It was probably perfect for them. Cut the head and work your way down, then dive in for the taking with what’s left behind.
I just couldn’t believe that we couldn’t even get a glimpse of them, except for when they wanted us to see them. That was it, part of the fucking game again.
We’d only see them when it was time to play.
I got back in the early hours of the morning and slept in the chair next to Amelia. I didn’t get in the bed because I didn’t want to wake her. She needed her sleep. She needed to rest, and she’d definitely looked exhausted yesterday.
I hated that Tag got up in her face the way he did, and I hated the things he said to her. But she took it. She stood bold and faced him.
I was proud of her.
I woke up before her and walked over to her dressing table, where I noticed she’d taken out some of her stuff from the past and set them on the top. There was a pair of ballet shoes. Satin pink Bloch pointe shoes with pink ribbons attached to them. Next to that was a button that saidMade at Julliard. It was one of those quirky little buttons people collected.
My heart sank when my gaze landed on a few pictures of her. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen, but damn, she looked like she was made to dance. The picture was of her dressed in a white tutu with diamantes on the bodice inserted into the pattern and a headband made with white feathers. I think this must have been her in Swan Lake. She’d told me about this. I remembered how her face had lit up as she spoke.
She looked so different. Beautiful, very beautiful, and I could immediately see that if we’d known each other back then, I would have been in trouble because I would have pursued her and gotten my head blown off if Raphael had caught me.
It was such a shame that she never got to live her dream. So much talent gone to waste, but maybe I could salvage that somehow. If it was possible, I would do it.
I would do it in a heartbeat.
I picked up the ballet shoes again and smiled, imagining her wearing them.
“I don’t think those would fit you. You could try them though.” Her voice pierced through the silence that had settled over the room.
I turned to see her sitting up in bed. Her hair was braided to the side in one of those complicated patterns, and she wore one of those camisole tops that drove me insane.
“I won’t damage them.” I chuckled, setting the shoes back. I moved to her and looked her in her eyes.
Warm honey came to my mind, but the troubled look that lurked in them gave me the answer to my question from yesterday. I knew she wouldn’t want to run away with me.
Thinking back now, it was foolish of me to suggest it because we weren’t dealing with people who didn’t know what they were doing.
We were dealing with people with the know-how to do anything and get dirt on you, you thought was shelved.
Meeting Tag, I more than ever wanted to know how he’d found out about what Raphael had done. It took me back to my theory that it was by accident. I’d always thought it was an accident somehow, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“I was looking through some stuff last night. You were gone for so long.”
“I’m sorry, and I’m sorry I flipped out. I shouldn’t have lost it like that the other night, and I’ve been this irrational bastard ever since.”
“It’s okay. Luc…” She brought her hands together, and I knew she was gearing up to tell me she wanted to stay.
I reached out to take her delicate hands and held them up to my lips to kiss her knuckles. “I know, goddess. You don’t want to run.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to run away with you. It sounds so romantic. But we don’t know how long this will take. We don’t know if running may make things worse, and I doubt we could just do that. You guys seem really good at what you do, but I noticed that Tag and his people seem to appear when they want us to see them.”
Woman after my own heart. “My thoughts exactly.”
“You aren’t mad at me?”
I shook my head. “No, goddess. I’m more annoyed at myself because I didn’t think this through. It’s kind of crazy too that every single plan we’ve come up with over the last few days has been nullified.” It was everything. The plan to get the diamonds, the plan to hunt, the plan to leave.
“I know. It’s because they want us in this game of theirs. Tag’s plan. I get it though. The whole thing about blood for blood. My father took away everything from him, and he wants revenge. It’s as simple as that. I just don’t want to run anymore, and this time if I ran, I’d be looking over my shoulder. We could never really be happy.”
“I know.” That was true. We’d always be looking and waiting for someone to find us. It would be no way to live.
“I can’t leave my father either. I can see it now. They’d find out we left and kill him straight away. I know he’s done so much wrong, but he’s my father. Luc, he’s my father, and he’s dying. For my own peace of mind, I can’t leave him.”
