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I’m about to speak when the door opens. Henri strolls in like a man on a mission, coming right to me. I jump to my feet as he pulls me into his embrace.
“Thank fucking god you’re safe.”
I don’t realize I’m crying until he wipes my cheeks.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here.”
Luca clears his throat. “I’ll give the two of you some privacy.” To Henri, he says, “Remember our agreement.”
Henri nods, though he is so tense that a vein pops out on his neck.
When the door closes, I ask, “What agreement?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now. Let me look at you.”
He leads me to the window, where I feel the sunlight on my skin for the first time in longer than I can remember.
“Is he going to kill me? Is that why you’re here?”
“What? No!” He pulls me into his embrace. “I’m not sure what’s on his mind. He reached out to me and said he wanted me to come over today. That we need to talk once I’ve seen you.”
“And the agreement?”
“That I won’t try to blow his fucking face off the moment I see him.”
I snort. “He must get that a lot.”
“How has he treated you?”
My cheeks feel warm. How on earth do I tell Henri about what we’ve been doing? Will he be mad? I decide to go with the truth. They are cousins, and he might know if I’m lying the same way Luca knows.
“Things were rough at first. Scary. I thought I was going to die every day.”
“And now?”
“Things have changed.” I bite my bottom lip. “We’ve been spending time together. At night.”
“I see.”
I reach for him. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t protect you from him.”
“Henri, you did your best.”
“But it wasn’t enough, was it?” He sighs. “I’m just glad that you’re alive. I’ve been worried sick and when he called, I thought the worst. But something has changed with him.”
“What do you mean?”
He motions for me to sit on the couch, and so I do.
“You know there have been others before you, right?”
I nod.
“In the past, we’d have the hunt. If Luca won, he’d take his prize back here, fuck them and then kill them in that order every single time. There was no going back for seconds, and he certainly didn’t let them out of the cage.”
My chest is tight. “What do you think that means?”
