The words hit me in the chest like a wrecking ball, and I struggle to drag in a breath.
She’s been in here for twelve hours, and she’s already giving up. Not that I can blame her.
Escaping once was a miracle. She knows she won’t get so lucky a second time.
Unless…
I cut off the thought before it can spiral out of control. As badly as I want to help her, I can’t. Not without getting myself killed in the process.
That kind of betrayal is always met with death, and being family isn’t enough to protect me.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“Can you send Damon down?”
I flinch at the request. She hates him, can’t stand to look at him after how miserable he made her life in her later years of school, and yet she’d rather he question her than me?
“Why?” I ask, a glutton for punishment.
“Because at least he won’t pretend to give a shit.”
The answer hits me right in the chest. Doesn’t she get it? Doesn’t she realize that even after all these years, she’s the love of my fucking life? That once her soul leaves the mortal plain, I’ll be alone until death takes me as well?
But no matter how hard I try, I can’t find my words.
All I can do is stare at her back as sleep drags her under again.
I don’t do as she asked, though.
Instead, I continue to watch her sleep, soaking in every second I have with her, even if she’d rather be with anyone but me right now.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHLOE
THEN
TEN YEARS AGO
The sound of screams is becoming my new normal.
Dad’s.
Mom’s.
My own.
They all blend together in a symphony fit for the hell we’ve landed ourselves in.
A fist strikes at the side of my face, pulling a broken sob from my chest.
Agony is a permanent state now, and more than once I’ve found myself craving death.
I want to be strong. For myself and for my baby, but everything feels so hopeless.
Damon has been absent, leaving Salvatore’s most trusted men to do whatever they want to us.
Where Mom and I were off-limits yesterday, today we’re fair game, and I have the blood and bruises to prove it.
