Her eyes sparkled with tears, giving her a vulnerability that I wanted to taint. “So, you want me but can’t because you consider yourself a what...a monster? Someone who’d ruin me?” She read my thoughts perfectly.
“Yes.”
She looked confused for a moment. “Don’t you think I should be making that decision for myself?”
“No.” I’d said my fill, I should walk away right now. My feet, however, felt like someone had just poured hot lead over them, they refused to budge.
And I knew it was too late, the second her brow crested into a frown, her eyes swimming in contemplation. “Wait. What first night, Sebastian?”
“The night of the ritual,” I muttered angry with myself for keeping it from her for so long.
“How do you know about that,” she snapped. “Wait. Did dad tell you?”
Slowly, I shook my head, willing her to put two and two together. “Because I was there.”
“There? As in the ritual? I had a mask on, how...” she trailed off as recognition dawned. “Oh, my God.” She slapped a hand to her mouth, her tears falling quickly. “You’re him. The man in the grey mask,” her words were soft, brimming with disbelief. “You made me do all those things,” she accused, “and you chased me away, made my mother treat me like shit,” she sobbed, clutching her chest. “Made me think I wasn’t good enough. That I was ugly,” her yell bounced off the wall.
“Levana,” I took a step closer, my heart clenching for the pain I caused her. “I didn’t mean—”
“Save it,” she gritted. “You know.” She took a step closer. “Law of polarity says if you’re always overly nice to someone, you’re only going to attract people who are overly awful to you. And you, Mr Sinclair, are a dreadful person.” Venom dripped from her words. “All this time you were here, you didn’t say a word. Was hurting me some sick joke to you that night?” I took another step forward and this time she stepped back. “I hate you, Saint. I think it’s time you left,” her words were quiet yet no less forceful.
What the fuck.
I backtracked for a second. She’d just called me Saint. That knocked the wind out of my sails. No one outside the brotherhood used that name.
Sighing, I cupped the back of my head tugging my hair, indecision kicking my arse as I gazed at her, desperate to stay. Then I turned and walked out. On the landing, I stared at her closed door, consciously aware that I should’ve heeded my own warning that if I kept spending time around this girl, I was likely to let it get too far. After the night of the ritual, I didn’t think I could hurt her more. I was wrong, it seemed.
Downstairs, I took a moment to breathe air into my stifled lungs before seeking out her father and concocting some lie, I hoped he’d believe. If that wasn’t enough to alleviate my frustration, I still had those cufflinks. Maybe not, maybe they were right where they belonged. I would’ve found them eventually, but Levana did that for me.
Chapter 22 - Levana
Don’t you dare, Lee.I warned myself.
Over the month it took me get over the night of the ritual, I’d shed enough tears for Saint. And just when I found myself again, he comes waltzing back into my life.
“You’re not going through that torment again.”
