Chapter 16
Mila
I whirl around, more furious than I have ever felt. Seething, I glare at Dom. “ You pulled me out of class, begging me to talk!” I shout so loudly that the door to the art studio swings open, and Blaze steps out. I knew he was close by.
Blaze had warned me not to go with Dom when he interrupted class. Dom looked so angry that even the teacher stepped aside. But I felt like I owed Dom answers, so I stepped outside—only to find him begging me for another chance.
That ’ s when Dash showed up.
I know what he saw: Dom ’ s hands on me, looking like we were running into each other ’ s arms.
“ Are you okay, Mila?” Blaze ’ s warm face and faint freckles greet me, but his eyes are not friendly. He ’ s the man every male at this school secretly is—a predator. He might be smiling and fun-loving, but Blaze attends this university for a reason. He ’ s from a ruthless family that expects wicked deeds from him.
“ She ’ s fine.”
“ I asked her .” Blaze crosses his arms.
“ How could you?” I cry towards Dom. The hallway seems to stretch out around us, and I know that no matter how fast I run, Dash would have disappeared by now.
“ I could ask you the same.” Dom snickers. “ It hurts when you play with someone ’ s heart, doesn ’ t it?” He speaks in such a wicked tone that I question how I ever befriended a man like him. All those times he helped me escape were just traps.
“ You were never my friend. You were a monster, tricking me as you purred and led me into your clutches. I can ’ t believe I slept with you!”
“ You came so dutifully,”His smirk is sadistic. “ Screaming my name as I made you come on my cock.”
Sting! My palm flares with a spark as it lands on his cheek.
“ Be careful, I ’ ll bite back,” Dom replies as he reaches up and touches his now red cheek.
“ Okay, that ’ s enough!” Blaze steps between us. “ Leave her alone.”
“ I always knew you wanted her.” Dom sneers as he widens his shoulders and slips his hands into his trouser pockets.
“ Mila is my friend. You once called her that, didn ’ t you? Before you crossed the line.” Blaze ’ s tone dips deep like a violin, getting ready to play a tragic melody. “ Back the fuck up! Come near her again, and I ’ ll let the Kings know.”
I know what Blaze is doing. If I were not here, he would handle Dom himself, but he doesn ’ t want me or anyone else to see that side of him.
“ The Kings,” Dom spews as he looks down the hall. “ You know every king must fall. No kingdom lasts forever.”
Dom steps closer to me. “ Come here, Mila, “ he orders as his teeth grind like a millstone.
“ She ’ s not—” Blaze reaches for me, but Dom moves, pulling out his hand to reveal a switchblade in his grasp.
“ Blaze!” I scream.
I ’ m too late!
Dom lunges; I only see the blade catch the light for a moment before I see the hilt sticking out of Blaze ’ s stomach.
“ No!” I cry, but Dom grabs me, snapping me to his side like I ’ m a button falling into place. He cruelly twists the knife and then wrenches it out of Blaze as if his skin is as soft as fabric. The knife is a little needle that a seamstress pushed in and pulled out.
Blaze staggers for a second before the shock forces his knees to hit the floor. His hands splay out, marking the polished tile with bloody prints.
“ Stop!” I scream, but it ’ s weak, captured in shock ’ s grip. Dom drags me down the hall; I move with him, stuck in the rapid waters surrounding me. Confusion and shock turn me to jelly.
“ You stabbed him,” I speak robotically.
A soft, pained laugh comes from Blaze ’ s direction as he slaps his hand into the puddle again. “ You better fucking run, Dom. You have no idea who you just pissed off.” He bellows, but then his eyes fill with worry as they clash with mine.
“ Blaze!” I cry and try to run towards him. His eyes look at the knife in Dom ’ s hands, and then he shakes his head, telling me to comply so I don ’ t get hurt.
Instead of running to safety, Blaze grapples with his phone.
We reach the door, but right before we exit, Dom pulls the emergency alarm—not the one for fire but the yellow one all students are taught to pull if there is an attack. The siren goes off, and locks click into place like dominoes.
Dom kicks open the door, ensuring we are not locked inside. Fresh air slaps me in the face, but it only makes the sickness in my belly grow.
The outside quickly turns into chaos, filled with men in tactical gear. Dom pulls me behind him as armed men rush past us, heading toward their target: the students they are assigned to protect.
“ Where are my guards?” I frantically look, but none of the security guards are running to save me. A gentle wind brushes over my face, causing a chill to erupt over my sweat-covered skin.
“ They are my guards. Well, actually, my father ’ s, but it ’ s all the same now.”
I glance down and feel a weight so heavy in my stomach that I think it just fell to my feet. “ What?”
“ Your father asked my dad for two trusted guards. Dad gave them to him. But my dad and I are tired of playing by your father ’ s rules, so we ’ re taking over. Therefore, your new guards have been in our pocket all along. They are not coming to save you, Mila. I was never good enough in your father ’ s eyes.” His fingers bruise my biceps. “ Never stern enough; I never measured up to what he thought you needed in a husband.”
“ Dom, please,” I dig my feet into the soil. “ You ’ re not making sense.” Security teams and their students form a shield in the distance as they make their way to the front parking lot or helicopter pads to evacuate.
I glance at Dom, realizing this was all premeditated. He knew he was going to take me, so he needed to cause a scene and pull the alarm so no one would notice or care because they had their own students to protect.
“ Well, why don ’ t I make it all clear,” Dom replies in a calm tone. “ Maybe then, after you see my dedication to you, will you give me a chance? A real chance!”
He grabs the back of my shirt, twists it, and urges me forward. “ Did you know your dad signed you over to the Kings when you were only six years old? I didn ’ t know that, and neither did my father. Now I understand why Marcus King was always meeting with your father privately. He was signing you away, making sure my father didn ’ t know. All those years of thinking I could have you as my wife was a trick! I just wanted to keep you safe. Safe from your father, from everyone. That ’ s why I used Jared. It was always me in the shadows watching over you. No one else, Mila. No one cares for you like I do.”
“ Jared?” What’s he got to do with this?
“ That fool was just my pawn. He thought Marcus King killed his father, but it was me!” His chest widens with pride. “ He believed everything I told him. Some days, it was so easy to trick Jared that it was boring.”
“ You…you…killed Jared ’ s father!” You tricked Jared…you ’ re a demon.
“ For you .” He blinks as if I ’ m stupid and struggling to comprehend simple math. His eyes loom over me like a hook about to sink into my wide-open, shocked mouth. “You don ’ t understand what you mean to me, Mila,” He tries to soften his face, but there ’ s no hiding his madness. The Mad Hatter can add another hat, but we all know he ’ s already mad—it ’ s the hat that made him that way. Just like Dom ’ s obsession with me created the very thing he ’ s trying to protect me from. A predator.
His brows lift, as does his grin. “ The lengths I have gone to in order to keep you safe…that’s love, Mila.”
What is he waiting for? Me to wrap my arms around him.
When I don ’ t react, his jaw grinds down. “ You think Jared cared about you?” He runs his tongue over his teeth to swipe away a sour taste. “ Jared was nothing but a puppet I made, and then I un-made! He only cared for you because I told him to.”
He shakes my shoulders, so I reply as best I can. “ W…why would you do that?”
“ Because I needed eyes and ears on you at all times. Your father was always so lenient, never wanting guards to overshadow you or watch you at your dance practice. He was a fucking fool! So I planted Jared, made him become obsessed with you. I helped him get close to you! Me! Then Jared told me about his obsession. You. He wanted to marry you. This made the game fun again. He told me everything you two did. I let him think he could have you. I told him once I take over, I ’ ll give you to him.” Dom snickers. “ He actually believed me.”
“ It was you who got Jared entered into The Cleansing,” I reply, having pieced the puzzle together.
“ He wanted it.” Dom replies, “ He wanted to kill Dash, and how could I deny Jared that after he killed your ballet instructor so beautifully?”
“ What?” I close my eyes, too scared to open them and watch as Dom reveals more. My instructor. Jared, you killed him? By the time oxygen flows back to my stunned mind, I realize Dom has dragged us to the school ’ s entrance. “What have you done?” I whisper.
“Whatever I needed to keep you safe,” he replies without missing a beat. “Because I care, why can ’ t you acknowledge that and thank me?”
“ Fuck you,” The words come out from a deep, angry part of my soul.
A slow swallow makes his throat visibly move. “ You did. Again and again.”
“ I made a lot of mistakes.”
He lowers his face to mine. It ’ s like looking at a stranger, a demon. I see his eyes, but there is nothing behind them. “ And I was not one of them,” He states.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Say it. Say it! "You...you were the worst."
I was wrong. Something does move behind his eyes. It's a monster slowly rousing. "You shouldn't lie. I don't like liars."
"Then how do you look in the mirror?" I know, don't poke a bear; it will bite, but he's already bitten me. I can't fight physically, so I will verbally.
Smack!
Did my neck just break? My head turned so suddenly that I think it did.
I cradle my cheek with my free hand. He just smacked me. He hit me.
I ’ ve been around monsters my whole life. I gave my heart to one, but Dom reminded me that monsters come in many shapes and forms. There are antiheroes, and then there are villains. Antiheroes have tortured souls like Dash. They lash out because they still feel; they care, but they try to conceal it because they don't want to be viewed as heroes because they don't think they deserve it.
Sometimes, they don't, but that still doesn't make them villains.
Then there are villains—they don ’ t feel. They lie to manipulate you, trick you, lure you in, and when you ’ re close enough, they reveal their deception with a grin that would make a dentist proud. It ’ s calculated, like a pair of braces—preplanned so everything aligns perfectly.
“ Why must you make me hurt you?”
I keep my eyes on the grass. It ’ s so green it looks artificial. It might be. Everyone here is fake.
“ Look at me.” He huffs and puffs like a dragon, and I ’ m reminded that a knight in shining armor isn ’ t coming. We have to save ourselves, but I ’ m not used to fighting.
I'm scared. I'm scared to fight. Scared to remain standing by his side. I'm just so scared.
Sometimes, you have to duck and hide until you find a chance to escape. I just cocoon myself, hoping that I ’ ll emerge after this into a butterfly so I can fly far, far away from this life.
My body trembles so strongly that my knees give out. “ Stand up!” Dom kicks my feet and then pulls me to stand.
I stop functioning; my body obeys his commands.
“ I needed you to see everyone around you was a viper trying to trick you.”
“ You ’ re the viper,” I mutter as my sneaker catches on the transition of grass to pavement.
“ I was protecting you.”
“ You ’ re insane.” I need to get away from him.
The phone! Damian gave me my phone this morning. I feel the weight in my pocket as it begs for me to use it.
Dom snickers evilly, “ I ’ m determined. I know what I want, and it ’ s you as my wife dancing on a stage for the world to see what they can never have. We ’ re perfect, Mila. Don ’ t worry; I forgive you for loving Dash. You ’ re still young, and he tricked you. We ’ ll make him suffer for it.”
I try to break free, but he swings me closer; my stomach hits him as he faces me, and that ’ s when I feel it; the tip of the knife starts to press into my side, breaking skin. I let out a pierced scream.
“ Cry louder, and I ’ ll end you here.” He starts to twist the knife. It ’ s only an inch deep into my flesh, but it feels like it ’ s carving out my bones from my skin.
“ Stop! I ’ ll listen!” Dash ’ s face flashes in my mind. It ’ s a shade of grey lighter than the dark chaos surrounding me.
Dom violently yanks the knife free, forcing my compliance as he moves the blade toward my spine. He presses the tip against my vertebra. “ I could make sure you ’ d never be able to run from me again.” He murmurs to himself, his lips wrench up.
He ’ s…he ’ s going to sever my spine! “ But then, how would I dance for you?” I bait him. Please don ’ t paralyze me!
His smile falters. “ You ’ re right. You will dance for me; even if it ’ s in a cage, you will dance.”
We reach the front gates, and my two guards nod at Jared; one spots the bloody knife in his hand, but he does nothing.
“ Make sure no one follows us,” Dom orders them as he shoves me into his car. I push my palm against the small cut. It won ’ t kill me; that fact somehow makes this all worse because now I ’ m trapped, alone with Dom, as he enters the car and begins to take me away.
We ’ re speeding past the front gates when Dom slaps the steering wheel. “ I ’ m sorry.” He snaps. “ I wish I didn ’ t have to do that.” He looks over at me, at the blood staining my clothing.
I don ’ t hide it. I let him see what he did.
“ Buckle your seatbelt.” He mutters as he looks in the rearview mirror.
I snort, “ Will it protect me from you?” Reaching up, I press my palm against the wound.
“ It ’ s shallow.” Dom rolls his eyes. “ I didn ’ t hit anything important.”
“ I thought… I was important to you.” A new confidence slithers its way into my tongue. “ Make up your mind, Dom.”
His eyes glue to the small trickle of blood seeping out from my side. Each inhale I take causes a small pestering burn. It ’ s not going to kill me; he just broke the skin to scare me. It worked.
I curl my knees up to my chest, hoping it will block Dom ’ s view. The trembles in my body are not part of the act. Slowly, I slip my free hand inside my pocket and feel for the phone.
“ You are.”
“ Liar!” I shout as I slip the phone free. I glance away from Dom as if disgusted and look down at the phone. Keep him talking so he doesn ’ t notice. “ You smacked me; you stabbed me, and Blaze and…Jared.” All the information he revealed comes tumbling back in horror.
“ Jared was hardly innocent.”
Glancing at the phone screen, I open the contacts and see the names. Dante, Nico—that ’ s Dante ’ s brother. Then there is Dash, Damian, Titan, and Cillian. There are two more names I don ’ t know, Leo and Anders.
My thumb hovers over Dash, but I glide it up and call Damian.
Dash would only leave me to suffer.
The call connects. He answered! Okay, this is good. I can ’ t talk, or Dom will know.
I slide the phone back into my pocket, pretending to adjust my hold on my wound. I need to give Damian clues somehow.
“ Dom, please pull the car over.” I press. Damian ’ s smart; he ’ ll put my pieces together.
“ Dom, please stop this. You hurt me, and I ’ m bleeding. You need to pull the car over before we get too far from the school.”
“ You ’ ll be fine. I ’ ll fix it. Patch you up. I always have.”
He reaches over, removes my hand from my wound, and tries to hold it tenderly. I yank it away. “ Don ’ t touch me!” I glance at the door. Should I just open it and jump? My chances might be better.
The car accelerates, tipping over 100mph. “ Slow down!” I grab my seatbelt and buckle it.
“ Dom, please!”
“ I need to know the truth, Mila.”
“ Where are you taking us?”
He keeps heading north, but the school is isolated for security reasons. Most students heliport in since the main highway is a good hour away. Just a few more hours north, and you reach my old school, Silverstone Preparatory. Dom used to make this drive at least once a month when he took me out of school, and we ’ d go to our field.
“ You ’ re going to our field just outside of Silverstone Preparatory, aren ’ t you?” Please hear that, Damian!
Dom stares ahead, his eyes combing the road like a pendulum, stuck, swaying endlessly back and forth. “ Did you ever love me, Mila, or was it all a lie? Remember I told you I ’ d pry it from your lips? Tell me.”
The arrow on the speedometer hits 140.
I know that ’ s where Dom is headed, but I fear we won ’ t reach the final destination. He ’ s too upset to think clearly. And if I’m going to die, then I need Dash to know. Damian will tell him.
I curl my fingers into the seat belt. “ I never loved you. How could I when my heart belonged to Dash King.”
Dom glares at me through dark, malice eyes. “ Thank you for being honest.” He says, so devoid of emotions, I inch away.
Screech! Jerk! I scream as the car slams on its brakes, but we ’ re going too fast to stop smoothly. We slide and then spin; my head hits the window, and my entire body ’ s weight presses into the door.
Bang! The back of the car slams into the tree line.
I scream again, tasting blood from where I bite my inner cheek. Blood trickles from a gash on my head. Glaring to my left, I see the window is crack from where my head hit it. My blood seeps into it like a stained glass work of art.
Breathing heavily, I look down. I ’ m alive. That's not a good thing.
The car door opens, and Dom staggers out. He stands, arms outstretched, and pats his body down. I don’t move, all I can hear is my breathing.
Dom shakes his head, then slowly he tips it back as he looks up at the sky. “ I would suggest you start to run, Mila.” His shout is so calm and controlled, it has my body shaking with violent tremors.
Run?
Struggling, I press the seatbelt again and again until I hear that click, and it snaps back, releasing me. I open my car door and take a step outside. How I manage to stand is purely the effects of the adrenaline in my veins. Aches and pains pulse through me as if some invisible force is playing with me like Playdough.
Dom hangs his head and sighs. “ You know, when I was in The Cleansing, I didn ’ t just have a simple fight. It's not always a fight ring.” He glances my way. Only the broken car separates us.
I gulp, feeling a rawness from my screams. I reach into my pocket and grab the phone. The call never dropped. Raising it to my ear. Dom glares at the phone as I press it to my ear. “ You liar!” He shakes his head.
“ Damian?” My hands shake so badly that I drop the phone. Frantically, I grab it, mixing dirt under my fingernails. “ Damian!”
“ We ’ re on the way, Mila!” He replies. He’s coming! The strength I had dwindles and breaks. Tired pain sweeps through me.
Dom braces his hands against the car; the knife clutched in his right palm. “ My challenge was to hunt.” Dom slowly grins. “ At the time, I thought it was silly, but I grew to love the chase. The scent of fear the prey leaves behind in the air…” He tips his chin up and inhales. “ I love that smell.”
“ Mila?” Damian shouts.
“ Please hurry,” I whisper as I take a few steps back.
“ You made a fool of me, Mila.” Dom shakes his head. “ I can ’ t have that. Not when I take over from my father. We could have been perfect. I want you to know that before you die.”
Any sign of obsession he had for me vanishes. “ Run!” He purrs as he pushes off the car and begins to round it with that dirty bloody knife aimed directly at my beating heart.