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“Even her?” I can’t help but ask. “Even the girl before me?”
His gaze darkens. “I would never call her a toy. That’s all you are to me. She was special. You’re… nothing.”
“I’d rather be nothing than be special to you.”
My voice is bitter, and I hate myself for the pang of pain his words send through me. I’m immediately defensive, eager to hold my head high in front of this boy I’m supposed to obey for the rest of my life.
I step away from the edge of the cliff, separated from him by only a foot or two.
“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m Lily Anna Oakes now. The real Lily Anna Oakes.”
“You’ll never be Lily Anna Oakes,” he reminds me, stabbing another knife into my chest, then twisting, hard. “I don’t give a shit if you’re their blood. You’ll never replace her. You’ll never be anything like her.”
“Wow, someone sounds hung up,” I snicker in response.
But I can tell he’s haunted by the past. The death of Lily Anna has scarred him. It’s plainly visible, in the way his jaw has tightened, in the tug of his lips, the flash of anger in his eyes. We switched from being cordial to insulting one another way too fast, and I hate the way my heart’s pounding because of it. I fight against my own quickened heartbeat, focusing on his sharp jaw and watching the way it sets firmly in place as he regards me with distaste.
“I get that you’re distraught she died, but it’s not my fault she’s gone. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want it. So maybe you should stop being a bad-mannered prick to your fiancée.”
“I don’t want to hear you speak of her ever again,” he snarls in my face.
I notice absentmindedly he looks almost more handsome when he’s this angry.
“I pity you for what you’re about to go through, toy. I pity you, because you’re going to be the laughingstock of Eden Falls. The bitch we take our frustrations out on. I’m going to make your life miserable. You thought people hated you? Just wait until you see how bad things get at school. Just wait until you’re the punching bag of every Firstborn in this town.”
His words make my eyes water, bringing out my bratty side, but my inner bitch settles down at the look of pure rage in his eyes.
“How can you be so cruel?” I ask him. “There are lives in danger. My father… he threatened my… my other family.”
“Lives that don’t matter to me,” he shrugs. “People I don’t give two shits about.”
“You’re a monster,” I whisper.
“That’s right.” He smirks. “Here’s your first lesson on this town, toy. Everyone looks out for themselves. And nobody actually gives a shit about you.”
His hand grabs the front of my pristine white dress, the one I’d found waiting on my bed that morning, a sign of my innocence.
His thumb and pointer finger locate my nipple under the lace bodice, and I gasp as he twists it with the intent to hurt me. I’m too shocked to move away. No one’s ever touched me there before. It’s not a welcome sensation, but his punishing grip sends waves of guilty pleasure through my body.
“This is how it’s going to be from now on,” he says smoothly. “You do as I say, and you don’t get hurt.”
He pinches me again and I gasp.
“You like this?” he mutters, and when the traitorous blush tints my cheeks a rosy pink, I know I’ve been caught.
He smirks, pleased by his new discovery, and intent on using it against me.
“Dirty fucking toy. You think your father’s the only one capable of hurting you?”
I don’t answer. The pressure on my nipple intensifies, making me mewl out in desperate pain as the boy tugs on my sensitive skin.
“Answer me.”
“You’re just a spoiled rich kid who thinks he can get away with anything,” I say, hoping to whatever god is listening that I’m right. “A rich kid who’s too afraid of my father to disobey him.”
The pressure of his fingers changes, and he smoothes down my dress, his palm coming to rest on my chest. Our eyes meet, and I find myself blushing again as he smirks in my face. Then, his hand shoves me back, hard.
A scream tears itself from my lips and I close my eyes, accepting the fall that never comes.
