Page 13

I’m done with the days where I let everyone sugarcoat everything and give me watered-down versions of the truth just to protect me.

I’m no longer content with living on the periphery of my life.

I’m Callista Cirillo, and I have just as much right as everyone else in my family to know what’s happening around me. Even if it is dark. Even if it is brutal, terrifying.

After rummaging through the bag Daemon packed for me, I pull on an outfit that I hope will give me some courage, blow-dry my hair until it’s perfect, and spend an inordinate amount of time on my make-up.

If I’m intending on going up against these two control freaks, then I need to look my best and feel my best, despite the aches in my body from my less-than-desirable journey here or the fuzziness of my head.

Smoothing my hair down once more, I head for the door.

I curse myself when my hand trembles as I reach out.

You’re stronger than this, Callista.

You’re better than them.

I pull the door open with a flourish and storm out, ready to go up against them and demand some answers.

But I don’t get very far when my foot catches on something and my heart jumps into my throat as my top half keeps moving and my legs don’t.

“What the—”

“Shit,” a deep voice barks as I begin my heart-stopping descent toward what looks to be solid oak floors.

There’s movement beneath me a beat before I hit the floor. Hands wrap around my waist and I’m caught, suspended a few inches from what was inevitably going to be a broken nose.

“What the hell are you doing?” I snap the second I’m placed back on my feet and find myself staring into a pair of tired, dark grey eyes.

Pain flickers through them. But it’s so fast, I start to wonder if I imagine it as his mask falls into place.

“Were you sitting outside my room like a creep?” I sneer, my heart barely slowing its erratic pace now that I’m toe to toe with him again.

I was hoping I might have had a few more minutes at least before I had to face him—them. That I might even be able to sneak up on them, overhear a few things that might just come in useful.

I was not expecting this.

“Just keeping you safe, Angel.”

“Bullshit,” I spit. “If that were the case, you’d have just come in and handcuffed me to the bed.”

Heat blazes in his eyes as I say those words, and I can’t help the clench of my lower muscles from the image that pops into my head.

“I’m trying to give you what you asked for,” he confesses.

“The truth? Gotta be honest, D,” I say, stealing Alex’s nickname for him, “you’re doing a really shitty job of it.”

“Protecting you,” he growls, closing the space between us.

His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn’t forgotten the reason I woke up here. Not even a little bit. But hearing him say those two words was a reality check I didn’t really need.

“I’m gonna need more than that, devil boy.”

Spinning on my heels, I attempt to walk away from him, but unsurprisingly, he’s not having any of it.

His fingers wrap around my wrist a second before I’m tugged back and slammed against the wall.

All the air rushes from my lungs as he grabs my jaw in his unforgiving grip.