Chapter 7
My focus is sharp as I slip inside Kaden’s family home, putting my infrared goggles on. I have been in this house so many times. An image of me running up the stairs to Kaden’s room hijacks my attention, keeping me rooted to the spot.
“Celine.” Mia’s voice in my earpiece pulls me back in.
“I’m in,” I say.
I follow the dark hallway, avoiding the sculptures. Felix has always been one to show off his wealth, especially his unique art. I touch one with my gloved hand but suppress my desire to push it. I don’t have it in me to destroy someone else’s hard work again.
I slip inside his home office. The goggles scan the room for the safe. It appears to be behind a shelf filled with books. Testing for an opening, I push three books that are attached, and I come face to face with an analog safe. Good that I came prepared. I unzip my coveralls and pluck the stethoscope from my inside pocket. I try to crack the code while listening as I rotate, but it takes longer than I have.
Hunter lets out a sigh ringing of impatience. “I knew I should have come with you.”
“I need you there more.”
“We’re grasping at straws here,” Mia says.
I doubt we’ll find something here.
Hunter keeps cussing in my ear.
“Ahh, you have so much confidence in me.”
“It’s not that.”
“Both of you, stop,” Mia says. “Time is running out. Three more minutes before the guards approach.”
“Give me one. Just keep quiet so I can focus.”
I go to work, and number for number, the safe gives in. When it clicks open, I riffle through Felix’s stuff—legal documents, property contracts, a stack of money, jewelry—stopping when a document catches my attention.
“Celine, get out. Now,” Hunter says.
I mute them and take a few photos of it. It’s for a property not far away from here, and it didn’t show up in any official recordings of the Family.
I put them back in and close the safe. I am efficient, but most of all, I won’t leave a job unfinished. For all his talk, Hunter is not the risk-taker I am. It’s the only reason I’m here, and he’s not.
I watch the movements of the guards. I have ten seconds to move from one point to the other unnoticed. That’s a narrow time frame, but I’ve been in trickier situations.
“That was training. Getting caught in there will ruin everything,” he says what I am thinking, loving to make a point.
Light on my feet, I run from one corner to the other until I am in the thick forest, just a shadow among shadows.
I yank off the goggles once in my car, then unmute my earpiece.
“Fuck, you always do this,” Hunter says.
Turning on the ignition, I call my father.
“I think I found something.”
“I am at the house, meet me there.”
“On my way.”
“Make sure no one follows you.”
“Always.”
I put the car in reverse and drive away, analyzing every vehicle passing me. Only a bike lingered on my tail longer, but that must be my paranoia. No one I know drives a bike.
After a fifteen-minute drive, I reach the two-story mansion where Cillian, the elusive director of the Preston School in England—a troubled rich kids’ private school—is staying. At the top of the stairs, he waits for me. Worry is etched in the corners of his eyes. Cillian greets me, and I hug him back.
Hunter’s engine revs, only to come to an abrupt halt. The way he is driving, breathing, how he holds himself, I know his precise state of mind.
“You could have gotten caught,” he says, frustration thick in his voice.
“Yet here I am.”
He jams his finger into my chest.
“Follow orders.”
I wave my phone in his face. “If I followed your orders, we wouldn’t have these.”
“Let’s get inside,” Cillian says.
Inside the office, I see my father. After a brief hug, he plucks my phone from my hand and gets to work. On the projector, the screen fills with pictures of the property noted on the document.
“Felix must be keeping her there,” my father says.
Hunter and I exchange a glance.
Cillian squeezes my father’s shoulder and says, “You’ll be reunited soon.”
“At times, I don’t know who’s more gaga,” Hunter whispers.
I tip my chin in confirmation, and he continues. “It’s not that I don’t trust your abilities, but I worry. If it’s between you and this mission, I will always choose you.”
“I’ll be more careful,” I add quickly.
Hunter is family and I would do the same because losing him would be like losing a part of myself I would never get back. I have lost too much already.
“I received an invitation for a charity gala at the mansion. They asked me to attend with my best students… and Felix will be there,” Cillian adds.
“We won’t disappoint you,” I assure them.
“It’s also our way back into the Family.” Cillian’s eyes light up. Every one of us has a different motivation; his has always been reclaiming the Prescott family’s rightful position.
“Prepare yourself. We need that piece of the puzzle,” my father says.
“I’ll fully search the perimeter,” Hunter replies.
“You do that. Now, both of you leave. You have classes tomorrow. I am proud of you, Celine,” Cillian says.
“Thank you.”
After I change in the back of my car and put my gear in the trunk, Hunter and I lean against the hood, watching the stars blanket the night.
Sky… my sky.
A sigh heaves my chest. I’d need a damn lobotomy to forget about him.
“What is it?” Hunter asks.
“Nothing.”
“Yes, that nothing really sounds like nothing.”
“Nothing I won’t be able to handle.”
Back at the house, I park behind Kaden’s car.
Oops. I might have overestimated how much room I have in the front. When I step out, I see a small dent on his fender.
He will lose it, the neat freak. It would be better to do what I came back for and ignore him, especially for my composure. But that would be impossible. My pulse races thinking about his reaction. I already live dangerously, but chasing that feeling only he can give me is even more dangerous.
Closing the front door behind me, I hear liquid sloshing in a glass. My head whips to the living room from where the sound came. A lamp in the corner emits a dim light. Kaden’s back rests against the wall. I make out half his profile, the other is cast in darkness. He stares at the drink, his long fingers wrapped around the glass. I gulp, remembering what those hands could do. He’s so damn appealing––he’s the flame and I’m the moth. I thought I got burned the first time and learned my lesson then. I guess I am addicted to the pain for those few seconds before I turn to ash.
I shake myself off his hypnotic allure. Focus, damn it. I take a step when his eyes find me, pinning me to the spot, trapping me.
“Interesting night?”
“I had a blast.”
“I believe you.”
His voice, laced with insinuation, sends chills down my spine. He pushes himself off the wall and places the empty glass on the fireplace. Once again, we dance to the same tune of seduction. He cages me in. I could escape, but my weak, pathetic, and needy heart stops me.
“Celine, Celine…”
His tone pours cold realization down on me. This is not the usual situation when we’re enslaved to this cursed need. Now, he’s controlled and thoughtful. Assessing, chilling me from within.
He plays with a strand of my hair, and the sweet gesture unbalances me. That’s all he needs to trap me in his poisonous web.
His breath hits my neck and I strain every muscle in me not to react. Goose bumps pebble my skin.
“Your neck is still sensitive,” he rasps.
A curse dies on my lips. He caresses the vein of my neck with the pad of his thumb—a ghost of a touch that ignites a fire to spread through my insides, melting a layer of the glacier around my chest.
I squeeze my eyes shut when I should push him aside, knock him off his confidence. He has no idea what I am capable of. How could he? Here I am, mush, while he plays at every string of my heart and body.
He runs his hand over the curve of my waist. “How’s my dip doing?” Kaden’s favorite spot to touch, kiss, caress.
Our eyes meet. Those enigmatic blue pools are dilated and hooded with desire. His eyes were once my entrance to a world of love, security, and happiness.
He betrayed you.
I push him off me. “Nothing of me is still yours.”
“Are you playing games with me?”
His entire body turns predatory. The idea of him giving in to the chase thrills me. I cross my hands over my chest and lift my chin.
“I can’t allow anyone, not even you, to sabotage what I have worked for since you left.”
The bastard dares to say that to my face. Like I left because I wanted to. He was the one basically packing my stuff. I fist his shirt between my fingers.
“I could dig a knife into your heart.”
“Try it. Let’s see if you find something left in there.”
His words sucker punch my battered heart. My grip loosens, and he steps back. Don’t go soft for him. It serves him right.
He leaves, but not before telling me over his shoulder, “Don’t make me your enemy, Celine.”
“We’re nothing, Kaden.”
I storm into the kitchen while our interaction plays on repeat in my head, keeping me wired up. Slapping a palm on the marbled island top, I gulp a glass of water. I should sleep, but it’s as if my synapses are wired to the maximum.
Abigail steps inside wearing silk pajamas, her perfectly straightened hair falling over her breasts. This girl is the definition of flawless.
“I expected more from you, Abi.”
I don’t even intend to bait her. I am simply hurt. She betrayed me too, and him being with her crushes me.
Why do I always forget this major detail when Kaden and I are together? Was she in his room? Will she go into his room? Are they going to fuck?
I grip the table’s edge and shake the images from my head.
You’re my sky, and I will look only at you, worship only you, love only you.
Get it together, Celine!I urge myself and breathe through the anguish. Abigail grabs my elbow, but I wrench out of her grasp, gripping her arm and bending it back. A scream pierces the room.
“What is wrong with you? I just wanted to comfort you.”
I step back, vision blurring. Her almond-shaped eyes widen while three sets of feet rush downstairs.
“What the fuck happened?” Kaden asks.
I expect her to gloat at any moment and use my split second of weakness to score points with him.
“Nothing.”
“Stop playing the good girl,” I hiss.
“What happened to you?” she asks, mouth agape.
I flinch at her incredulity and the worried look she casts me.
“You started it.” I don’t even know why I am defensive, but her genuine concern twists me from within.
I dash for the door, taking my comatose heart with me.
Kaden grabs my wrist. “You’re playing with fire, Celine.”
“I’m not playing with fire. I am the fire.”
I’m angry about losing control, but what gets me even more is how they look at me as if they don’t know who I am. They don’t, not anymore. If they hold a certain image of me, they should replace it. That good girl they once knew was trampled on until she was gone.
Changing into shorts and a tank top, I walk outside my room, heading to the gym. I’ve had enough of everyone for one evening. I would gladly move out if I could. And I still have to return that damn key. I won’t need it anymore.
Inside the gym, I opt not to wear gloves or hand tape. I want this to hurt, to remind myself that I don’t care about any of them.
I shouldn’t allow them to get to me. The end justifies the means. Afterward, I can settle somewhere else and be an ordinary student.
I drive my knuckles into the bag again and again and again until the pain shifts into numbness. Bouncing on my feet, spots dance before my eyes. Sweat gathers at my nape and droplets roll down the valley of my breasts. But I push myself to deplete every ounce of feeling left. The sack sways with every kick. I punch harder.
Clapping takes me out of my trance. There he is, a sultry dream. Kaden’s chest is bare, looking like a damn model, all chiseled features and toned body. He’s only wearing sweatpants, adding more appeal to an already devastatingly beautiful image. I can’t take my eyes off him. But when I see my necklace hanging from his neck, a surge of anger washes over me.
I attack, forcing him into defense while I search for any opening.
“Fight me.” My insides scream with rage, hurt, and dejection. Yet he doesn’t react.
“You’re a fool if you ever think I would fight you.”
I push at his chest. “I am asking for it.”
“Sky… how could I touch even a hair on your damn head? I’d rather kill myself.”
“Don’t you ever call me that again,” I yell.
He drops onto his ass on the mat. I climb on top of him, shoving him on his back, but the fight in me dies when those eyes of his halt me. He looks so utterly dejected.
“Fight me, already.” Maybe then I could actually hit him and in the process beat the weakness out of me.
“I need to know. Was it me who turned you into this?” his voice cracks, emotions overtaking him.
I squeeze my eyes shut. We should be fighting. When I open them, tears flood my vision at the image before me, making me so damn weak and emotional.
“Shut up, Kaden.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to look at you, searching for the girl you must have buried?”
“That girl was a nuisance.”
“That girl was my sky. My––”
“Stop. Don’t say that… you don’t mean it!” I shout at him.
“I don’t mean it? I don’t fucking mean it? You’re so cruel.”
“If I am cruel, then you’re the definition of heartless.”
Our breaths turn labored.
When his arms inch toward me, I shoot up. He can’t be the one to hold me after he pushed me over the edge. I haven’t stopped falling. I need to hit rock bottom so I can start climbing back up.
Rushing up the stairs, I swallow my pain. Shutting the door behind me, I slide down the wall to the floor. I rock myself, and when I am done being pathetic, I pull myself together.
In three days, we’re going to see Grandmother. We’ll both need more armor than makeup to hide our secrets as we face the matriarch.