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But he wasn’t one to shove around anymore. Gone was the bony, awkward kid I'd pushed around and clocked a few times under the guise of a wrestling match. The asshole had been working out. He was built now…and savage.
But he didn't react, never even lifted his hands as the entire classroom turned quiet. Instead, those piercing blue eyes just carved through me like a blade, then lowered to my fists.
“You’re unraveling, Salvatore,” the bastard said coldly, sliding that menacing gaze to mine once more, and for the first time in my life a shudder of fear coursed through me. “You’re splitting at the edges, coming apart at the seams.”
“Fin,” Max urged behind me.
Hard breaths were consuming me. Still, Lazarus just held my stare, that smothered flicker of amusement shining through. I just shoved the bastard, but he didn’t stumble as much as I wanted, barely even moved. Max’s hand settled on my shoulder. I jerked my arm, shrugging off the connection.
Coming apart at the seams…the words stayed with me. Even Bernardi was watching me as I strode from the room and made my way down the stairs to the empty, echoing foyer. “Where the fuck are you, Anna?” I whispered under my breath.
Shadows shifted behind me as Max and Pavlov followed. But I just couldn’t handle their protection…not right now. I waved them behind, the command desperate. Space, I needed goddamn space. I needed to think and to breathe and to find out…why the fuck she’s really here.
I left the building, making my way out. Maybe I just needed to go to the gym? Pump some weights, work the bag, get some of this tension out of me. I shoved my fists into my pockets and left, making my way back toward my building as a soft bark of laughter was snatched by the wind.
Laughter that sounded all too familiar.
Laughter that came from Anna.
I jerked my gaze toward the sound as she ran around the corner with her new best friend and disappeared. They were playing hooky…on their second day here. A sting of pissed-off frustration lashed like a whip inside me.This place cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a few fucking classes and countless opportunities, and they’rejust skipping?
“Just like that, huh?” I ground my teeth, left my damn shadows behind…and followed.
16
Anna
“Kat,” I stumbled as we tore around the building, running headlong to I didn’t know where. “What the hell are we doing?”
She whipped her gaze over her shoulder to meet mine. Her eyes sparkled and her red hair lashed her face. “Helping you find your demon, silly…so you can kick him where it hurts.”
She laughed as we ran, and for a second, those shadows that’d haunted her gaze all morning disappeared. I'd tried to ask her what was bothering her, tried to pry out the truth. But the woman avoided my questions like a hedge fund avoiding the SEC.
“Class has already started,” I groaned, but still letting her pull me forward as we raced along the pathway and toward a low building.
“You’resupposedto be rebellious, Anna,” she laughed. “It’s what the rich are, right? Rebellious, with zero fucks given.”
Being rebellious was one thing, but I was here for a reason and it wasn’t to skip classes. Especially classes that might have a contact waiting for me to appear. “Kat…”
“Iloveit when you say my name like that,” she moaned.
We cut through a garden filled with lush green ferns and past the glass wall of a building. I scanned the rooms as we passed, catching the blur of what looked like a hospital bed. Someone lay in the bed. He lifted his head, catching our movement and in that second, our gazes connected.
Baldeon.
His brows furrowed and his lips parted. But then I was gone, tearing past with the wave of my hand. He winced, then lifted his hand in return. And for a second, I thought I knew him, like I knew this life and these people…like I really belonged.
“Come on,’” Kat called, charging forward, head down, as we rounded the end of Building One, until the far side of the island opened up.
Only one building stood separate from the others and instantly, I knew…it washis.
I lifted my gaze to the tinted glass windows and the cold concrete walls. This building was smaller than the others, a mere three stories high. It was a statement, one that said: exclusive.
This was a guest that never shared andalwaysstood separate from everyone else.
Untouchable, even. The thought of that made my heart race. I’d seen Finley with women before, watched as he strolled through those hallways dressed to perfection, his hand discreetly placed on the small of their backs.
Yes, I’d watched him from the shadows and each time that ache in my chest grew stronger…a savage pain.
