Present
Walking through the backdoor and Mikhail following, I downed the rest of the bottle of water and tossed it into the trash before dumping some food into his dish and letting him chow down before I headed down the hallway and through the foyer.
I brought my T-shirt to my nose as I climbed the stairs and sniffed. Cigarettes and sawdust. It was probably on my skin, too.
Eh, she’d deal with it.
I pulled the shirt off over my head and walked into the bedroom, tossing it on the floor. “I’m dirty and sweaty,” I said, kicking off my shoes, “but you’re just gonna have to roll with it.”
Leaving the light off, I put a knee down on the end of the bed and crawled up, dying to pin her hands above her head and kiss her until she was begging to get fucked.
But as I reached her side of the bed, it was empty.
“Winter?” I called.
I felt the bed, not finding her, so I reached over and turned on the lamp.
She wasn’t here. The sheets were rumpled and still warm, though.
“Winter?” I barked louder.
Dammit, girl…
I climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom and dressing room, finding them both empty. Leaving the room, I headed down to her bedroom and swung the door open, but she wasn’t there, either. My heart pumped harder, and I bit the corner of my mouth to keep my nerves in fucking check.
Maybe she was in the ballroom.
I walked to the railing, about to head down the stairs but saw Crane move across the foyer.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
He stopped and looked up, meeting my eyes.
But then dropped them again.
“Fuck you, where is she?” I snapped.
“A car picked her up,” he told me, looking like he really didn’t want to. “She said she’ll be at St. Killian’s and back in a couple days.”
“And you let her leave?”
He closed his mouth, averting my eyes. Why the fuck did I hire extra security if he was just going to let her come and go like that?
“It wasn’t my impression she was a prisoner, sir,” he said.
“Was it your impression that I might eat ice cream out of your skull for not telling me she was going?”
He tightened his lips.
“Was she upset?” I asked. Do you know that at least?
“She seemed troubled, yes,” he answered. “Said she just wanted to have some space to think.”
Think.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. When women think, shit didn’t go the way I wanted it to.
What the hell was she doing? I did what Rika told me to do. Almost. I got to work on something. I brought in a crew, we tore down that fugly fountain and built the one I had designed and planned, working day and night for two days, so she’d find it and explore it and hopefully love it.
Getting the message that she’d be at The Cove last night gave me hope, but nothing prepared me for how she just let it happen. How she was already ready when I showed up and for the first time, she let me touch her, without a guise or a fight.
It was fucking incredible, and for a little while, it was like the years in between when we were kids and now had never happened. Nothing existed except us, especially all the bullshit in between.
It was kind of a date. I kept her clothes on. Most of them.
But every time the spell started to fade, she let all that other shit back into her head, and I was getting kind of fucking sick of losing her.
She may or may not love me.
But it was becoming clear. She didn’t want me.
“Sir?” Crane called out, sounding on alert.
I looked up, the door opened, and men, some I had and hadn’t seen before walked in, all in suits and some with gloves.
I closed my eyes, sighing. “Fuck,” I mouthed.
My father stepped over the threshold, dressed in a black suit with a gray shirt, his dark eyes looking up and finding me instantly.
He was trying to get a hold of me last night, and I blew it off. He always gave me a long leash, but if he had to snap it, it fucking hurt.
“What do you want?” I asked, descending the stairs.
“Do you care?” he replied. And then he looked around. “Where’s your wife?”
I held his eyes. My father’s strength hadn’t dissipated with age. Although graying, his skin growing more wrinkled, and his voice getting raspy from all the years of cigars, he still had a very healthy appetite.
For everything.
Especially for making sure he had control over all in his domain.
Unfortunately, I never went according to plan and never would. I might not be any better than him, but we weren’t the same, either.
He waited another moment, but when I didn’t answer, because I already knew that he knew Ari wasn’t here and his grandchildren weren’t getting made, he flexed his jaw and jerked his chin, gesturing to me.
“Take him,” he told his men.
What?
They rushed me, taking my arms, digging their fingers into my shoulders, and I thrashed, throwing them off and growling. “Get the fuck off me!”
I tore away, shoving one of them in the chest. “Son of a bitch!” I yelled.
One grabbed my wrist again. I whipped it away and threw a punch, but more came from behind, and I looked to Mr. Crane who was already being held back, looking angry and helpless.
Gabriel paid for the security. He paid for everything. As much as my own team wanted to do something, they wouldn’t.
The backs of my legs were kicked in, my knees buckled, and I fell, coming down to the floor. Three men held me down, keeping me on my knees, one with his grip on the back of my neck.
In front of me, my father crouched down.
“And where’s the sweet, little bitch who’s twisting your head?” he asked. “Where is she?”
Winter.
I was suddenly glad she wasn’t here. Michael and Rika were no match for Gabriel, but she was safer with them than anyone if I wasn’t there.
“Your life was going to be blessed,” Gabriel told me. “All the money and pussy you could ever want, and all you had to do was follow a simple instruction.” His voice was eerily calm. “It wasn’t even that hard.”
He stood up, and the muscles in my shoulders stretched with someone holding my wrists behind me.
“I should’ve shipped your ass to Blackchurch ages ago,” he said. “We can lock you up still, though, can’t we? Give you some time to think.”
And then his hand smacked across my face, the sting something I was very used to. I gritted my teeth together.
“And I have all the time in the world,” he threatened.
No.
What the fuck did he mean?
“Maybe in a few weeks you’ll come around,” he mused. And then to his men, “Bring him.”
A few weeks. What the fuck?
They stood me up, barefoot and shirtless, and tightened a zip tie behind my back.
Everyone started to walk out, and I looked over at Crane, jerking my chin, knowing he knew I was referring to Winter and the dog and that he needed to take care of things.
But as everyone left, and the man behind me held on to me, an arm suddenly coming around my neck as the guy in back of me whispered in my ear.
“An eye for an eye, motherfucker,” he said.
And then a pain hit my side under my ribs, digging into my flesh as some kind of small blade pierced my skin.
I grunted, immediately feeling the blood drip out as I shot my gaze over my shoulder, seeing the asshole who did it.
Miles Anderson.
The guy who had Winter in his car when she was sixteen. The guy who also attacked Rika the same Devil’s Night I did.
Fuck. He worked for my father now?
“A few weeks,” he lamented, “more than enough time for us to find her and have some fun.”
I thrashed, growling as the pain seared my skin.
“She’s been fun to mess with these past couple of weeks,” he said. “As we waited for Gabriel to give us the go-ahead anyway.”
“Motherfucker,” I muttered, seething.
It was him, fondling her in the theater bathroom. Him and his buddies who snuck into the house that morning.
We should’ve taken so much more than a tooth from his skull all those years ago, son of a bitch.
But before I had a chance to fight, he came around and shot his knee into my stomach, sending me doubling over and coughing to catch my breath. He stuffed something into my mouth, forced me out the door, and into the back of one of the SUVs as I tried to whip out of his hold, but pain shot through me every fucking time I moved.
Ironically, that wasn’t the first time I’d been stabbed on that same side. This felt deeper, though.
I hit the floor, coughing, and I looked around for my father, but he must’ve been in another car.
As the SUV took off, I just prayed Michael and Rika would come through.
Keep her safe. Don’t leave her alone.
I stumbled around my old bedroom, throwing open curtains and peering outside. I tried to open the windows, but they were bolted shut.
Fucking asshole. What was I? Ten?
The driveway in front of my father’s house glowed with electric lanterns and headlights of sporadic cars coming and going, while men paced in black suits, some with flashlights behind the tree line but every one of them with a walkie-talkie, I was sure.
Even if I broke the window, I wouldn’t get far. I was sure Anderson would love another chance at a cheap shot, though.
I pulled the hand towel away from the scratch that asshole gave me, seeing the cloth soaked again. This was the third towel. It was still bleeding.
I blew out a breath, the hair on the back of my neck rising as heat spread over my skin. I charged away from the window, kicking a trunk sitting on my floor.
“Fuck,” I growled, tossing the towel off somewhere and grabbing a T-shirt from my dresser and pulling it on.
I had to get out of here. Soon, before I didn’t have any energy left. They hadn’t fed me all day, and no one had come to check on me. I knew there were guards outside my door, though. I was stopped as soon as I tried to leave earlier.
I should tell them I was bleeding. My father would get me a doctor.
As long as I got back in line, brought Arion back home, played the husband, and went to work for him.
I shook my head. Fuck him.
I was going to burn this place to the ground with him in it. If he was lucky.
I had to get out of here before anyone got to Winter. I was the only one who’d be able to keep her safe.
I blinked away the spots in my vision and headed into the bathroom, throwing my fist into the silver-framed mirror above the sink. Shards of glass spilled into the sink, and I grabbed a washcloth, wrapping it around a piece of glass and heading for my door.
I stumbled, though, the room spinning in front of me.
“What the fuck?” I gritted out, impatient.
The wound was bearable, but sweat covered my brow, and nausea rolled through my stomach. I blinked long and hard, but every time I opened my eyes, the room was getting blacker, like I was sinking deeper into a tunnel, the light at the end getting smaller and smaller. Blood slowly seeped through my black T-shirt and down my pants.
Fuck, this wasn’t good. I needed food. Or water. And the pain was fucking irritating.
I rubbed my eyes, but instead of moving for the door, I fell down on my bed, letting my head fall back.
The cool comforter felt like heaven, and I swung a leg up, trying to calm my breathing.
Just a minute. Just need to rest for one fucking minute.
I wasn’t sure if I fell asleep or how long I was asleep, but I opened my eyes with a start, the room pitch black and a body on top of me.
“Shhh,” the shadow said, her hand over my mouth.
What? Who was this?
I reached up, grabbing her and recognizing the feel of her hair and her head in my hands.
Oh, my God. You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Winter?” I blurted out. “What the fuck?”
“Shhh,” she hissed, pressing her hand down on me harder. “Be very quiet. They’re right outside the door.”
She was saving me?
“How did you get in here?” I asked.
She straddled me, her knee rubbing my wound, but I didn’t care. I took her in my arms and kissed her lips, her forehead, her cheek…
But then I shook her a little. “Hey, you left me,” I bit out.
“I came right back,” she said, her hands over mine. “I’m sorry. Michael was bringing me back, and that’s when we saw you being taken.”
She climbed off me and put her hands on me, helping me up.
“Are you…” She stopped, feeling my clothes. “This is wet. Are you bleeding?”
“How did you get in?” I demanded, ignoring her question and gritting my teeth against the pain as I stood up from the bed.
“When we saw what happened, we got everyone together. Banks told us there was crawl space in the wall, from the cellar to the attic.” She took my arm. “She’s downstairs with Michael and Kai, distracting your father.”
“The attic’s across the roof.” I took us toward the bathroom, knowing now how she got in. “You climbed across the roof?”
Jesus, fuck. And I was worried about getting to her before my father did.
She could’ve died. How could they be so stupid to bring her?
“Rika’s outside your bathroom window,” she said in a hushed voice. “Would you shut up now?”
Fine. She was already here. Damage was done. I’d deal with them later.
Walking into the bathroom, I shot a glance to my bedroom door behind me, making sure it was still closed and no one was onto us.
I stepped on top of the toilet, seeing the small window already propped up and Rika crouched down on the roof, waiting.
Where was Will? Why were the girls the ones doing this?
I could understand Kai not wanting to leave Banks alone with my father, but where the hell were Michael and Will?
I stepped back down and lifted Winter up, the slice in my side burning, but I maneuvered her through the window, Rika taking her arms and pulling her up.
I took short, shallow breaths, trying to tap down the nausea creeping up again. I was going to need some fucking stitches. Goddammit. I didn’t have time for this.
Hopping up on the toilet again, I planted my foot on the wall for leverage and shot up, digging my elbows into the windowsill and pulling myself forward on my arms while I slipped up and out.
“You okay?” Rika asked.
“Just go.”
I breathed hard, hearing her whisper instructions to Winter before they both found the ridge and began crawling it over to the attic window.
My leg was wet from the blood, but the night air chilled my skin, cooling me off and waking me up.
They would have to have a car nearby. Just five more minutes. I’d get to rest.
Following them over the roof and keeping low, I climbed through the circular attic window, falling in and crashing onto the floor.
Winter rushed over to me, touching my face.
The room was dark, but moonlight shone through, and I looked up, seeing not only Rika, but Alex standing there, too, all three women staring down at me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I whined, holding my side and trying to get my feet under me.
“That’s how you thank three females who just saved your ass?” Rika remarked, sounding all too amused.
And then Alex tipped her chin at me, taunting, “Who’s your daddy?”
Winter snorted, and I just fixed a snarl on my face as I stood up. “Just get me out of here,” I told them. “And don’t tell anybody about this, for Christ’s sake.”
The girls laughed and led the way through the panel in the wall where Banks and I grew up shimmying down beams of wood to get around the house in secret, either for fun or for pranks.
Rika and Alex went first, then Winter and then me. We made our way down between the walls, vaguely hearing voices on the other side as we descended floors, and now I kind of understood why the girls were sent. This was a lot tighter space now that I was grown. We went slowly and quietly, since everyone whom we didn’t want to find us was only a piece of wood and a layer of wallpaper away.
Landing at the bottom, I stepped through the hole in the rocks which made up the walls of the cellar and summoned every muscle and ounce of determination I had to get Winter out of here, so I could push forward and make it to the car.
I heard a phone vibrate, and Rika’s face lit up as she looked at a text.
“Okay, now,” she said, glancing at us.
What?
I didn’t have time to ask, though, because she ran up the steps and pushed through the cellar doors, Alex, Winter, and I quickly following.
She jumped into the passenger seat of a black SUV parked right there for us, while Alex opened the rear door and dove in, Winter and I doing the same.
Alex sat in a seat, while Winter and I fell into the rear bench seat way in the back.
I didn’t have time to see who was driving, but I crashed down, falling back into Winter as she slumped back, too, wrapping her arms around me.
“Go, go, go,” I heard Rika tell whoever. “I’ll text Banks and tell them to get out of there.”
Whoever was driving shot backward instead of forward toward the gate, and I held on as the car bounced over the ground and veered left to right, probably to avoid trees. We must be going out the back way.
Winter’s chest rose and fell behind me, but she held me tightly, like she wouldn’t let anything hurt me.
I closed my eyes, listening to the terrain under us, hearing what she was hearing to know when it was finally safe.
The car rocked over the bumpy land, leaves kicked up under the tires, but I didn’t hear any other engines following, shouts, or alarms. So far, we’d gotten out undetected.
I didn’t know what Banks was doing or agreeing to in order to distract my father, but I wanted her out of there now.
And Winter should never have come, either. It was insane to think we were going to get out of this alive.
Why did she even come?
She was pissing me off. Screaming at me one minute, all over me the next, running away this morning, and now she was here. Was she going to decide she needed more space tomorrow?
We pulled onto a paved road, swinging around, and driving forward, and I started to breathe a little easier as the car grew quiet and the engine hummed.
“You left me,” I said, her chin tucked on my shoulder as she held me from behind. “Everyone is always doing that.”
“I needed to think.”
“Think,” I repeated, shaking my head. “Fuck you, baby. It was perfect last night. There were no problems.”
I reached behind, ruffling her hair.
“You’re going to do it again,” I said, dropping my hand. “You should’ve just left me there. Why didn’t you?”
She was quiet, nudging her cheek into mine as she found her words. “Because I was afraid of life without the hope of you to look forward to.”
I fell silent, understanding instantly what she meant. Looking back, I’d always felt the same way. Whether or not we were together, I wanted her, and I’d always want her.
“We can’t hide forever, though, Damon,” she said. “Not in our mazes, our fountains, our treehouses… We live in the world with other people, and I want to respect myself. I just…I needed to think.”
“You want them to respect you,” I retorted.
This was about what people were going to say about us. She thought they weren’t going to trust her now that she was in love with the same guy she sent to jail.
“People think because I’m blind that I’m dumb,” she told me. “They treat me like a child. I want to prove I’m capable. That I’m someone.”
“You should’ve been strong,” I replied, my fingers freezing now all of a sudden. “If anyone knew what a vile cunt this world could be, it was us. But all I needed was you, and all you should’ve needed was me, and fuck all the rest. We would’ve done it. We would’ve won.”
“I came back,” she said again. “I was barely gone fifteen minutes. I came right back.” She kissed my temple. “And we will win. We will.”
Sure. Maybe.
“Okay, there’s Banks and the guys,” I heard Rika say and noticed the headlights coming through the rear window. “We have about three more seconds before Gabriel figures it out.”
My eyes grew heavy again, and my heart was pounding in my ears. I didn’t feel so good.
I swallowed. “I sometimes wonder what I’d be like if I grew up in Michael’s house. Or Kai’s.”
She laughed a little. “You wouldn’t be like them.”
“Probably not,” I agreed. “People are a blend of external and internal influences, not all controlled variables. Sometimes, just sometimes, we are who we are. Even in the sea, a snake is a snake.”
“A lion, a lion,” she added with a smile in her voice.
Blood from the wound dripped from my skin under the shirt.
“I should’ve taken you to St. Killian’s,” I told her. “There’s a room down in the catacombs.”
I paused to make sure she was listening.
“You turn left at the bottom of the stairs and keep going,” I instructed, knowing she was mapping it out in her head. “When you feel a draft from your left, you’ve hit a hallway, and you turn right. Drag your hand along the right wall until you feel the fourth doorway, and then enter it. Water from the snowmelt on the hills above the church seeps through the ground and spills down the walls like a tiny waterfall.” My arms started to fall, unable to hold her anymore. “You can smell the wet rock, and there’s a little pool where the water sits before it drains into a well. In the pool, there’s something you can have. Something of yours I saved. Something you forgot about.”
She waited a moment, probably thinking.
“I’m not missing anything,” she informed me. “There’s nothing I’m forgetting, Damon.”
I closed my eyes. “There is so much you’re forgetting, baby.”
She moved her hand and then sucked in a short breath. “What is this?” She panted, fear filling her throat. “Damon, what happened? Are you injured?”
She lifted my shirt, touching my wound. I grunted. Jesus, it felt on fucking fire now.
She started gasping. “Will, go to the hospital! He’s been hurt!”
“What?” Will shouted.
He must be who was driving.
“Get the flashlight on your phone,” Rika told someone. “Look at it.”
I kept my eyes closed but winced when a bright light shined on me.
“Oh, my God,” Alex cursed. “He’s soaked. Damon, how long have you been bleeding?”
I just grunted, their voices fading.
“Will, just go,” I heard Rika bark. “Speed. Hurry up.”
“Fucking Miles Anderson,” I growled under my breath. “We gotta kill that motherfucker.”
This was really going to ruin my day.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Winter cried in my ear.
“It’s fine.” I relaxed into her, her arms still around me. “I could die happily right here.”
“You’re not dying,” Winter argued. “You haven’t even told me you love me yet.”
Oh, that.
“Someday,” I teased.
“Damon, wake up.” She jostled me. “Come on, we’re doing this, right? We’re in love. We’re doing this.”
Their voices trailed off as if I were listening and not really here, and for the first time in my life, my entire body was relaxed. So completely relaxed.
“Is he gonna be okay?” I heard Winter cry. “Please, Will, hurry! Please, just get there.”
“I’m calling the ER to let them know we’re almost there,” Rika said.
Winter’s body shook under me, but fuck if I didn’t ever want to move from this spot. I let my body give in—falling, falling, falling—and soaking it up as long as I could, because who knew how long it would last. If I didn’t die from Anderson’s embarrassing little finger knife wound, she was gonna run off on me again to get more space, no doubt.
I needed to think, she’d said.
My dick was inside you four times last night. Now you needed to think? Really?
