I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine, the kind I kept around for nights exactly like this.
A knock at my door made me jump.
Through the peephole, I saw a man in a dark suit. One of the Donati drivers I recognized from the club.
I opened the door but kept the chain latched.
"Ms. Halloway." He held up my car keys. "Mr. Graves asked me to return this."
"Thank you." I unlatched the chain and took the key from him.
He nodded once and disappeared down the hallway without another word.
I locked the door again and leaned against it, staring at the key in my hand. Such a small thing, but it represented how tangled my life had become with theirs. Elena's connection to the Donatis had pulled me into their orbit, and now Eric had anchored me there.
I was already in this even without Eric, but his presence in my life would only make the target on my back bigger.
But it also gave me a chance at something good. Even if he lied about who he was, hid it from me, I found it hard to believe his kisses, his soft touches, his need to care for me, were all untrue as well. He'd been the exact same for those seven months we were together all those years ago.
That had to be real.
I carried the glass of wine to my bedroom, taking another gulp of it before setting it on the nightstand and crawling under the covers.
This was so much more than I'd bargained for. I'd always been rough around the edges, wild, the kind of girl who didn't play by anyone's rules. But I danced on the edges of danger, never fully submerged myself in it.
This was different. Eric wasn't some small-time player. He was high up in an international crime family, someone who made decisions that affected territories and alliances. Being with him wouldn't just mean accepting his dangerous job and a target on my back. It meant long nights, meetings, time apart, and who knows what else.
I thought about Elena and Jackson, about Sofia and Grayson, about Meredith and Leo. They'd all found a way to make it work. But they were stronger than me, weren't they? More capable of handling the darkness that came with loving someone in that world.
My eyes grew heavy as I finished the wine. Sleep pulled at me, dragging me down into dreams where Eric called me his princess, where he promised to make me his queen. His hands on my skin, his voice in my ear, telling me I was his, only his.
In the dream, I believed him.
Afternoon light stabbed through my curtains, forcing me awake. I groaned and rolled over, grabbing my phone from where I'd left it charging.
Three messages waited for me, along with the time of past three in the afternoon. The nights I worked late always had me sleeping most of the day away, but last night had just been the headache of it all that made me refuse to leave my bed.
I opened up the messages.
Elena: You okay? Call me if you need anything.
Sofia: Checking in. No pressure, just wanted to make sure you're alright.
Meredith: Hope you got some rest. We're here if you need us.
I typed out similar responses to all three, thanking them and saying I needed some time to myself today. They'd understand. They all knew what it was like to sort through impossible choices.
But there was no message from Eric. Sure, I'd told him I needed space, but I was a little hurt at the lack of a message from him.
But it was also what I asked for, right?
My apartment felt suffocating. I needed to get out, clear my head somewhere that didn't smell like Eric's cologne or remind me of last night's emotional tornado.
Lunch sounded good. Or was it dinner? Who cared. Honestly, cocktails sounded even better, because if there was ever a situation that called for day drinking, this was it.
I thought about asking Elena to join me, but I couldn't. She was too close to all of this now, too embedded in the criminal world through Jackson. I needed to think outside of that sphere, away from the pull of the families and their complicated webs.
I needed to figure this out alone.
