Joseph smiled impishly. “It’s like it never happened.”
Say that to Nick, I thought.
“Serena came here next,” Robert said. “She used my fangs to make me go with her. She took control over my will, but I didn’t go without a fight.”
“Which explains the mess in the living room,” I said.
“Yes. But that was all I could manage.”
“What was it like being controlled by her?”
“Awful,” Robert said grimly. “Like being awake and asleep simultaneously.”
“Why did she go to the trouble of calling to taunt me about stealing you away?”
Robert shrugged. “She had to improvise, since she knew you’d look for me. She probably knew you’d go to the VGO with your concerns about my vanishing, if you didn’t think I’d left you for another woman.”
“Son of a bitch,” I spat, shaking my head. “That’sexactlywhat happened. I played into her hand.”
“Serena used my fangs to make me say those things to you, so you’d think we were over and move on.”
Robert hugged me tight and kissed me, which embarrassed our company. I didn’t care. Being back in his arms felt incredible.
“I was heartbroken,” I whispered into his chest.
“I’m so sorry for that,” Robert whispered back. “I couldn’t control myself. She made me do it. I’ll make her pay for what she’s done.”
Joseph cleared his throat, keeping us on track.
I stepped back from Robert. “Where did Serena take you? I figured wherever you were, it was far away.”
“You’re never going to believe it.”
“Antarctica? Brazil? Madagascar?”
It was Joseph who answered. “Arizona.”
26
Ifrowned. “Arizona-Arizona? Like Phoenix?”
“Why don’t you take over from here?” Robert asked Joseph.
They were all smiles now, like old pals. Shocking, as Robert both feared and loathed the VGO. He did once upon a time, at least. Now it seemed as if he was drinking their Kool-Aid.
Then again, perhaps I was being harsh in my assessment. Sure, the VGO had wanted to kill me once upon a time. But. They were reasonable enough to change their minds after I explained myself.
Joseph and I had also gotten friendly, and he’d behaved like a perfect gentleman at the wedding. He’d wasted no time getting to work on finding Robert, too, which I appreciated more than I could ever express. Having the world’s most powerful vampires as allies might not be such a bad thing.
Joseph said, “After you told me about Robert and Serena, Olivia, I went home to Scotland and shared the information with the rest of the VGO. As I mentioned on the night of the wedding, we’d been planning on removing Serena from her position of power for various reasons.”
“Because she’s a psycho bitch?” I spat, unable to stop myself.
Liz laughed. Serena had kidnapped my man and tormented me with her lies. I wasn’t sorry for what I’d said.
Joseph smiled. “Something like that. We were already suspicious of Serena, but we went on high alert when she inexplicably vanished. When you told me about what had happened with Robert, I was sure she was up to her usual scheming. Still, we didn’t know where to look for her. She keeps a home in France, but she’s far too cunning to hide out there, though it was the first place we looked.”
“Why did you look in Arizona? It’s so random,” I remarked.
