Chapter 28 Lexi
Lexi
The moment the impact hits, I know he’s gone.
One second Koa’s clinging to the hood—hands splayed against the windshield, face twisted with determination—and the next, he’s a blur in the rear window. A shadow tumbling backward into darkness.
“Stop the car!” I scream, lunging forward. “Stop the fucking car!”
Atticus doesn’t even blink. His hands stay steady on the wheel. The sedan speeds up.
“You hit him!” My voice cracks, breaking into something raw and desperate. “You—he’s still back there! He’s on the fucking road!”
Nothing. Just the low growl of the engine and Revan’s steady breathing in the passenger seat. Like they didn’t just beat and throw a man off a moving car. Like this is normal.
“I told you not to intervene! You’re fucking psychopaths!” I yank at the door handle. Pull it once, twice, three times. It’s locked.
I kick the door, heel slamming against metal. “Let me out! Let me the fuck out!”
Revan’s voice comes smooth and lazy through the darkness. “Sit back, Lexi.”
“Go to hell.”
He laughs like he finds me cute. “Already there, sweetheart.”
I slam my hand against the window so hard pain shoots up my wrist. “He could be dying and you’re just—you’re just driving!”
Atticus finally glances over his shoulder. His eyes are cold, sharp, completely unbothered. “He’ll live.”
“Yeah?” I snap, leaning forward. “You sure about that? Because from where I was sitting, he looked pretty fucked when he hit the ground!”
“Not our problem.” Revan smirks, turning back around. “He looked like he could take a hit.”
My stomach twists. I press my forehead to the cold glass, watching the highway lights blur past—white, then yellow, then white again, stretching endlessly into nothing.
I can still see Koa’s body flying backward. The sickening thud I felt more than heard. The way he rolled across the asphalt like a rag doll.
“I need to go back to campus,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “I have class in the morning. I can’t just—”
Revan cuts me off. “You’re not going back.”
I lift my head sharply, glaring at him through the rearview mirror. “Excuse me?”
He meets my eyes there—steady, unreadable, like he’s made up his mind and nothing I say will change it. “You’re ours now. “
“No, I’m not!” My voice rises, cracking at the edges.
“That’s the thing,” Revan says, voice soft and dangerous. “We decided that you are, so you are.”
“What the fuck? I have to go back!”
I have to call Jasper as soon as I can. I want to slap myself for trusting him at all.
Neither Revan or Atticus says another word. Neither of them even looks at me.
The silence is worse than the noise. It presses down on me, heavy and suffocating, until I can’t stand it anymore.
I look out the window again—no idea where we are. Just endless black road stretching in every direction. No signs. No exits. No way to know how far we’ve gone or how much farther we’re going.
“Where are we going?” I ask finally, hating how small my voice sounds.
Atticus pulls a cigarette from his pocket, lights it with a silver lighter that flashes in the dark. The flame illuminates his face for just a second—sharp jaw, hollow cheeks, eyes that look almost black in the shadows.
“Back to the mansion,” he says, exhaling smoke that curls toward the ceiling.
“I don’t want to go there.”
Revan’s voice stays calm. Too calm. “You’d be surprised how much worse it could get if we just left you there with Koa.”
That stops me cold. I stare at the back of his head, trying to read something—anything—in the set of his shoulders, the angle of his jaw. Did I ever say his name? Did I tell him that his name was Koa?
No, but my mind races anyway.
Shit… I was screaming his name. I relax a little.
They don’t speak after that.
The road hums beneath us, a steady vibration that fills the silence. I try to focus on it—on the rhythm of the tires against asphalt, on the way the headlights cut through the dark—but my heart won’t slow down.
Every time I blink, I see Koa hitting the pavement. Rolling. Lying still.
Is he okay? Is he even conscious?
Is Oxy taking him to the hospital? Did anyone see what was happening?
The questions loop in my head until I want to scream.
Minutes stretch into what feels like hours. The air in the car thickens—smoke from Atticus’s cigarette, sweat from my panic, tension so thick I can barely breathe through it.
I shift in my seat, trying to find a position that doesn’t make me feel like I’m trapped in a cage. “So you’re holding me against my will? Is kidnapping now?”
Revan’s mouth twitches. “Call it what you want.”
I lean forward as far as the seatbelt will let me, gripping the back of his seat. “I’m serious. I have college. Classes. A roommate who’s going to notice I’m gone.”
Atticus looks over at me, eyes glinting under the dashboard light. “No one’s coming for you, love. You’re not that important.”
I glare at him, my insides hardening at his tone. “You don’t know shit about me.”
Revan’s voice comes softer this time. Almost gentle. “We’ll see.”
The rest of the drive feels endless.
Every road looks the same—empty, forgotten, swallowed by trees and darkness. I lose track of time. Could be thirty minutes. Could be three hours. I don’t know anymore.
When the car finally slows, I sit up, my pulse kicking into overdrive.
The gate to the mansion is black with intricate designs. It opens automatically, letting us drive through. I stare at the mansion ahead, wondering what the hell is going to happen next.
I have to make a plan, so I start mapping the fence line, looking at any possible hideouts.
Atticus parks. Cuts the engine. The sudden silence is eerie.
“Out,” Revan says.
I don’t move. My legs feel like lead, my hands frozen on the seatbelt buckle.
Atticus glances back, voice dry. “You planning to sleep in the car?”
“Maybe.”
Revan opens my door before I can lock it. Cold air rushes in, sharp and biting. “Move, Lexi.”
Something in his tone—not quite a threat, not quite a command—makes me do it.
I step out on shaking legs, nearly stumbling on the gravel. My body’s exhausted—adrenaline crash hitting me all at once. Fear. Exhaustion. The overwhelming sense that I’ve made the worst mistake of my life.
The air smells like smoke and pine. Cold. Unforgiving. Like nothing good happens here.
I look up at the mansion—at the dark windows, the crumbling stone, the ivy that looks more like it’s strangling the building than decorating it.
Atticus is already walking toward the front door, cigarette still burning between his fingers. He doesn’t look back. Doesn’t wait to see if I’ll follow.
Revan gestures for me to go ahead. “After you.”
I take a step. Then another. My legs feel disconnected from my body, like I’m watching myself from outside.
Atticus pushes the front door open. I swear it looks like I’m walking into the unknown. It’s just pitch-black inside, and I start to panic.
“Go to your room.”
“My room?” I ask, staring at the darkness like it’s going to swallow me whole.
Before he can answer, I dart off to the right. Revan just laughs as Atticus catches me almost right away. My feet kick as he hauls me back to the front door.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
I shiver as we enter the dark.