Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
Ivy
I roll around and look at Cora’s little sleep-drunk face as the morning sunlight trickles in from the window in the back. She slept well in her own little bed. I’m surprised. She normally hates to fall asleep without me. But maybe this slight change in surroundings has done her good.
I mean, she loved splashing in the bath last night. Not to mention these beds. God, they feel so nice compared to our own. And I bet that’s part of the reason she slept like a log.
Sweet girl. I just hope being here won’t destroy her. She’s far too young to witness the things those boys do in the name of …
What, exactly?
Why did they save me?
I mull it over for a second. They already got everything they wanted out of me, and now my secret’s out in the open too. I always assumed they’d laugh the moment they found out about Cora, but the dead-serious looks on their faces caught me off guard.
Even Silas and Heath were adamant about bringing me here despite the fact they’ve been the ones trying to punish me the most.
And then there’s that kiss Silas gave me in my bathroom, the one that completely stole my breath away … and made me yearn for more.
I swallow and turn on my back to stare at the ceiling, trying to decipher my own feelings, but it’s only growing muddier inside my mind.
Suddenly, my phone buzzes, and I pick it up from the cabinet beside the bed.
Psycho: Come downstairs.
How chivalrous. Maybe I really did read too much into that kiss after all.
Me: Good morning to you too.
Psycho: No.
Me: Didn’t sleep well?
Psycho: I didn’t. At all.
Oh wow. No sleep for the wicked, eh?
Me: That’s bad.
Psycho: It’s time for breakfast.
Me: And?
Psycho: Come here. Now.
Me: Ask. Nicely.
Psycho: Do you want me to come and drag you out of there? Because I will, and I will definitely use your nipples as handles.
I snort at the insolence, yet my clit just thrummed at the mere thought blinking in and out of my head.
Me: Just one day, and you’re already treating me as your servant.
Psycho: If I wanted a servant, I’d beckon any girl on campus and they’d come. Willingly.
My eyes twitch at the thought.
Me: Don’t even try.
Psycho: Getting jealous now?
My jaw drops at Silas’s arrogance.
Me: You wish.
Psycho: If you wanted me to yourself, all you had to do was ask.
Me: Stfu
Psycho: Ask. Nicely.
My fingers nearly break the phone.
Me: Just because we have a deal does not mean you get to tell me what to do and where to go.
Psycho: You didn’t just give me your body, thief, you gave me your soul for as long as I fucking want it in exchange for that money, and I intend to take fucking good care of it. Now come.
I groan and roll my eyes.
Silas fucking Rivera, taking care of my soul? That’s rich.
Still, I get up and walk up to Cora. She’s still sleeping, and I don’t want to be the one to wake her up. I grab my phone again.
Me: Cora’s still sleeping.
Psycho: Let her sleep, then.
Me: What if she’s hungry?
Psycho: The kitchen doesn’t close after an hour, twig. Come downstairs. Now. I won’t say it again.
Jesus, why is he so adamant?
I open the closet and grab whatever is in there. A white T-shirt and a pair of leggings that fit surprisingly well, along with some slippers. Perfect.
I head downstairs and look around, letting my nose guide me to breakfast. My mouth is already watering at the smell, but the second I find all the food out on the table in the back of the dining room, I’m frozen to the floor. There’s so much of it. The entire table is covered with fresh bread, fruits, cured meats, milk, expensive cereals, crispy bacon and eggs, rich coffee, all types of cheeses, and delicious-looking pancakes stacked up high with that amazing maple syrup on top.
Holy shit.
Silas is at the head of the table, staring me down.
“Sit.”
I grab one of the chairs and sit opposite of him.
“Did you sleep well?” he asks.
I nod. “It’s a … soft bed.”
“I’m happy.”
I frown. “Are you?”
He clenches the chair. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Do you even know what it feels like to be happy?”
He tilts his head, smirking. “I’m learning quickly.” His eyes scatter across the table. “Grab some food.”
I cross my arms. “I’m not hungry.”
His eyes narrow. “I didn’t ask. Grab. The. Food.”
I narrow my eyes too now.
Is this some kind of game to him? Trying to make me bow just for saving me?
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but if you think you can just command me around because you saved me, you’re wrong.”
“What I’m trying to do here is make you eat.” He flicks his fingers, and some actual goddamn servants come forward and place a few different drinks in front of me—fresh orange juice, water, and coffee.
“Where is everyone?” I ask.
“I told them to leave.”
I gulp.
“To give you and … Cora some time to adjust,” he adds.
The pause before Cora’s name almost makes me think he has trouble remembering her name. That … or it really hit him hard that I wasn’t alone like he thought I’d be.
“Go ahead, try the food. You’ll like it.”
Why is he so fixated on this?
“I told you, I’m not hungry.”
My growling stomach immediately reveals my lie.
And the smirk slowly growing on his face makes my whole body burn with heat.
“I heard that.”
In my embarrassment, I grab a bunch of pancakes off the stack, cut off too much, and shove it into my mouth hole so I can give him a snooty look. Instead, the taste of the pancakes has me pausing mid-bite as I’m overwhelmed with the sensations.
God, I don’t think I’ve ever had anything tastier than this.
I swallow it and take a sip of the freshly squeezed orange juice, which is equally delicious.
“I told you, you’d like it,” he says, smugly leaning on the table with his elbow.
My nostrils flare, but I can barely stomach another swallow without tears welling up in my eyes. I put down my fork and turn away from him.
“Are you crying?” he asks.
I swiftly wipe them away. “Don’t make fun of me.”
“I’m not.” He chuckles. “Though, having a girl cry over the taste of my food instead of the size of my cock is a new one for me.”
Oh my God.
“You think it’s all a joke, but it’s not. You don’t know what I’ve had to do to get food, and it never tasted this good,” I growl.
I take another bite of the food before he decides to take it all away again. But the sudden change on his face catches me off guard. It’s almost as if his gaze has … softened.
“You don’t have to gobble it down. It’s not going anywhere,” he says. “Not until you’re full.”
By the time I’ve eaten half the stack, it finally dawns on me that all of this could just as well be another way to manipulate me into compliance. Make me his plaything. That’s all he wants, right?
And if Cora ever gets a taste of this … she might never want to leave.
I scoot back my chair. “I’m done.”
He frowns. “Already? You haven’t even tried the rest.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, running my tongue along my teeth.
He tilts his head. “Why are you being hunted down, and what did those men want from you?”
My eye twitches. I still refuse to answer.
“Fine. Another question. What was that red flower doing in Cora’s hand?”
I frown. “What fl—”
My pupils dilate, and I interrupt my own words.
Is he talking about that plastic flower from his little box under the bed?
“I … gave it to her. It seemed cheap. Meaningless.”
“It wasn’t,” he scoffs. “Yet you told me you gave it to a random girl.”
“Why is it so important to you?”
“So many questions we both refuse to answer,” he says.
Shit. He got me there.
Suddenly, Heath enters the room, and I don’t get the answer to the question burning in the back of my mind. He stops in the middle of the dining room when he sees Silas’s burning gaze.
“Uhh … am I interrupting something?”
“Didn’t get the message?” Silas grits.
“No, I don’t check my messages in the morning.” Heath yawns. “Not before breakfast.”
Silas rolls his eyes. “Figures.”
Guess we’re not alone after all.
“What? I’m hungry.” He sits down on the chair beside me. “Jesus, that is one order you placed, Silas.”
“I didn’t want our guests to go hungry,” Silas replies.
“We should have guests more often,” Heath jokes, putting a bunch of bacon and eggs on his plate as well as some fruit. “This all looks delish.” His eyes suddenly find mine after he’s checked my plate. “Aren’t you going to eat that?”
My cheeks flush. “I’ve had a bite.”
“You need some more to fill up those bony cheeks, twig,” Silas says.
Bony cheeks?!
I make a face at him, but he just stares back like he doesn’t even care.
“And I don’t mean your smile,” he adds with a grin.
Just before I flip him off, Max enters the room, breaking my train of thought with his happy, “Morning, everyone!”
He looks at me, then at Silas, and briefly at Heath before sitting down on the other end of the table, far away from Heath.
“What is this, a grand buffet on a cruise?” Max says. “This looks amazing!”
“Silas went all out,” Heath replies.
But Max won’t look at him and keeps readjusting his cutlery and the plates like he doesn’t know where to look until he finds me. “Sleep well?”
“Amazing, thanks,” I reply. “You?”
“Never slept better.” He stretches. “Though, I’m a bit worried about all those bodies we left in the street.”
“I have it covered. I called one of my mom’s men. He owes me one,” Silas says.
“One?” Heath pauses with shoveling down the bacon. “You think one guy is gonna fix all of this?”
“I know my mom’s men. They know how to get a job done discreetly.”
“Your mom?” I mutter. “Penelope?”
“What about her?” he asks.
“She has men to clean up bodies ?”
“His grandpa is an underground Mafia hunter. Takes money from the rich and gives back to people in need. A notorious hater of everything criminal,” Heath explains. “She inherited his business .” He makes quotation marks with his fingers.
“Wow.” I lean back in my seat. “No wonder you’re like this.”
Silas narrows his eyes at me like I caught him red-handed.
“You said that out loud,” Max whispers into my ear.
“I know,” I say, unafraid.
“Those men were after you for a reason,” Silas says, putting his elbows on the table as he leans his chin on both hands. “So what was it?”
“Do we have to do this now?” Max asks.
“Yes,” Silas replies. “Now.”
I grind my teeth. I’m not about to tell them my entire life’s story when they could use it against me.
“I owed them …”
“What?”
“Money.”
He snorts. “Money for what?”
He won’t stop prying until he’s satisfied, will he?
“Why do you care?”
“I care because there’s no way those violent fuckers would come after a girl like you without an ulterior motive. What kind of money could you have borrowed? What amount would warrant a murder in the middle of the streets?”
“I never said I borrowed money.”
“Then why did you need to pay them back with the money you stole from us?”
“I was being blackmailed,” I sneer. “The same way you’re blackmailing me.”
“The only difference here is that I’m offering you protection,” he says.
“By locking me up in this gilded prison?”
His eyes flicker with contempt, as though he hates the very idea of this house being a prison, but we both know it’s the goddamn truth.
“I don’t need protection if it comes at a price I’m not willing to pay.” I scoot back my chair and march off.
“Wait, but you haven’t even finished eating!” Max yells, but I ignore him.
I’m not going to just sit there and be interrogated in exchange for some food. I’m better than that. Even if Max is the nicest of them all, he’s still on their side. Can I even trust him to keep me safe from the others? No, Silas and Heath run the show here. This is their domain, and I’m just a passenger. A welcome guest … until I’m not. And I brought Cora right into the wolf’s den.
Fuck.
I head up the stairs, but when I get to the room, she’s still sleeping soundly, with a little bubble of snot blowing out of one of her nostrils, and it makes me grin.
Sweet girl doesn’t even know what’s going on. She just wants a safe home.
I sigh and open the closet to see if I can find anything we can take with us, but there’s only two sets of clothes, one of which I’m wearing right now. None of this will ever be enough to keep us warm, let alone the fact we don’t have a home to return to.
At least not for the foreseeable future. Those fuckers who tried to take me are probably waiting right by my door to strike again if I ever show my face.
It’s not safe.
A sudden hand on my shoulder makes me jolt up and down, and I peer over my shoulder.
“You can’t go back to your home,” Heath says.
It’s like he can peer into my mind.
“Why do you care what I do?”
“Silas wants to protect you. I know he’s an asshole, but he won’t let anyone harm you. Trust me.”
“Why should I trust you?” I jerk free of his grip. “You literally tried to shoot me the last time we saw each other.”
His face darkens. “They were blanks,” he says.
“The gun was empty?” I scoff
“I was never going to shoot you. I couldn’t. Not ever.”
I snort. “Yeah, that’s rich after you already threatened me.”
When I try to leave, he places a flat hand on the door, stopping me in my tracks. “I needed to know how far you would go for him.” He grabs my chin. “How hard … you’d fallen for him.”
So that’s it? Jealousy?
That’s why he tried to shoot?
“We’re killers. No one here would be better at protecting you and Cora.”
“The police, for one,” I reply.
“You think they wouldn’t throw you in jail after discovering your involvement with all those dead bodies they probably already found by now? Your fingerprints were all over that crime scene.”
I gulp. He’s right. They’d immediately lock me up if they got their hands on me even though I’m innocent. Who will vouch for me? I’m just a lowly thief, and the guy who sent those fuckers to get me will surely testify on their behalf.
Shit.
“You’re safer here than anywhere else,” Heath adds. “I swear on my fucking life.”
“Why? Why would I be safe here when I have nothing of my own and no one I can trust?” I ask. “I don’t have any of my stuff, I don’t even have clothes. All I have is this room, Cora, and you guys.”
I tilt my head back so I can look him in the eyes and determine if he really is truthful with wanting to protect me.
“Because …”
His thumb brushes over my lips as his eyes home in on them, almost as if he’s studying the very shape of my face.
“I …”
Suddenly, Cora turns around in her bed, and we both gaze at her while holding our breaths. Luckily, she falls right back to sleep again. It must’ve been a rough night for her.
Bagel jumps off my bed and curls around my legs instead, meowing.
“I didn’t even bring kitty food …” I pick Bagel up to hug him. “I’m sorry, Bagel.”
“You know what? C’mon.” Heath grabs my arm.
“Wait, what about Cora?”
“Max will watch her and feed her when she wakes up. Don’t worry.”
I only barely manage to release Bagel before I’m dragged down the stairs.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
The grin on his face predicts trouble. “Shopping.”