Page 94

NINETY-FOUR

AMETHYST

It took me a while to grasp the message about Mom. She made no secret of considering me a burden, but I thought the worst she could do was send me to an institution. That’s why it took so long to realize Myra could be a target.

The moment I return to the crawlspace, I call my best friend, who bursts into tears at the sound of my voice.

“Where have you been?” she asks. “I came round to the house, but it’s empty. The old lady next door said it’s for sale.”

My jaw clenches at the reminder that Mom has already cleared out my possessions. “I’m safe.”

“I’ve been so worried. Tell me where you are, and I’ll drive over?—”

“No,” I say. “It’s too dangerous.”

She falls silent for several heartbeats, filling the receiver with the sound of her frantic breaths. “Is this connected to the Well Hung Man and Dick Johnson?”

“Yes.” I rub the back of my neck. “No… Kind of.”

“Because the day after you came to see me at the store, that woman who runs the Unofficial Xero fan club dredged up videos we shot from the book fair. She also said people reported you leaving with them.”

Any other time, I would grind my teeth at the reminder of Lizzie Bath trying to get me into trouble to gain clout. Now, my stomach lurches at the memory of her grisly death.

“She’s disappeared,” Myra says. “Her videos are online, so she hasn’t been banned. She just stopped posting.”

“Are you still staying in that apartment?” I ask.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Some men broke into my house?—”

“Are you alright?” she shrieks.

“More or less.”

She falls silent for a beat before asking. “Did it really happen?”

“Did they really drill through my front door to take me?” I ask. “Yes, and I haven’t hallucinated anything for several days.”

“Okay… Okay…” I can almost hear her biting down on her bottom lip. “So, how did you…”

“How did I outrun four abductors?”

“Sorry. I had to ask.”

“Same way we escaped a pair of rapists while we were both drugged.”

“That ghost?” she whispers.

“I can’t talk about it on the phone. I think you’re in danger. Lizzie is dead because the people who tried to abduct me took her instead.”

“No,” she says, her voice trembling.

This is the kind of disturbing news that should be delivered in person and with Myra sitting down, but there’s no time. If Mom is behind these attacks, then she’ll know the best way to send me a message is through my only friend.

Myra has stuck by me, even through my worst times. I hate making her alarmed, but she needs to understand the level of threat she’s under and the measures we’re taking to make her safe.

“Go to Lizzie’s bio, where she’s placed an affiliate link to an execution.”

“Hold on.” A moment later, she says, “Her bio has gone.”

“Try X-CiteMedia.com.”

She falls silent for a moment, then she gasps. “What is this?”

“You see it?” I ask .

“What? Stills of Lizzie doing violent-looking gang bangs? Is it real?”

I shudder at the reminder. “Yeah. Those people took her. I’m worried they might take you, too.”

Myra pauses for several seconds before saying, “There’s a knock on my door.”

I turn to Xero, who glances down at his phone and nods, confirming that his people have arrived at her apartment. “Don’t worry,” I say to her. “It’s a friend.”

“How do you know?” she asks, her voice rising several octaves.

“Look through the peephole. Is he six-four, dark hairs, with stormy gray eyes and classically handsome features?”

A moment later, she whispers, “Yes.”

“And is he with a much shorter, dark-haired woman with big brown eyes and a dimpled chin?”

“Who are they?”

“Friends of mine,” I say. “They’ll take you to a secure apartment where you can stay until this has blown over.”

“What about my job? Cesare just gave me extra hours. I can’t let him down.”

Xero steps forward. “Text us your bank details, and I’ll wire you twenty grand to tide you over for the next few weeks.”

“Who’s that?” she asks.

“The ghost,” Xero says.

Myra makes a strangled noise, and I can’t blame her. This situation is a lot for even me to swallow, and I’m in the thick of the danger.

“You can call Cesare from your safe house and tell him there’s a family emergency,” I say. “He’ll understand if he’s a good boss.”

“Okay.”

I don’t know if Myra’s boss will give her grace or tell her to get lost. Working at Wonderland is just a temporary gig until she gets back into publishing, and her safety is more important than helping some guy who demands sexual favors from employees.

About a minute later, Jynxson comes on the line to say he’s secured Myra and is transporting her to a location across town. Xero and I sit together in silence until his sister calls to confirm that she’s safe.

The next few days are grueling. If I’m not in some underground lair, fighting off Xero and a bunch of other men, then I’m blindfolded, gagged, and struggling to break out of some kind of bondage.

My muscles ache from all the effort, and I’m sure no part of my body hasn’t been bruised. Each morning, I wake with new aches. Xero is the worst kind of tyrant, who delights in pushing me beyond my limits. If I don’t succeed in these abduction drills, then he edges me to insanity.

On the plus side, he’s shown me how to open every door in the crawlspace that leads to the outside world. He was reluctant at first, thinking I’d take the opportunity to bolt, but I’ve convinced him I’m painfully aware of the dangers of leaving without protection.

There’s no running away from him—and not just because I’m his captive. New photos appear almost every day, along with threatening notes. I still don’t know if it’s because my online relationship with Xero unlocked something in Mom that’s been bubbling beneath her cold surface.

I knew she resented me from the moment I woke up from the accident. It was Dad who sat at my bedside with pep talks and stories, while she only visited with trays of food. Now, I don’t even know if that was real.

When I went away to school, I would call Mom on the phone. She’d be curt and eager to hand me over to Dad, who always had time to chat. He listened to my problems with a sympathetic ear and bemoaned his busy work schedule. Maybe that was my brain’s way of filling the gaps after she’d hung up.

Mom didn’t even tell me she’d remarried. Hell, she never once mentioned splitting up with Dad. I even remember her talking about him traveling on business. She not only allowed me to languish in my delusions that he still existed, she encouraged them. If she’s married to Xero’s father, then that makes Xero my stepbrother.

At the end of the week, after a particularly punishing session of being chased around the catacombs, Xero takes me back to the crawlspace and tells me not to wait up.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“A former associate of my father runs a sex club. I’m going to question him there with Jynxson and a few others.”

“And you’re leaving me behind?”

His brow furrows. “You’re not going to a sex club.”

“Neither are you.” I walk around him and block the door.

He scoffs. “This is work.”

“I’ve tolerated a lot of shit from you, but I won’t stay behind while you go to a place filled with naked women.”

His eyes sparkle. “Jealous, little ghost?”

“You’re mine.” I grab the front of his shirt. “That means no ogling other people or getting turned on while I’m not around.”

He shoots me a grin that’s as dazzling as his platinum hair. “I like it when you’re possessive.”

The heat in his gaze makes my skin tingle. I tighten my grip on his shirt and fight the urge to lose myself in his electrifying stare.

“I’m coming with you.”

He brushes a loose curl off my forehead, his eyes softening. “The club could be filled with naked women, but I’ll only have eyes for you.”

A flush creeps across my cheeks, and I force myself to break eye contact. This is the Xero, who used to pour his heart into those beautiful letters. My star-crossed lover on Death Row. I can’t let myself give into his sweet words.

“Stop distracting me with your charm. I’m going with you.”

He studies me for several seconds, and it takes every effort not to fidget. I don’t need to read minds to know he’s calculating if he can get away with disabling me with his superior combat moves and locking me up in my own crawlspace.

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind,” I say, my gaze hardening. “I can break out of any bindings you throw at me, and I already know the club is at Melrose Manor. ”

He smirks. “Challenge accepted.”

Three hours later, after an epic struggle which I barely won, we’re pulling up to the courtyard of a mansion set within dense woodland. Light streams through its tall, symmetrical windows, illuminating its brick facade.

I glance at Xero, whose gaze is focused on the mansion’s entrance. His artificially darkened hair, combined with his pale skin, makes him look like the hero of a steamy paranormal romance. Tension tightens his jawline, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s stressed because I’m tagging along.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

He turns to me, his eyes hard. “Stay at my side at all times. Is that understood?”

“Of course.”

“If we get separated, look out for Camila or Jynxson.”

I nod.

“And whatever happens, don’t take off your mask.”

“I won’t.”

Xero insisted that I darken the blonde side of my hair with his tinted wax, so it’s now all one color.

My curls are slicked back into a tight bun, and I’m wearing a hooded black cloak. With my makeup altered to give me a ghostly pallor with blood-red lips, I’m completely unrecognizable.

If this undercover operation wasn’t about preventing me from becoming a victim on an illicit website, I’d think the costumes were kind of cool.

He leans across the front seat of the car and cups my cheek, his hand warm against my skin. “Promise me you’ll stick to the plan. Don’t react to anything you see. No heroics.”

Gulping, I give him a frantic nod.

He reaches into the glove compartment and extracts a velvet case. Flipping it open, he reveals a silver choker and a separate ring.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Your collar.” He lifts it out and pulls apart its clasp, so it's now hinged open. After threading the metal ring around the choker, he raises it to my neck. “Wearing this will let everyone know you belong to me.”

My heart skips a beat. “Like a permanent collar?”

“Precisely.”

“Then where’s yours?”

He grins. “Anytime you want to collar me, say the word. I’ll gladly kneel at your feet and worship at the altar of your cunt. But for tonight, our roles are reversed.”

I swallow hard, my pulse quickening as he fixes the metal collar around my neck. Each brush of his skin sends bursts of electricity down my spine that settle between my thighs.

“You’re too bossy to get on your knees for me,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

“I’ve stolen for you, killed for you. I’d burn down the entire city to see the flames reflecting in your beautiful green eyes. What makes you think I wouldn’t prostrate before my little goddess?”

He secures the latch on my collar, pulls the ring to the front, and draws back to admire his work. His pale eyes burn so brightly, I can barely breathe. Emotions flicker across his handsome features, ranging from satisfaction to desire, and I swear there’s even a touch of pride. When he drops his gaze down to the collar, I exhale.

“Do you know how many nights I pictured you like this while I jerked off to the scent of your letters?” he says, his fingers tracing the cool metal against my skin.

My spine tingling, I suppress a shiver and whisper, “No.”

“Every. Single. One.”

My lips part with a gasp, even though none of this is exactly news. Xero was also my obsession while he was on Death Row, and I know my feelings were more than reciprocated. But hearing those words now that he’s free gives them so much more weight.

“Stay there.”

He exits the car and walks around the front to my side, where he opens the door and offers me his hand.

Taking it, I step out onto the pavement, my heart beating fast at the prospect of going to a party with Xero. He looks handsome in a tuxedo, which he wears because the Ministry of Mayhem’s dress code is horrifically sexist.

His gaze sweeps down the corset he commissioned for me from my Wonderland wishlist. I’m also wearing it with a pair of faux leather hold-up stockings that blend into my platform boots.

He licks his lips, his eyes lingering on the pretty lace panties I’m wearing instead of a skirt.

“Afraid, little ghost?” he asks, his deep voice breaking into my thoughts.

I draw in a shaky breath. “A little, but then, I’ve never felt so alive.”

He brings my knuckles to his lips for a kiss that sends sparks of electricity across my skin. “That’s my brave girl. After tonight, your life will never be the same.”