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CHAPTER XI
Micah
She ran away from me.
Because of course she did.
Who would stick around after seeing my real face? After witnessing the monster that I am in its full, fucked-up glory.
But I will kill a wole fucking army if that’s what it takes to get her back. Then I’ll fuck her ass while I slap that treacherous pussy, just like I promised her. I’ll fill her to the brim, and make her feel that she is mine.
Fucking mine and only mine.
Wind whips against leather as I race down the road to the sanatorium where her sister Goldie lives. I’ve always known about her, and even took over all of her expenses when I basically moved in with Eva—I just never told her about it because I didn’t want her to feel put on the spot. It just never crossed my mind that that’s how she and Romano knew each other.
I take the curves sharply, the asphalt brushing against my knee as I angle the bike down. I rev it up, pumping the gas and racing harder. My bandages rub on the welts and cuts on my skin, and the stab wound is smarting, but I don’t give a fuck. I don’t even blink, my eyes focused like lasers on the road through the lens of my helmet.
I come to a halt in the gravel driveway, and when I take off the helmet, tucking it between my arm and my waist, the staff strolling outside with some of the patients freeze. I’ve seen these stares before, and I can read them like open fucking books. Many of them are Romano’s people, who must have been instructed that, if I ever show my face around here, it means that shit hit the fan.
So I might as well make a public declaration right now, save them all the trouble of having a go at Mother or Eva’s sister.
“Romano Royales is dead,” I declare, my voice firm. The contrast with my deathly pale face seems to throw some onlookers off balance, but it doesn’t seem to take away from my power of intimidation. Who would have thought that losing too much blood and looking like vampire boy Damon Saevage would actually become a perk.
“His dukedom will be passed on to my brother Sade and me. You now answer to us. If you prefer not to, you’re free to go, of course. You have about five minutes before this place is swamped by bad men who won’t hesitate to shoot you in the face if don’t move fast enough. So leave now, or if you stay—” I run my eyes over them like a machine gun, “—you stay.”
Nobody moves, except for a few male nurses in scrubs that fidget when my cold gaze crosses over them. I rest my eyes on them, silently inviting them to make a move, but they decide against it. My lips pull up in a grin.
“All right. It would seem everybody prefers to hold on to their jobs. That is the smart call, I should say. How very nice when things turn out well for everybody, isn’t it?” My grin disappears, and my true, murderous mood shows in my face. “Now, I trust Duchess Annabelle Royales finds herself safe, sound, and well attended to, yes?”
A few moments pass in which everybody is holding their breath, but then an older nurse with the coif of a Catholic nun nudges one of the male nurses. The man winces, tattooed muscled arms sticking out of the short sleeves of his scrubs. There’s a number of men like him standing in the aisles that snake through the sanatorium garden—probably Romano’s men undercover.
“She is, Duke Royales,” the man finally says. “Would you like me to take you to her?”
This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting for all my life. But I’m completely unprepared for it.
“My brother Sade will be here any minute now. You can show him to our mother. You can take me to someone else first.”
***
Micah
I FIND EVA SHIVERING on the edge of a bed by the window, her arms wrapped tightly around her sister Goldie. There it is, the only weapon I have no defense against—the terror with which she stares up at me, her blue eyes bloodshot and her face paper-white, her fingers bloodless as they tangle in her little sister’s hair.
Even though I knew about Goldie’s existence and her whereabouts, this is the first time I’ve seen the girl. Of course I was curious and interested in meeting her before, but it felt like too much of a violation. I have no trouble taking Eva’s body against her will because I know beyond a doubt how much she actually wants me, but this? This was the most sacred part of her life. An altar of sorts. It wasn’t something I wanted to take, it was something I wanted her to give me.
The girl is young, probably not even eighteen yet, and she’s so thin that her skin is translucent. Her pupils are so small in the center of her pale blue irises that they seem almost vacant. If I were a normal person, this would be a chilling sight.
But I’m not normal.
I’m someone who can actually help her.
“Please, leave her out of this,” Eva says in a trembling voice. “She shouldn’t have to pay for what I did.”
“You think I would hurt your sister?” I ask in a flat tone.
Eva shakes her head, her chin trembling. In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her quite so vulnerable, except maybe last night in the study lounge, when Romano almost killed us. It gives me a fucking hard-on.
