Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I pleaded with fate to spare my parents, but my desperate cries fell on deaf ears. The nightmare held me captive, its grip unyielding. The piercing sound of the gunshots reverberated through my being as I watched the life drain from my adoptive parents’ eyes. A searing pain etched itself deep into my bones.
As abruptly as it had begun, the dream shattered. I jolted awake, drenched in sweat, trembling and gasping for air. My heart pounded as the echoes of the horrifying nightmare still lingered in my mind. I could hardly catch my breath as I tried to make sense of the vivid images that had upset my wolf. She shuddered and moaned as I clutched my throat.
The terror clung to me like a heavy cloak, refusing to dissipate. My body ached from the residual fear that coursed through my veins.
The nightmare had unearthed a raw truth that resided in the depths of my heart. The possibility of Castro exacting his sadistic revenge and leaving me with no one but him was a haunting reality I couldn’t dismiss. His capacity for cruelty was unfathomable, and the nightmare had only amplified my fear of him.
As I lay there in the stillness, paralyzed by the remnants of my dream, I realized the depth of the scars Castro had left upon my soul. The wounds had been ruthlessly torn open, exposing the vulnerability I had tried so desperately to shield. In my heart, I knew I couldn’t underestimate the darkness that lurked within him.
He was evil.
All possibility of sleep erased, I sighed and sat upright, trying not to wake Ty. The nightmare had reminded me of the battles I faced and the demon I had to confront.
35
TY
Stretching, I attempted to look half-interested. The man I was directing this attention to stood at the front of the conference room, his face a shade of crimson.
Tim was one of the financial analysts at Keller Enterprises, and he was passionate about money. It probably had something to do with the fact that the more we made, the higher his salary increased. He had a paunchy belly and a few gray hairs combed over a bald spot. His tie was crooked and loose, and had a gravy or sauce stain about halfway up the fabric. What he lacked in grooming, however, he more than made up for with his enthusiasm.
Regardless of the reason for his overzealousness, I often found myself swallowing a chuckle as he flailed his hands wildly with dark sweat stains appearing under his arms.
“If the next quarter’s trends continue on their upward trajectory as this one has, I could see us wanting to open an additional branch. Supply and demand, people.”
I tapped my pen on the conference table and skimmed over my notes. The Keller companies were thriving, and for that I was grateful. My family’s business legacy would live on.
Behind it all, though, was a shit load of turmoil and anxiety. Little did our employees know that our personal lives were hanging on by a thread. Hopefully, they never had to find out.
We’d been waiting for an answer from Nico, but I was beginning to think Sylas had somehow fled the country. Every casino search turned up empty, and my wolf grew increasingly anxious. We needed Liza safe, and as long as Sylas was roaming free, she wasn’t.
Dad had assured me multiple times that Nico was the best man for the job. “If Sylas is alive, Nico will find him.”
If Dad was that confident about his man finding Sylas, I couldn’t argue with him. With each passing day, though, I began to lose my trust in the plan Dad and I had formed. It was taking too long, and the danger increased every day. We couldn’t keep living this way.
Every fucking man we had to spare had been sent out with one goal: find Sylas and bring him back to the Keller Estate alive without drawing any attention to the capture.
My father and I wanted to deal with Sylas on our own terms without raising the alarms of other local authorities.
I propped my head in one hand and stared at the screen, trying to focus on the graph projected behind Tim, but no matter how hard I tried to pay attention, it was no use. I couldn’t get my mind off Liza.
The past few nights, she’d woken up shaking, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Every time, I held her and tried to comfort her, which was no hardship on my part, but her fear was palpable.
When she was fully awake and no longer trembling, I’d ask her what the dreams were about, but she always refused to answer me. She immediately closed down and shut me out. Up until now, she’d always confided in me when she had dreams about her past or her parents, so I couldn’t be sure if that wasthe nightmare taunting her or if it was a new one because she wouldn’t tell me.
She had taken to treating me the same as she would a stranger rather than the man who slept in her bed, who comforted her, and who had gone out of his way to protect her.
I figured she was still upset with me for putting the tracker on her phone, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to apologize for wanting to know where she was when she wasn’t in my presence so I could protect her better.
Regardless of what Liza thought, I didn’t want to keep her locked away like a princess in a castle. I just needed some peace of mind. I’d drive myself crazy if I had no way of knowing where she was and whether she was okay.
Every time I asked her if she was doing all right with the stress of Castro being on the loose, she answered that she was fine. She might have thought I couldn’t see through her lie, but I’d come to know Liza better than anyone, even Bryce.
She wasn’t just scared. There was something else going on, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that was. Without her telling me, I sure as hell didn’t know what to do to help her. It made my guts ache, but I was at a loss.
I looked up at the clock. Tim had been talking for nearly an hour. Most of the other people in the room had already given up on listening to him as they doodled on paper or stared out the window.
“Well, that’s probably all we need to know for today, folks, so unless you have any questions, I think this concludes our meeting.”
