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“I was victimized by all of this, too, Mikael. I didn’t even know this secret society existed before coming here. I didn’t realize what my father was.”
The slam of his wrist against the glass jolts me. He misses my head by mere inches, and I start shaking. I hate how much he scares me, but he does.
“You,” he says very slowly, “are a fucking liar.”
Lying? What am I lying about?
“You knew exactly what he was. You dreamed about it for years.”
That void…that itch on the edge of my mind I can’t grasp. What is he referring to? It has something to do with my father. I saw something I shouldn’t have.
A sharp image cuts into my mind of a woman.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He flinches at the only words I can think of to say at this moment. “I’m sorry about what my father did to your mother.” As if my meager apologies matter, as if they mean anything. “I’m sorry for existing,” I say to him in a final plea.
“My mother wanted it,” he finally says, and he moves his hand between my legs, sliding his finger inside. “Just like you want it.”
I gasp at how good it feels. At how much pent-up sexual tension is still inside me, despite Lincoln fucking me silly for hours.
This is different. A totally different person, and it’s like neither of them are enough for me.
My lips find his, and he finally gives me what I want. He kisses me softly, keeping his fingers inside me before pulling back. He gives me a feline smirk as he walks toward the door.
“See you soon, pretty girl.”
“Wait…where are you going?” I say breathlessly.
He pauses at the door and his head turns slightly, but he keeps his back to me. “Lincoln needs some sleep. He has to work on his thesis tomorrow.”
He vanishes and I let out a deep breath, only now remembering the girl hiding within the walls who likely heard everything.
I step into the shower and take my time cleaning off the blood. Afterward, I tiptoe out into the hallway, careful not to step on the shattered glass, and whisper, “Cali, can you hear me?”
She answers immediately, “Yeah.”
“I’m going to get you out of here alive, but you have to trust me, okay?”
A pause, then she says, “Okay.”
I walk back into Lincoln’s bedroom and crawl into bed with him. He’s lying the exact way I left him. He curls his arm around me, and I snuggle in next to him, as if he was there fast asleep all along.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
LINCOLN
It’s nearly one PM by the time Summer stirs beside me. I’ve been awake since mid-morning, working away on my laptop while she slept. I’ve never seen anyone sleep as deeply as she does. Especially when she knows we are watching and where we are right now.
I glance over at Summer again, at the faint gash on her cheek that wasn’t there the night before. I open and close my hand, the pain of my bruised knuckles shooting all the way up my arm.
Everything he touches turns to ash, and it pains me to see Summer bleeding and the marks on her flawless face, especially since I wasn’t remotely aware enough to stop it. Something happened last night, and I have no memory of it.
It’s a black hole when I’m asleep, and I often wonder if that’s when he takes full control. He dreams, and I merely experience it.
Witness, observe, and analyze.
