“I’m not sure exactly, but he seems to be questioning things a lot more. Questioning me. Testing me.”
“Oh no…” I gnaw on my bottom lip and his gaze focuses on the movement.
I tense.
“I want to help you leave here, Haven,” he says, “and I think the night of this party will be the best time to do it.”
“Emma is coming as well. I can’t leave her here.”
“It will be dangerous…”
“She knows. I told her.”
He heaves a sigh. “All right, as long as she knows.”
“Will you be coming with us?” The words leave my mouth before I can catch them. “Or will you be staying here?” I hate how desperate the question sounds.
He hesitates, and his brow creases. “I would like to come with you. If you do not mind, of course.”
“Y-Yes, you can. I’m not going to stop you.”
“I want to make sure you and Emma are safe,” he replies. “I don’t want to leave you alone again.”
His kindness warms me, but the memory of my father keeps a smile from surfacing on my face. I glance away as tears prickle my eyes. I don’t want him to see how upset Iget whenever thinking about my father. I don’t want him to see me upset at all.
“Haven…”
The concern in his tone squeezes my chest.
“Avrum, do you know how I came here? How I became his… prisoner?”
“You don’t have to—”
“No,” I stop him. “I know what I am. It’s not a secret anymore. But do you know how I came to be that?”
His voice softens. “No.”
Folding my arms over my chest, I walk to the window again. My words bring me back to that night again, the one where Henri invaded our home, threatened our lives, and ripped me away from the only person I had left in this cruel world. More tears threaten to spill over, but I blink them away. Instead, I focus on telling him the story of how I came to be trapped in Greystone Manor.
I don’t know why, but at the end, I feel more vulnerable than ever.
“He was going to kill your father. You went with him to save him,” Avrum concludes for me, so I don’t have to. “He lied to me about finding you, saving you. He’s lied about it all.”
“I love my father,” I tell him. “He is all I have left.”
“It’s why you keep trying to get back to him.”
I nod, and Avrum presses his lips together in thought.
More tears gather in my eyes as all the fear and grief rush forward.
He closes the distance between us and comes closer, until his body hovers only inches from mine. “I’m sorry…” he mutters as a hand comes up and caresses my arm tenderly. Even through the rose velvet material of my dress’s sleeves, my skin tingles under his touch.
I glance up at him. “I understand that seeing him now would be too dangerous,” I begin softly, “but could you?”
His hand falls away, frowning. “Could I…?”
“See him for me? Check on him? Make sure he’s okay.”
