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“Oh, not even a fancy dress?” she hisses.
I know she’s trying to irk me, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t get to me. It does. But what choice do I have? I’m not willing to give up this fight … yet.
But she’s pushing me to the brink. To the point where I’m not even sure why I continue or even bother. If only she knew the real choice I had to make …
“No,” she says, folding her arms.
I throw her a look. “Don’t fight me on this.”
“Or what? You’re just gonna pretend all of this didn’t happen?” She points at us both as if that will change my decision. “Why?”
“You will come with me, and you will rule the house with me.”
Her eyes widen, but when she realizes I’m not backing away from that statement, her jaw drops. “You’re serious?”
I nod.
“No,” she retorts. “No, absolutely not.”
I approach her, but she keeps backing away until we reach the wall. She holds up a flat hand to push me just far enough so I can’t get near. “Stop.”
“Or what? Are you scared of me now?” I ask, cocking my head. “You never were … You just told yourself that so it would be easier to hate me. To say that I’m the enemy.”
“You are,” she hisses back, looking up at me with those same doe-like eyes that always make my cock hard, even now.
I groan with frustration because I know I’ve had my share already, but it’s never enough.
“Come, Amelia. Don’t make this harder than it already is,” I say, grabbing for her hand.
She tears away from my grip. “No. Give me a reason.”
“Because I need you,” I blurt out loud enough to shut her up. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because of the words I said.
It’s quiet for some time, and I close my eyes and grumble to myself. I should not have said that. I really shouldn’t have.
“Do you mean it?” she asks.
I sigh out loud and look away, unable to face my own emotions, let alone hers.
“Look at me when you tell me you want to take away my freedom just so you can have your way,” she says through gritted teeth. “Look at me!”
For the first time, it’s not me who’s the master … it’s her. She’s the master of my strings and always has been from day one.
Her.
This has always been for her and because of her.
And I knew from the beginning all of this was going to be my undoing.
Yet I could never, ever stop.
A wretched smile forms on my face. “Yes.”
Hatred fills her eyes, the look of which hurts far more than any of the scars on my back ever could.
“You can take my body. Destroy my soul. But my heart … that needs to be earned. And you have wasted your chance,” she says, her voice riddled with agony and despair. “So take me. Take whatever’s left of me. But know when you do that it was you—not my sin, or the loss of my loved ones—who destroyed me.”
Her words are razor-sharp, sharper than any blade I’ve ever used to cut someone with. But the look in her eyes is as icy as never before. Like she flipped a switch and turned herself off. “I’ll come on one condition.” She swallows. “Let the other girls go.”
I take in a deep breath. “You know I can’t do that. They’re not innocent.”
“April is. Let her go,” she says.
This is wearing me down. “I can’t, and you know why. April’s with us for a reason.”
Her nostrils flare. “You can’t even commit to this one request? Just one?”
I let out a long-drawn-out sigh and look away. “I’ll see what I can do to … quicken the process.”
She makes a face. “Fine.”
I grab her hand before she changes her mind and makes this even more difficult. “Good. Then let’s go.”
When I turn around and walk, her immobility makes me stop. “Wait.”
“You know this will make you a sinner too, right?” she says. “Like you said, no one is without sin.”
I frown before a wicked smile spreads on my lips, and I lean in, still holding her hand tight. “Exactly. I was born a sinner, and I’m going to die a sinner.”
Chapter 12
Amelia
With pain in my heart, I walk alongside him out of the apartment where I once felt at home. Now, it’s nothing but a place filled with bad memories—memories of heartache, suffering, and death.
Maybe it’s for the best. I wasn’t going to get this apartment back anyway. I could never earn enough money to pay back the landlord for the missed rent, even though I was telling myself it was possible. It just wasn’t meant to be.
I only hope that whatever I leave behind will remember me, and those memories will be better than the ones I have.
