Page 80

I’m still here, my blood pounding through my veins like liquid fire.

…A throbbing heat pooling between my thighs.

The code to the lock on the front door has changed. Nero texted the new one to me earlier, along with a reminder not to be late.

He also reminded me of my safe word: Vanquish.

But it came with a warning: use it, and it’s not just tonight that’s over. It’sallof it, permanently.

And that’s how I know I’ve already drunk the Kool-Aid. Because the man literally gave me a way out. Forever.

And I’m still here.

The hinge of the door creaks as I push it open, then does so even louder when I close it behind me again with a sharp, finalclick.

The grand foyer is dark, the only lights coming from the street lamps outside and the general glow of the city.

My eyes immediately latch onto a piece of paper taped to the finial at the bottom of the ornately carved banister on the sweeping staircase, and I quietly walk over.

It’s a note, with just four words on it.

Run run run, princess…

Vanquish.

For half a second, the word teases the tip of my tongue, asking to be let out so it can stop this madness.

But I shove it back down, and fuckingburyit. No going back now.

I step out of my shoes and drop them by the front door, leaving my socks on.

My throat tightens. My hands are shaking.Allof me is shaking.

The house is totally silent. Not a single creak of a footstep, not one whisper of him slipping through the shadows. But I know he’s here. I can feel his dark energy oozing from every crevice in the walls. Feel his green eyes on me, even if I can’t see them.

I take one last, steadying breath. In. Out.

Then, I run.

I vaguely remember the layout of the first floor, so that's where I stay, sprinting into the room with the bookshelves that I rifled through the last time. My breath is tight in my throat, already loud as I bolt through that room into the next.

I have no idea where I’m going. Even less idea where he might be waiting for me, ready to pounce.

Behind any door. Hidden in any shadow. Lingering in any creak of an old floorboard as I skitter across the floor.

I run down another corridor, but suddenly, instead of a room, there’s just a turn in the hallway, and a locked door.

Fuck.

My pulse jangles and my skin turns clammy as I whirl and rush back the way I came. I turn left through another room, but…shit…eventhat oneseems different from last time.

It’s like the house itself is shifting, helping him find me.

Like itwantsme caught.

There's a creak behind me. My heart lurches, my pulse hammering in my veins as I spin on unsteady feet, gaping into the darkness.

Nothing. No hands reaching for me. No leering green eyes piercing into me.