She’d believed in them and they’d intentionally misled her. Told her partial truths, and never given her enough of the past to refute it. It was easy to believe a lie when you only had one side of an argument. When you only had a bit of the facts. Too easy to paint someone as a scoundrel or villain. But she should have trusted her gut more.
Past behaviors were far better indicators of someone’s habits.A leopard doesn’t change its spots.She knew that adage well. Nick had never given her a reason to doubt his integrity. It was why she’d hesitated from the moment she met him. He’d never been anything other than a gentleman.
He lived his life with honor and code. Through and through. Unlike others, he wasn’t a liar or a cheat.
Deep down, she’d known where the truth was.
Just as she knew right now that something else wasn’t right. Cherise knew it, too.
All of this was wrong.
Nick wouldn’t stand her up. Not like this and not once they’d made plans. It wasn’t in him to be so thoughtless or selfish. Something else was going on.
Trust in what you know.
Nick wasn’t a scoundrel or a liar. He didn’t treat people like this. She had no reason to doubt him.
But the others …
She needed to find Caleb and Xev, and investigate what was really going on here. Nick was in trouble. Every part of her instinct told her that if they didn’t sort this out, it would be too late.
He’d be lost to them forever.
CHAPTER 11
Alone and abandoned, Nick wandered helplessly through the barren fields of the Broken Mind. Everything here was twisted and dark. Shadows lurked and attacked. All around. All the time. Out of the countless scary places he’d been and hundreds of enemies he’d faced, this was by far the worst.
The most insidious.
Because he never saw the attacks coming. They were random and violent. Every time he dropped his guard, something swooped in, out of nowhere to bring him low.
As he staggered through the dark, the shrieking winds were deafening and he felt so alone and isolated. He didn’t know how long he’d been here. It seemed as if eternity had passed as he fought to survive.
Cyprian had been right. No one knew the difference between the two of them. His son had taken his place and no one was the wiser. They really didn’t know the shadow from the truth.
I’m completely forgotten.
He didn’t matter to anyone. Not to his mom.
Not to Kody.
No one.
How could anyone be so deliberately blind? Did they want to be lied to? Or did they just not care?
I should just lie down and die. Really, why was he bothering? What did it matter at this point? He was so tired of the fight.
So tired of living.
I’m just a kid. If it sucks this bad at this age, why should I bother trying to make it to adulthood? It’ll only get worse.
He knew that for a fact. Wasn’t like he hadn’t seen the future and the mad nightmare that was waiting to swallow him whole.
Just like the beast rushing now to attack from the dark.
Shouting out, Nick swung at the hideous mass of a corpulent monster closest to him that was going for his throat. Its claws slashed as it tried to open his jugular and drain him dry. He had no idea why he didn’t let the creature have him.
Maybe it was sheer stubbornness at this point.
