Page 79 of Dance With A Devil

“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”

Then he turns, eyes gleaming with something unholy. Something earned.

“The next time you see me, Father… it’ll be from the floor. As I watch you die.”

And just like that, they leave. One by one.

Devils reborn in ash and flame.

Branson steps beside me, voice cold. “What’s your move, Bash?”

I stare at the doorway. The air still crackling with their threat. With his threat.

For the first time in my life… I don’t have an answer.

And it terrifies me.

Because my son just buried me with words. And the worst part?

He’s not bluffing.

Chapter Fifteen

Athens

Ever since Josie dropped the truth on me, that she’s my mother, my life has spiraled into a fever dream of blood, betrayal, and bone-deep truths I wasn’t ready to face.

Wyck told me he loved me and asked me to move in.

Bash threatened to slit my throat if I didn’t crawl back to him.

I found out I’m married,fucking married, to the monster who locked me in a gilded cage and called it protection.

The rest? A kaleidoscope of fucked-up revelations I can't even keep straight anymore.

I should be locked in a padded room by now, drooling into a cup and whispering about masks and monsters to the fucking wallpaper.

The journal entries didn’t help. Each one is a needle straight to the vein. I haven’t even gone through the entire box, just bounced between them like a masochist playing roulette. What I’ve read so far has been enough to make my skin itch from the inside out.

I’ve broken down more times than I can count. Snapped at students. Snarled at the Devils. I’ve turned into some twisted version of myself, less Cruella, more Medea.

And yet, they still come to me. Still guard me. Still hold me like I’m sacred when all I feel issoiled.

I moved in with them. Into the den of Devils.

It’s safer than the lies I used to call home.

Bash has gone radio silent since Wyck promised he’d feed him his teeth if he so much asbreathedin my direction again. Josie’s vanished. Gaia hasn’t called. Everything I thought I knew is ashes at my feet.

So instead of facing the fire… I hide.

Right now, I’m curled into the corner of the teacher’s lounge like a ghost wearing my own skin. Palms wrapped around a too-hot mug of tea, pretending it’s enough to burn the truth out of me.

The door creaks.

“Long time no see,” a voice cuts through the fog.

I blink slowly, lift my head.