Page 136 of Locked in Wonderland

“Then don’t follow me into the bedroom when I’m getting dressed.”

“I thought you were going back to bed.”

I pulled on a pair of jeans. “No. I have things to do.”

“Who were you talking about when you called someone a clever bastard?”

“Nico.” I grabbed a T-shirt, tugging it over my head.

“Who the fuck is Nico?”

“The guy.”

“What guy?”

“The guy.”

“You said his name was Warren.”

I ran a brush through my hair. Not perfect, but it would do. “I lied. I lied about a lot of things. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to.” I risked a glance at Hannah, only to find her gawping at me. “Close your mouth. I saw a moth in here earlier. You’re going to end up eating it if you’re not careful.”

“I’m wondering who took the real Lysander and replaced him with a clone.”

I turned to face her. “The real Lysander went through some shit.” I wrestled with my promise to Nico for a few seconds before deciding he’d clearly lied to me as well—about one very important thing. Or maybe it hadn’t been a lie at the time.

“I was in Wonderland,” I said. Hannah’s eyes widened. “I saw a lot of that stuff up close. Too close. Nico made me promise to keep my mouth shut. For my safety. But I’m assuming that with the Harts in custody, the threat level has gone down considerably.”

“They might release them.”

I shook my head. “No. Nico’s too thorough for that. He wouldn’t have gone against them if he didn’t know he could nail them.”

I sat on the end of my bed to pull on socks and shoes.

“And you’re getting dressed to do what?” Hannah asked.

“Think carefully about what you want, Lysander. If you decide that’s me… come and find me.”

I’d spent months trying to push those words out of my head. They’d sounded impossible when he said them.

Now they sounded like an invitation.

One I’d been too stupid to accept.

What if he’d gotten bored waiting?

“I need to find Nico,” I said. “I need to tell him that what happened between us had absolutely nothing to do with Stockholm syndrome.”

“What?”

“He said that.”

“Okay…”

“I know this is confusing,” I said.

“Just a bit.”

Hannah followed me back into the living room. The news had finished, and some hospital drama was on instead. I stood in the middle of the room, my heart pounding.