My body shakes, not just from the glacial water but from his words, the look on his face, how it feels to be held by him, and from this first and only admission that his life has been anything but perfect.For the past five months, I’ve known nothing about this man.He’s remained an enigma—until now.
My heart sinks because I want him to be right.I want to know that I can take the advice he’s giving me and hold on to it, but I can’t.
“I’m not running from my past,” I tell him, my bottom lip trembling.“I’m running from my future.”
He stares at me, lips parted, and I’m about to tell him what awaits me, what my father has in store, the kind of man he really is, but then?—
“Hey!”Bastian’s cry cuts through the trees as he emerges breathless and sweating.“I’m getting too old for this shit,” he wheezes, placing his hand on the side of a tree.
The Beast lets me go.And I’m gutted.I feel like the lifeline has been pulled from my grasp—because he had me.Healmosthad me.
THIRTEEN
HAYAMI
PRESENT
It’swhen the drugs start to wear off that the reality of my current predicament kicks in.
Willa has made a pot of tea and found some biscuits, her effort at “settling us in.”The Beast is off setting up the security system that’s supposed to keep me safe from the nothingness that must be outside.Because who the fuck is going to find me whenIdon’t even know where we are?
“So, how long are we expected to stay here for?”I ask Willa, pulling my knees up to my chest.
“I’m not sure.Until it’s safe.”She holds the black mug with two hands like it’s a tiny fire keeping her warm.
“And how is my father intending to achieve this?By killing the entire Castro family and all their gang members?”I glare at Willa, who remains silent.“We both know what’s going down here.A gang war.”
Her grip tightens around her mug.
“Which is great if my father wins, but what if he doesn’t?”
“Hey, it won’t come to that.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“When has your father ever lost at anything?”Willa scoffs.“Besides, it’s not our place to be concerned about what’s going on with him and the Castros.What we need to focus on is keeping you safe, which is exactly why you’ve been sent here.”
It’s my turn to scoff.“Of course he has.I’m his prized possession.”
Willa’s face screws up in confusion, as if the tea is too hot, just as the Beast returns.His black T-shirt pulls against his enormous chest, the dark combat trousers snug around his waist.And that face.One half angelically beautiful, the other monstrously scarred—he’s a man of two halves.
He takes the tea that Willa hands him and scowls.I’m not sure why.Maybe this whole fucking set-up.I take a biscuit from the plate, avoiding Willa’s quizzical gaze.She didn’t know what I’d been talking about when I referred to my father looking after his investments.
What my father has been up to isn’t common knowledge amongst the staff.I’ve contemplated telling her.She’d understand.She might even help me.But the Hellhound?I’d been close to telling him once, the day of the fair, when he found himself dragging me from the water for the second time, but then the moment was lost.I’m not even sure what he’d make of it all.
I have this belief that everyone who works for my father must have some level of respect for him; otherwise, why work for a guy like him?Then again, whodoeslike their boss?Who works for someone just because they admire or respect them?Probably no one on this planet.Still, I can’t imagine being a Hellhound without some degree of loyalty to my father—or at least the Devall name.
Or maybe it’s not loyalty at all.Maybe it’s just fear.Maybe everyone around him operates out of sheer terror at what will happen if they don’t.
“Where the hell did you get tea and biscuits from?”I ask, eyeing the digestive, trying to distract myself from my thoughts.
“Markus mentioned something about a local store down in the town.He called ahead and got the owner to come up and stock the house with the essentials.Apparently, the store used to do it when your dad used this house for his holidays.It’s just tea, coffee, eggs, milk, and bread by the looks of things.”
“How long, then, before we need to start eating each other?”I quirk a brow.
Willa flips me an exasperated look.
“I’m kidding.We aren’t going to be here that long, are we?”
