“I found her phone, and a video recorded the whole thing. I know she went into those woods, and it recorded you later that night. Where is she!” Viv’s chest heaved and sweat dripped from her brow. She wasn’t even wearing any makeup, which wasn’t like her.
“Give it to me,” Derek seethed.
“You think I brought it with me?” She smirked. “I gave it to your sergeant. He watched the whole thing.”
“I didn’t find her in those woods!”
“You’re lying! I know what goes on in this house. Mar may have kept her secrets, but I grew up with a shitty-ass mother and know what it’s like to live with someone like you.”
“Fuck you!” He slammed the door. It creaked as it hit Viv’s boot, not even making a dent in her steel toe.
Amaris closed her eyes.What kind of nightmare is this?She wanted to wake up and didn’t care if it was in that cell, the mystique tower, or that uncomfortable bed. She needed to be rid of this dream.
Derek shoved the door against the wall, drawing his gun and aiming the barrel at Viv’s head. “You don’t deserve to live,” Derek spewed, his hateful words ringing through Amaris’s ears. It wasn’t him. “You’re nothing.”
Viv fought back, her fists balling at her sides. She stepped over the threshold, pressing her forehead against the gun. “Do it,” she raged, lightning arcing across her eyes.
§
Amaris curled intoa ball, forcing herself not to close her eyes but to stare at the last dying embers of the fire as her nightmare flickered behind her eyelids. Her back was still slick with sweat and tears clung to her cheeks. Derek and Theodoric’s voices jumped in tandem in her head.
Does he hit you?
You’re nothing.
After her fight with Theodoric, she’d run to her room to find it locked, forgetting she’d escaped through the window. She stumbled to the mystique tower, where she’d thrown herself onto the cot and fought through the night against the nightmare severing her existence.
The tower door opened, and a pair of footsteps crossed the room. They stopped at one of the chairs seated across from her. Theodoric’s shallow sigh threatened to send her spiraling. She refused to meet his gaze, but her tear-stricken face was laid bare for him to see.
Her heart ached, shredding in two as the perfect image of her future disintegrated behind her eyes. Derek hit her. The one man she’d trusted with everything in her lifehither. Her mind sought to show her by conjuring up the worst-case imaginable—Derek threatening Viv.
“Amaris,” Theodoric began.
I don’t want to talk.She turned her head toward the far wall. Not about last night, about Derek, her life. She was done.
“I only want to help.” His stern voice was gone, replaced by the voice of that small boy who’d kneeled before her in the hallway.
“I didn’t ask for it,” she snipped.
“I can’t entirely help myself,” he breathed, attempting what he could at peace.
But I don’t want peace.
Amaris sat up, whipping her braid over her shoulder as she glared at him with swollen eyes and snot dripping down her nose. “Then, you better learn to.” Her world had imploded. The one person in her life who loved her struck her. Every fight spun through her mind, every insult, andevery flinch at the wave of his hand.
“Do you wish to not be protected? Should I let you try another escape attempt?”
“You’re the reason I’m here in the first place!” she shouted.
He slid his hand down his face. “You’re insufferable at times, you know that?”
“I’minsufferable!” Fiery rage simmered below her skin. “Why don’t you take a good look in the mirror, buddy? You’re the one who’s demanding, controlling, and can’t seem to keep his nose out of other people’s business!” Amaris ground her teeth, scrunching her lips together. “If you would have let me run—”
“I apologize for how I treated you when we first met, for bringing you here, and not listening to you, but I won’t apologize for last night. You would’ve been caught if it wasn’t for me.”
Amaris stood, frustration, fear, anger, everything fueling her movements as she jabbed her finger at him. “You owe me a huge apology for last night.” She narrowed her eyes into thin slits. “You were out of line.”
He stood from the chair. He was huge, almost a foot taller than her. Burly shoulders and strong hands. Her body wanted to cower, but she forced herself not to tremble. He stepped closer until her nail pressed against his chest. His hand encircled her finger.
