Page 28 of Scarred in Silence (The Twisted Trilogy #2)

Lucien

I can’t fucking breathe.

I’ve paced this hallway so many times in the past, I swear the floor remembers the rhythm of my wrath. My fists ache—half from punching the wall, half from holding back. I know I fucked up. I’m fucking pissed, but I have no right to be. She didn’t ask for—

No. Don’t fucking go there.

I didn’t break her. They did. She’ll come out of this stronger. She always does.

But the way she looked at me… like I wasn’t her captor— like I was her savior. The guilt is eating me alive from the inside out. Threatening to destroy all that I have built.

She used to scream. Scratch. Spit venom. Now she’s quiet, and it’s worse than any bruise she ever left behind.

She’s in there somewhere. She has to be.

I didn’t do all this to end up with a servant who just fucking breathes.

But that’s what I wanted. Loyal. Loving. My fucking whore.

That’s the problem. She is fucking brainwashed. I still want her to have a fire in her soul. I want to see her argue with me. I want to see her alive.

When I left her, she looked defeated. Sad. Remorseful. All of the things I should have felt, but I didn’t. I still don’t entirely.

I know deep down my little Siren is waiting to crack. I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

I walk into Dante’s office at the compound, interrupting his phone call.

“Hey.”

“Hold on,” he disregards me.

“No.”

He ends his phone call and turns to face me.

“What’s up?”

“I can’t fucking handle it. The guilt.”

“You’re the one who thought this was a great idea.”

I pause, calculating my next words.

“Why the fuck didn’t you stop me?”

I run my fingers through my hair, unable to sit still.

“Listen, man. When I was going through Hell to make Evelyn mine, you didn’t get in my way. So why would I?”

My jaw clenches. He’s right. I didn’t stop him from stalking her or from carving his name into her.

“Fair”

I pause.

“I need to tell you something Astra told me,” I say to Dante.

He quirks his brow at me. He knows it’s important if I am stopping my mental breakdown for it.

“Remember when Evelyn gave us that card from Club Muse? The guy approached her after her performance?”

He grinds his jaw.

“Yes.”

“It’s fucking Miles. Miles Holloway.”

Dante hardens his gaze.

“You sure?”

“Yes. He also admitted to being involved in the fire. So that leaves one last person. I think it’s Nicolette.”

He nods, agreeing with me.

“Evelyn will want to know,” he says quietly.

“I don’t give a fuck. As long as we get to kill the fucker.”

“We will.”

“Oh, and you’ll never guess where they auctioned off Astra,” I say sarcastically.

He cocks his head to the side, studying me.

“Club Muse. Utah.”

His jaw nearly combusts from how tightly he is straining it.

“Silas?”

“She didn’t say who, but if I had to guess, he is involved. I’m not sure to what extent they have been involved, but I know they auctioned her off. That’s all I need to know.”

He nods.

“We better get to work,” he says with a smirk on his face.

This lunatic gets off on killing. For me, it’s just a release.

A release from everything that I could never do right.