I did ask if Chloe could postpone the birth. Just push it back by a month or two.
She stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
Perhaps I have. That might explain why Neo is able to crawl under my skin with such ease. Or maybe this is a bigger task than I thought it would be; coping on my own without my PA.
Maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.
I rub at my eyes and then pull my laptop open, staring at the blank screen. With my luck, it’s broken. Neo got into my computer once before. I wonder if he’s done it again.
Knowing the work that’s awaiting me, I’d consider it a favor.
I press my fingertip to the corner button, and the laptop flashes to life.
I sigh, wiggling the mouse around the screen, the monitor the only real light in the room. It’s a big space, one that almost seems cavernous and lonely. The walls are lined with heavy mahogany shelves, and framed maps of St. Dismas cling to the walls.
My brothers probably think this is my taste. Truth is, it’s not. I don’t know what my taste evenis.I’ve never lived alone. I went from here to the college dorms, then back here. My position as the heir meant I wasn’t allowed the same freedoms my younger siblings enjoyed.
The freedoms I ensured they had.
No, everything in this mausoleum is my father’s design. I’ve never bothered to change anything.
Perhaps when enough time has passed, I’ll feel up to the task. I don’t want to do it too soon, or he may think I’m weak.
My breath catches at that thought. My fist clenches on the desk. Why the fuck can’t I move on and be my own person?
It’s not like he’ll even know. He’s dead.
He can’t hurt you now.
I clear my throat, rubbing at my chest. Annoyance pricks at me even as panic starts to rise. I should be stronger than this. Iamstronger than this. There’s nothing wrong with my breathing. Nothing. I will make it so.
I will not be weak.
I will not allow him to make me weak.
Not again.
My spiral ceases abruptly when I spy movement in my peripheral vision. I tense, my gaze fixing on the darkened corner of the room.
My hand flicks to the knife in my desk drawer, and I clasp it tightly, staring at the shadow that shifts behind a potted plant.
It sways in the current of a breeze. What the fuck is it? Or rather, who?
I still, studying the shadows. Whoever it is, they’re going to regretbreaking into my home. The place where almost everyone I care about resides.
Fury roars through me, the monster stirring beneath my skin. If they think I’ll take this insult lying down, they’re in for a shock.
I stand up from my chair silently, wanting to sink this knife into someone. To appease the monster, to take the edge off since that spitfire arrived in my life. He’s upturned it, and I want to play.
I might not unleash my monster with Neo, but this fucker?
I’ll let it tear them to shreds.
My feet pad over the old Persian rug as I slink to the corner of the room, making sure not to breathe. My eyes don’t blink, sting, or water. Everything I’ve trained for comes into play.
It’s too dark to see who or what it is. That doesn’t matter. I don’t need light to kill someone.
Father made sure of that.
