He cleared his throat. “I did not lie about that. I suspected you were my Anna.”
“Why?” He’d watched me for years.Shudder.It meant that he’d seen me in the wild, making a fool of myself with my first boyfriend, Thomas. He’d watched me barely graduate high school and settle for a life so small that most of the world would never know I existed.
“Besides the fact that after you turned twenty-four, your scent became identical?” he said.
That had to be a coincidence. Or in his head. My scent, if anything, had mellowed out in my twenties. No more raw-onion, teenage-hormonal stink. “Yes. Besides me smelling less like a taco.”
“I saw her—in every movement of your hands, every smile you offered your intoxicated customers, and every roll of your eyes when your uncle allowed a disease-ridden rooster to prance upon your tables, defecating and cock-a-doodle-dooing.”
“Barney does not have a disease.” Though, he occasionally left behind a few rooster cookies. “But now you know I’m not Anna. Reincarnation doesn’t exist.”
“India would disagree.”
“Stark, I’m not her,” I said firmly. “I don’t make vampires cry when I walk into a room. I am not a martyr or selfless saint.”
“What if I said you were?”
He’d already admittedthat I wasn’t. Then again, Stark lied about everything. “I’d need proof.”
He rubbed his chin. “That would require trust.”
“I’m not the one with the problem in that department, mister pants on fire.”
He glanced down. “I fail to see what my jeans have to do with it, but youhavelied, too. You have also called for my execution on TikTok. I have weirdos with green hair stalking my mansion at this very moment.”
Oh, boohoo.“The hunter being hunted. How’s it feel?”
“Like DoorDash for vampires.” He licked his lips. “I was not complaining.”
“But you were just comp…never mind.” I sneered. “You’re the worst.”
“Worst. Best. It is all a matter of perspective; however, I am willing to tell you the truth about who you are—what you are—if you are willing to be truthful with me. What did you mean when you said ‘we lost our one chance’? What were you up to?”
This felt like a big trick. He had no intentions of building trust. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be inside a soundproof room. “You need to earnmytrust first. Not the other way around.”
“So you admit you are hiding something.”
“I admit nada, Mr. Vampire.”
“I will give you one chance to come clean with me, Masie,” he growled.
I felt a threat coming. “There you go. Building that trust.”
“You kissed another man.”
“After you kidnapped me! Drugged me! And made me think I was a vampire!” I yelled, coming unhinged.
“I was helping you!” he roared.
“I am not a child!” I roared back.
“You are mine.”
“I am mine,” I retorted.
“Very well.” He stood. “I gave you an opportunity to come clean of your own volition.” He walked over to the wall and pressed one of the black satin buttons. The cloth panel popped open.
“I’m not drinking any more of your vampire-brain smoothies, Stark,” I said, thinking there was a minifridge in there.
