Another man stepped inside, and my blood froze in my veins at the sight of him. I knew that face. I’d seen it in the photos on Cal's phone.
Roman Valcourt.
“Hello, Violet,” he said, stepping closer. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a very long time. I’m—”
“Roman Valcourt,” I said in a low voice.
He blinked. “You know who I am.”
“Of course I do,” I said, chest heaving with barely contained fear and fury. “You murdered my sister, you piece of shit.”
He stared at me for a moment, eyes flashing with something I couldn’t quite read. “Oh,” he finally said.
That was all. Just ‘Oh’, as if pushing my sister off a three-hundred-foot tower was no big deal. As if her death was just an unfortunate detail to be briefly acknowledged and moved past.
Rage exploded through me, and I grabbed the knife off my dirty plate and leapt onto the bed, brandishing it in front of me. “Stay the fuck away from me,” I hissed. “Or I’ll kill you.”
Roman's gaze dropped to the knife, then back to my face. “With a butter knife?”
“Fuck you!” I shrieked, voice cracking. I looked up at the chandelier, hoping Julian had installed some sort of surveillance camera there so he could keep an eye on me even when he wasn’t around. “Julian! Help!Help me!”
I thought Roman would advance then. Knock the knife out of my hand and finish what he'd started with Cal. Silence me the way he'd silenced her. Instead, he just stared at me for a longmoment in silence, his gaze unwavering. Then he turned and stalked toward the door, letting it slam shut behind him.
Sothatwas why he’d come. Just to intimidate me. To let me know he could walk in whenever he felt like it and do whatever he wanted. To let me know the threat was always there, dangling over my head like an executioner’s ax.
I kept staring at the door for what felt like hours, body quaking as my heart hammered painfully hard. Before now, I’d figured Julian was the worst thing about this place. After all, he was the one who hunted me and brought me here against my will. But in the haze of that fear and confusion, I’d stupidly forgotten about Roman.
So now, I also had to worry abouthim. The man who killed my sister.
The knife finally slipped from my trembling fingers and clattered onto the floor. Then I sank down onto the bed, curling my knees up to my chest as my mind raced.
For the first time since all of this started… I almost wished Julian would come back.
27
Julian
“You fucking liar.”
I looked up at Roman as he walked into my study. “Whatever happened to ‘hello, how are you?’” I asked, brows rising.
“This isn’t a joke, Julian.” His voice was low, vibrating with anger as he stepped closer. “You lied to me.”
“About what?”
“I was just at the estate, and I decided to pay a visit to your Selection conquest,” he said, hands curling into fists at his sides. “So I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Shit.
This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. I hadn’t prepared Violet; had been giving her time and space to calm down before we talked. But now my brother had gone and blown everything out of the water.
I rose slowly from behind my desk, gaze steady. “You had no right to see her. She’s not yours.”
“I’m a junior council member, so I can go wherever the fuck I want, whenever I want,” he said, voice dripping with condescension. He paused, head tilting slightly. “You were supposed to watch Violet. Let us know if she was looking intowhat happened to Calista. And you told us multiple times that nothing was happening. You said she wasn’t a threat to the Club.”
“Yeah, I did say that,” I replied, rubbing my jaw.
“Well, guess what,bro? She knew exactly who I was when I stepped into that room,” he said, voice rising. “And guess what else? She fucking hates me. Started hurling accusations at me right away. Even threatened to kill me with her cutlery.”
