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My hands shake as another message comes in.
Stalker: You didn’t know.
No.
My eyes lift, and I stare at the hole in my ceiling.
What if they saw you?
Stalker: Can’t. I have control of the camera, Sunshine. I have since the first night I texted you.
But before?
Stalker: … Yes.
Running to the toilet, I empty everything in my gut—which isn’t much. When I return from the bathroom, my phone is vibrating, screen lit up.
He’s calling me.
I answer it, wiping my mouth, but I don’t speak.
“Breathe, Sunshine,” he murmurs into the receiver. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“But why? I’m a Bruno.”
He sighs on the line. “And I’m an O’Brien,” he repeats. “But that doesn’t change how I feel about you. It should, but it doesn’t. And I know it doesn’t change how you feel about me.”
It should. I should be loyal to my family, and maybe that’s why I’m so distraught over this. I know how I should be feeling—but I don’t feel that way.
“Roman told me about you,” I mutter, glancing out the window. “Is it true you beat your father almost to death?”
“Yes.” There’s no remorse in his voice. “But not for the reasons you might think. He had the power to protect my eldest sister and didn’t. So, I took matters into my hands.”
Protect his sister?
“Is it true you have a temper?”
Briar laughs. “Baby, I think you saw that when I handed you Freddie’s fingers in a box.” He lowers his voice. “But I’d never let it harm you. My anger is a curse, and I would unleash it on anyone who would hurt you. Never you.”
I let his words wash over me, settling the ball of dread inside my chest.
“Sunshine?”
My eyes fall to my mother’s notes. They prove she was as trapped as I—and loved another. Until I know what happened to them, I can’t risk my heart with Briar. I don’t want to fall if it’s only going to end in pain.
“I need space.”
“No.”
It’s quick, brutal.
“You don’t need space,” he continues. “There’s nothing to think about. You and I belong together.”
“But our families—”
“Fuck our families,” he hisses. “I’ll give up my clan ties to be at your side. I’ll burn the crest off my chest, cut my connection with rusty blades, and haunt your dreams to keep you mine. You don’t need space—you need me.”
I shake my head, voice trembling.
