“Because he can, and if he thinks you belong to him, then that’s what he does,” Bo said quietly, not interrupting so much as grounding the moment. His voice was steady in a way that made it impossible to ignore.
“He learns everything, your habits, your routines, every corner of your life, but it’s your weaknesses he pays the most attention to, so he knows exactly where to exploit them.” Hearing this hit harder than anything else, as half of me didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to believe this cutthroat account of the man I had fallen for. But then, my gaze dropped back to the pages, and that half of me was getting harder to deny as the proof was staring back at me.
Pages that revealed more names, more details, people I hadn’t spoken to in years, friends, old colleagues, even things that felt too small to matter. It was all there. My simple, mortal life in a nutshell. If anything, it just made me feel small andunworthy for a man like Wye. It made me feel as if I had been played with. Like I was just another possession of his, and he therefore had a right to know all of these things about me.
“This is insane,” I said, though there was far less certainty in it now. My pulse beginning to pick up in a way that made it difficult to focus.
“Why would he do this?” I asked, but the question sounded weak even to my own ears. But I couldn’t help it, as there was still that instinct to make sense of it, to justify it, and reshape it into something that didn’t feel quite so invasive.
And Bo didn’t miss it.
“Enforcers always have a reason,” he said, his tone steady, though there was something sharper beneath it now. Something that pressed just enough to make even more doubt take root.
“The question is whether it’s a reason that keeps you safe, or one that keeps you contained.” The word ‘contained’ settled heavily in my chest. In an uncomfortable way I couldn’t ignore. My fingers loosened slightly on the pages before tightening again as my gaze drifted back, not to my name this time, but to theirs.
My family.
“If he knows about them…” I said quietly, the thought forming before I could stop it, my throat tightening as I swallowed against it.
“Then what if they’re not safe?” The words lingered between us, heavier than anything else that had been said, but thankfully, the silence didn’t last.
Bo exhaled slowly, before telling me,
“If he wanted to hurt them, Eliza, he would have already done it,” his tone was measured as if each word had been said carefully.
“That’s not what this is.”
My brows drew together slightly at that, my grip tightening on the pages as I searched his expression for something that might contradict it, but there was nothing there.
“They’re not part of this unless you make them part of it,” he continued, quieter now, though the weight of it only seemed to increase.
“The only risk to them comes from you pulling them into something they don’t understand or going to them thinking they can protect you from it.” That made something in my chest twist painfully.
Because I had thought about it, even if only for a second. I had thought about how badly I wanted to go home, to feel protected, and to surround myself with the comfort I so desperately needed right now.
“You need distance,” he added, his voice firm now, though not unkind.
“The more removed you are from them, the less reason he has to even look in their direction.” The truth of his words took root, wrapped themselves around my heart, and squeezed.
“And me? Do you think he would ever… You know… hurt me?” I hated myself for even feeling the need to ask that question, but right now, I honestly didn’t know what to think.
“Hurting you isn’t the point,” he answered, making me frown. The words landed softer than I expected, though they still stung.
“Then what is?” I asked, my voice quieter now, though I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer anymore. However, Bo’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Keeping you,” he said simply, and something in my chest stuttered at that, my breath catching before I could stop it. I started, shaking my head almost immediately, the denial instinctive, automatic even.
“He’s already decided what you are to him,” Bo cut in, not harshly, but firmly enough that the words didn’t just pass by.
“He thinks I’m his Siren,” I said, the words coming out slow, as though saying them out loud might anchor something that was already beginning to drift.
“That’s why this is happening. That’s why he’s…” I hesitated, my brows pulling together slightly as I searched for the right word, though none of them quite fit anymore.
“Why he’s like this with me.” Bo’s reaction was immediate. A short, sharp breath of disbelief that almost bordered on a quiet laugh, though there was no real amusement in it.
“Sirens aren’t something you just stumble across,” he said, shaking his head slightly as his gaze held mine.
“They haven’t been found, Eliza. You don’t think that if they had, every Enforcer out there wouldn’t be hunting them down by now?”
