Kayla freezes instantly, eyes glassy, body going still.
Fury roars up inside me. I launch myself at Vittoria.
She doesn’t expect it.
My fist connects with her jaw, snapping her head to the side. Pain explodes up my arm, but I don’t stop. I hit her again, then again, driving her back into the wall. She snarls, blood slick on her lips now, surprise flashing across her face.
“You stupid girl?—”
She claws at me with her talon-like nails. They slash across my cheek, blood spraying. I barely have time to react when she punches me from the other side, sending me sprawling across the floor. Stars burst behind my eyes. She’s on me in a second, knee in my chest, hands wrapping around my throat.
“It’s time someone taught you a lesson. It’s long overdue,” she says. “Being Lucian’s newest toy doesn’t make you untouchable.”
I grab her wrists, twisting, forcing her balance off just enough to knee her hard in the ribs. She grunts, and I use the momentum to hurl her off me.
I don’t care anymore.
I’m going to kill her.
I surge up the same time she does. Fangs out, every violent instinct inside me screams, and I lunge for her again?—
But I’m stopped abruptly with a firm grip on the back of my neck. I’m ripped mid-air and thrown backward.
The force is brutal, sudden, when I slam into the opposite wall with a bone-rattling crack. My vision swims, drywallcrumbling around me. It takes me a second, but when I’m able to climb to my feet again, I see Lucian standing there between us, eyes glowing, fury radiating off him in lethal waves.
“Enough,” he growls.
My breath comes fast and wild. My entire body is shaking. Kayla sobs softly from the bed.
And for the first time, Vittoria looks…uncertain.
I swallow hard, chest heaving, trying to catch my breath, but all I can feel is the storm inside me. Kayla…alive. A vampire. And all this time, Lucianknew. Hehad to know. My stomach twists into a sick, furious knot.
He steps forward slightly, trying to block my view, trying to calm the chaos, and my blood boils hotter. “I…didn’t?—”
I don’t let him finish. “Don’t lie to me!” I shout, voice raw, echoing off the walls. “All this time, you let her be turned, let me search for her, make me think she was dead!”
His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t respond and his silence says everything I need to know.
My pulse hammers in my ears. I glance at Vittoria, who is grinning with fangs out, and it only enrages me more.
“I’m tired of this, Lucian. I amnotyour Nell! I refuse to be manipulated and controlled. I amme! I will never be her!”
Lucian freezes, confusion and horror flashing across his face. “Monty, I?—”
“No! You don’t get to say anything! You’ve done this before. You did it with Nell. You molded her to your will. You made her everything you wanted her to be. And I…I see it now. You used Kayla to keep me tied to you. I see exactly what you are, what you’ve done, and what youdo. And I won’t be a part of it.”
I step back, my legs shaking. He looks at me, and the confirmation in his eyes makes me sick. He knows I know. He knows…
Hooking a finger under the collar, I rip it off with one swift tug and chuck it at his feet. “I’m done, Lucy—Lucian,” I whisper. “Master or not, I’m done with whateverthisis.”
When I turn away, he doesn’t follow. Kayla doesn’t move either, and both facts sting sharper than the healing cuts Vittoria left across my face.
It’s time for me to face the bitter truth that Santiago was right.
None of this with Lucian was real.
None of it.
