one for me to turn to and share any of them with, not someone who would help me deal get through it.

  I couldn’t dump this on Audrey, she would have no clue what to do.

  Judas was both a remedy and a poison, I couldn’t share anything with him when he was the antagonist.

  Mom and dad weren’t mom and dad. At least, not the ones who I had looked up to my entire life. They were different now—almost like strangers. Dad’s continued lack of reply was acid dumped on an already festering wound. He was my go-to, the man I always depended on. How could he break my heart like this?

  When he saw me earlier, he smiled like everything was okay. He hugged me back and stood as a shield against the words meant to hurt. So, what the fuck was this? Did I need to corner this man and tell him I wasn’t a child anymore and I deserved to know the truth? He was my last resource of getting it. Judas and Evie clearly had their own shit going on.

  No matter what I would love him. I wouldn’t abandon ship like he had. I didn’t have anyone else left, only myself. Lately she had me concerned she wasn’t strong enough to handle the answers I was seeking.

  I liked to think I was capable enough to see this through if I chose to stay the course. Where had this cynical voice in my head come from? As I placed my cell on an airplane mode, I tried to recall who I was before the summer ended.

  It was nearing midnight when he came back. I knew because I reached over and checked the time on my cell.

  I had to squint to see past the bright display, switching off airplane mode while I was at it.

  No one had shown up while he was away leaving me to believe he’d been out doing especially heinous things.

  I dimmed my screen and sat the phone back on the nightstand seconds before he entered the room. I heard some of his clothing hit the floor and something solid land on the opposite bedside table before he slipped beneath the comforter, easily finding his way around in total darkness.

  He didn’t hesitate to place himself directly behind me, covering my body with his scent and warmth. I didn’t have the energy to shove him away when he wrapped his arms around me in a lovers embrace.

  “How long have you been asleep?” he spoke into my hair, placing a kiss on the back of my head.

  I wanted to scream and rant like a petulant child. Why couldn’t he hold me like this when I needed it the most? His touch became gentle and caring when I was already falling apart and too fucking pissed off to want it. I withheld a sigh and forced myself to keep my shit together.

  “I haven’t slept much. I can’t.”

  My phone began to buzz with all the notifications I’d purposely dodged. Against my better judgement I snatched it up and quickly peeked at my inbox, keeping the screen lowered at an angle so Judas couldn’t see. There were a few different texts but only one I wanted to read right then. With a desperation I was ashamed of, I opened it.

  Dad: I love you. Please come home.

  I stared at his text until my eyes burned, whether from the screen or a new wave of tears I refused to shed didn’t register. Was it pathetic to consider this an olive branch of sorts?

  Aware Judas was pressed up against me, I dimmed my screen and sat the phone back down before he read the text exchange. Just when I started to think he’d dozed off because how quiet it was, he spoke.

  “Did you dream of prom like all the other girls do?”

  Instantly confused, I silently repeated that back to myself. “Why are you bringing up the prom?”

  “Is that yes?”

  “Get dressed up like a princess and go dance in a room of my peers? If we’re talking Pesadilla that’s a fresh form of hell. My old school? I would be all for it.”

  “You’re already a--.”

  “Judas if you call me a princess again, so help me.”

  He laughed lowly, pulling me closer.

  “Do you have a prom king fantasy?”

  “I have higher aspirations than that. Why? Did you want to be my queen?”

  I got the feeling we’d moved on from the prom subject. It was an odd and totally random thing to bring up in the first place.

  “Why do I have to be your queen? I’d rather be my own.”

  “Good answer.” It felt like he smiled against the top of my head. “You can sleep now, principessa. I’m here.”

  I was tempted to point out he’d called me princess again. It wasn’t worth the wasted breath. I closed my eyes, pretending I found no peace or comfort in him being here.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Morning passed in segmented blurs.

  I could remember Judas moving between my thighs while it was still dark outside. The sex itself wasn’t anything over the top, it was the way he took control and fucked me slowly, taking his time to make me come. He didn’t ever increase his tempo, rocking in and out of me with deep, calculated thrust. I came twice before he finished, moaning softly into his mouth.

  I fell back asleep shortly after that, but it wasn’t long before I was woken up and had a latte all but shoved into my hand.

  It had been around seven or eight then and I was sitting on the sectional. Last time I checked couches didn’t move. I blinked a few times and found myself staring at the ceiling of Judas’ Mercedes. There was a soft throw draped over me and my seat was leaned all the way down, so I’d be reclined.

  For the briefest moment I stupidly thought we were on our way to school. It took me point five seconds to realize that wasn’t possible. I was wearing another pair of sweats and hadn’t done any primping or taken a shower. I shifted my attention to Judas and sat up. One glance out the window showed we were barreling down the freeway in a flow with other speedy drivers.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, my voice groggy from me having just woken up.

  “Good morning to you too.”

  The time displayed on the car’s clock would put us almost at noon, but that wasn’t important right then.

  I didn’t remember getting into the car. When had I done that? I combed through my mind going back to me drinking the latte.

  He wouldn’t…

  “Did you drug me with something?”

  “I’ve done that one time and I never will again.”

  “Then how did I get in your car, Judas?”

  “A sedative is different than a drug.”

  Is that really how he was going to justify this? Anger had blood roaring in my ears. I reached beside the seat and found the button that would raise it up in an effort to calm myself down with a slight distraction. I needed to think clearly.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Somewhere safe.”

  My eyes wildly bounced around. None of this looked familiar. There’s no way we were in Crudele.

  I checked my pockets and searched my immediate surroundings for my phone or my bag, seeing no sign of either.

  “Where’s my cellphone?”

  “After you text your dad that you’d be home around nine, you accidentally dropped it my pool.”

  “What? What the fuck are you talking about I never did that!”

  “The text he got from you says otherwise. I’d tell you to check for yourself but your phone’s either floating in a body of chlorine or sunk somewhere along the mosaic tiles.”

  I gaped at him, curling my fingers into fists. He was so nonchalant about all this. With one hand on the steering wheel and his elbow resting casually on the middle console, he looked completely relaxed.

  “I want you to take me home.”

  He finally glanced over at me. “What do you think I’m doing?”

  There were so many ways I could answer that. “You’re kidnapping me,” I seethed.

  “I’m stealing you, taking you far away from everything you’ve ever known. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes!”

  He laughed like I’d said something funny. “You aren’t entirely wrong. I am taking you somewhere far away, but it isn’t kidnapping. I can’t steal something that’s always been mine.”

  “You won’t get away with this,” I monotoned.

  “Bella, I already have and trust me, this is the best thing that could have happened for you and your family.”

  I swallowed around a tongue that felt too large for my mouth. What did he mean? He hated my family for him to say something like that….

  This couldn’t have been a random spur of the moment decision.

  I could scream and yell, but that wouldn’t stop whatever he’d put into motion. I could grab the steering wheel and potentially end it for us both but that was drastic, and I didn’t want to die.

  In a car barreling down the highway, no phone or idea where the fuck we were going there was nothing I could do but wait to find out what he planned on doing with me.

  I had never ridden a train boarded a plane or gone on a road trip.

  It was sad the longest I’d ever been in a car and my first time out of Crudele that I could remember was because Judas forced me to leave.

  When we finally got to where we were going my ass was numb and I felt drained. My stomach hurt from surviving off a hot dog and slushie. I hadn’t dared go back to sleep even when he assured me I could. Like I’d listen to anything he had to say right now. He’d threatened me with Audrey at the first gas station we went to, and then boldly got out of the car taking his fob but leaving his cell in plain view.

  I automatically reached for it only to find he had a password, which was to be expected but it was worth the try. I didn’t know how to spell crazy fucking psycho in numerical code. He thought it was amusing, watching me through the window with a condescending smirk while pumping gas.

  I tightened the blanket around me and peered through the windshield. He’d turned off a quiet road and onto another. As he drove further down it, I realized it was actually a driveway. The large craftsman at the end of it was completely dark with a sole porch light on.

  “Who lives here?”

  “For the time being, us.” He parked in front of a closed garage door and turned the car off.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

  We’d barely spoken to one another the entire drive. I didn’t particularly want to have a long-drawn-out conversation, but I needed some kind of clarity on what was happening. I’d had hours to sit and think. I wasn’t able to figure out his endgame or understand why he would text my dad that I was coming home.

  “Be patient and I’ll do better than tell you.”

  He got out of the car, and I reluctantly followed his lead, bringing the plush blanket with me. I didn’t want to be here, but it felt good to be on solid ground again.

  “What does that mean?” I asked, following him up the winding stone walkway.

  “I’m going to show you…in a day or two.”

  “You really expect me to stay here until then?”

  “If you want, you can start walking back to Crudele. Audrey might be disappointed that you’re gone when she gets here and I can’t guarantee someone else won’t snatch you up, but you’re free to try.”

  He entered a code on some kind of lock box and unlocked the front door.

  Pushing the door open, he stepped into a darkened foyer clearly expecting me to follow.

  I did.

  What else was I supposed to do? I had no idea where I’d been brought and lacked all basic resources. He’d mentioned Audrey again too. I shut the door behind me and waited for my eyes to adjust to the home’s darkness. I could tell right away it wasn’t as modern age as the house back in Crudele. It had much more charm. I followed Judas to a staircase and then up the wide wooden stairs.

  “You’re not forcing Audrey here too, are you?”

  “I’m not.”

  My frown deepened at his blunt reply. He walked down the hallway not turning on a single light. I counted three closed doors before he stopped and opened a fourth.

  Peering around the doorframe I was able to see a large fourposter bed directly across from a large fireplace. The large upper windows were bare, allowing at least beams of moonlight to shine into the room.

  “There’s a bathroom through the door on the side of the room. Its shared but we’re the only ones here so you can shower freely.”

  “What about clothes? What about you, where will you be?”

  He turned so that we were facing one another. “There’s a duffel bag on the bed. I have to do something, but I’ll be in later.”

  Oh. “Oh.” I made no effort to enter the room. I didn’t have a problem with darkness or new places but this one was so silent and empty it creeped me out. As if he could read my mind, he reached just inside the room to flip a switch, triggering a round lamp to click on.

  That was ten times better. It transformed the space from Thirteen Ghosts to the Ritz.

  “Hey,” Judas called gently to summon my attention, gently pinching my chin to make me look at him, “You’re safe with me.”

  Am I? I questioned with my eyes. The claim seemed like a joke coming from him after everything he’d done. He kissed my forehead and then silently moved around me to retreat back down the hall. I watched him disappear, unsure how to feel about any of this. I knew he meant what he’d just said.

  He was more dangerous to me than anything else. My protector and my villain were one in the same.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  She could never go back.

  Crudele would forever be a place of her past. She’d find that out soon enough. There were lots of things she would come to learn in the next forty-eight hours.

  This is the part where I have a change of heart and become a good, heroic man. But the girl I loved didn’t need a hero and I had no interest in trying to be something I never was or would be. I knew that wouldn’t do her any good in the long run.

  Rhia needed someone dirtier and more wicked than she was to provoke the part of her she’d been keeping hidden away.

  She needed this tragedy and all the pain it would bring. That’s how the best villainesses were made.

  I had no regrets or second guesses. I was doing this firstly and foremost for my sister and myself. Rhiannon was a casualty I decided to keep alive. I guess that did make me a hero in a roundabout way. I hadn’t expected the obsession or the painful stirrings in my chest that I never wanted to have.

  It was Rhiannon’s ties to the people my familigia and so many others wanted to see wiped from the face of the earth that should’ve made me despise her indefinitely. After meeting her I found the logic behind that to be severely lacking. How could I hold a grudge against this beautiful girl for something she never truly was?

  A fucking Clermont.

  They had no credibility or respect amongst those who wielded true power in my world.

  They were a misshaped piece of jigsaw that didn’t fit, guppies trying to swim with hammerheads. I was all for going against societal norms and standing out, unless it was done for the wrong reasons. These stupid fucks had burnt every bridge any potential accomplices offered them to cross.

  When surrounded by liars, killers, and masterminds in the art of deception, that was the worst move you could make.

  Over the years many had been picked off in the occasional accident or darkened alleyway. Only a few remained and for that reason along with the fact I wouldn’t let her go, Rhiannon couldn’t remain with them. They weren’t of real relation so the way I saw it I was doing her a favor.

  Their ruin had been a long time coming.

  Loving her hadn’t.

  It was too late to deviate away from either. The stage was set, the bait delivered, and panic was ensuing. The first part of what I needed to accomplish was almost done.

  The promise I made to a girl to destroy her world would be fulfilled. Her family wouldn’t have a choice but to swear she’d be mine.

  Life would go on and so would she, a little angry probably jaded and broken but that was for the best. One day she might even look back and thank me for all of this.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Time stood still for two whole days.

  Despite my circumstance, I found being away from everything and nearly everyone brought a certain kind of peace to my chaotic, mess of a life. Of course, it was impossible to fully relax and simply breathe for a minute because I had no idea what Judas was planning and my whole life was more or less in shambles.

  When time jumped ahead again, though, I wished things could’ve remained exactly as they were.

  I would have endured that a hundred times over before having to go through what I did.

  It started with us.

  Judas had been with me the entire time, but his presence was always somewhere else in the house. He hadn’t touched me since we’d been here and that was enough to put me even more on edge. No matter what was going on or how toxic the situation, the two us ended up in bed together.

  I was lost in my head eating a strawberry yogurt when he joined me at the large mahogany table. His fitted black shirt gave me pause. He looked fucking delicious, but I was more concerned with the fact his jeans were black too.

  Didn’t Brianna say they wore these colors in case things got bloody?

  “If I ask what’s going on again, will you tell me or will you go back to hiding yourself away somewhere in this house?”

  “I was busy. I would have rather been fucking you. As much as I love your pussy, it can’t help me make phone calls or send emails.”

  “You love something about me? Who would’ve known?” I quipped with dry sarcasm.