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“What about clothes? What about you, where will you be?”
He turned so that we were facing one another. “There’s a duffel bag on the bed. I have to do something, but I’ll be in later.”
Oh. “Oh.” I made no effort to enter the room. I didn’t have a problem with darkness or new places but this one was so silent and empty it creeped me out. As if he could read my mind, he reached just inside the room to flip a switch, triggering a round lamp to click on.
That was ten times better. It transformed the space from Thirteen Ghosts to the Ritz.
“Hey,” Judas called gently to summon my attention, gently pinching my chin to make me look at him, “You’re safe with me.”
Am I? I questioned with my eyes. The claim seemed like a joke coming from him after everything he’d done. He kissed my forehead and then silently moved around me to retreat back down the hall. I watched him disappear, unsure how to feel about any of this. I knew he meant what he’d just said.
He was more dangerous to me than anything else. My protector and my villain were one in the same.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
She could never go back.
Crudele would forever be a place of her past. She’d find that out soon enough. There were lots of things she would come to learn in the next forty-eight hours.
This is the part where I have a change of heart and become a good, heroic man. But the girl I loved didn’t need a hero and I had no interest in trying to be something I never was or would be. I knew that wouldn’t do her any good in the long run.
Rhia needed someone dirtier and more wicked than she was to provoke the part of her she’d been keeping hidden away.
She needed this tragedy and all the pain it would bring. That’s how the best villainesses were made.
I had no regrets or second guesses. I was doing this firstly and foremost for my sister and myself. Rhiannon was a casualty I decided to keep alive. I guess that did make me a hero in a roundabout way. I hadn’t expected the obsession or the painful stirrings in my chest that I never wanted to have.
It was Rhiannon’s ties to the people my familigia and so many others wanted to see wiped from the face of the earth that should’ve made me despise her indefinitely. After meeting her I found the logic behind that to be severely lacking. How could I hold a grudge against this beautiful girl for something she never truly was?
A fucking Clermont.
They had no credibility or respect amongst those who wielded true power in my world.
They were a misshaped piece of jigsaw that didn’t fit, guppies trying to swim with hammerheads. I was all for going against societal norms and standing out, unless it was done for the wrong reasons. These stupid fucks had burnt every bridge any potential accomplices offered them to cross.
When surrounded by liars, killers, and masterminds in the art of deception, that was the worst move you could make.
Over the years many had been picked off in the occasional accident or darkened alleyway. Only a few remained and for that reason along with the fact I wouldn’t let her go, Rhiannon couldn’t remain with them. They weren’t of real relation so the way I saw it I was doing her a favor.
Their ruin had been a long time coming.
Loving her hadn’t.
It was too late to deviate away from either. The stage was set, the bait delivered, and panic was ensuing. The first part of what I needed to accomplish was almost done.
The promise I made to a girl to destroy her world would be fulfilled. Her family wouldn’t have a choice but to swear she’d be mine.
Life would go on and so would she, a little angry probably jaded and broken but that was for the best. One day she might even look back and thank me for all of this.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Time stood still for two whole days.
Despite my circumstance, I found being away from everything and nearly everyone brought a certain kind of peace to my chaotic, mess of a life. Of course, it was impossible to fully relax and simply breathe for a minute because I had no idea what Judas was planning and my whole life was more or less in shambles.
When time jumped ahead again, though, I wished things could’ve remained exactly as they were.
I would have endured that a hundred times over before having to go through what I did.
It started with us.
Judas had been with me the entire time, but his presence was always somewhere else in the house. He hadn’t touched me since we’d been here and that was enough to put me even more on edge. No matter what was going on or how toxic the situation, the two us ended up in bed together.
