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"I can't help those girls. But I can help you, Aster. I swear I didn't know it was going to be like this.” He straightened, his hand still clinched on my wrist. “But I did know it was going to be bad. I needed you to see this because, if you continue to fight me, then it will make it that much harder for me to protect you."
“And will you? Protect me?"
His eyes held mine. "I swear that I'll protect you, Aster. Even if I have to kill my own father to do it."
"But why?" I suddenly felt weak and useless. "Why are you protecting me?"
"Because." His throat bobbed, and his thumb brushed over my wrist. Softly, almost absentmindedly, but it sent my heart racing. "I couldn't help your sister when she needed it, and I swore I would never do that again."
"Rose?" I was suddenly panicked. "Is she okay? What's happening—”
"Not Rose." His voice was suddenly a dark growl. "Your other sister."
My heart pounded in my chest and the pure vitriol he exuded. Now I saw everything, the spectrum of emotions he'd been holding back. Pain. Rage. Anger. Passion.
"Lily." My throat was dry. I'd met her when I was really little and didn't remember much about her. I hadn't even known she was my sister when I met her.
He nodded.
"What happened to her?"
His gaze darkened. "She's dead. And I’m going to kill the man who killed her."
"Who is that?"
Coulter leaned in. “Aster, do you understand now that if you continue to fight me, my father might try to make you become like one of those women?" His fingers on my wrist were digging into it harshly. "If you fight me, I will still protect you, because that's a promise I’ve made to Rose. But you need to help me help you.”
I remembered the dead look on that girl’s face. The blood running from that man’s throat. The dead look in Coulter’s eyes in the car.
Could I truly trust him? What if he turned on me, too?
He said he made a promise to Rose, but what if it was just a manipulation to make his life easier?
“Are you going to help me escape?”
“There is no escape for you, now. The quicker you learn this, the easier it will be for you to accept it.”
“But. Why?”
“What do you know about your parents? Do you know the truth about your heritage?”
I nodded. “I’m from Russia, the mafia. My Papa told me—after Lily died…”
“You’ve lived a good life, Aster. Your childhood was free and innocent. But my father drug you back into this world, and now, you’ll never get out of it.”
“But,” I stared into his eyes, wishing his grip on my wrist wasn’t so tight. It felt like shackles, suffocating and smothering. “What if I don’t want to be in this world?”
“Do any of us?”
The room was silent, closing in on me even more.
“Why then, why keep me safe?”
“I told you. I made a promise to Rose. Besides, the faster you’re out of my hair, the easier it'll be to get what I want."
Out of his hair. Like a piece of lint. Or hay, annoying and telling of something dirty. “Which is what?”
“Revenge."
