Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Blair
I’d sworn an oath to a madman.
To the damn devil.
Sitting in the passenger seat, I stared at him, jaw dropped, struggling to process how he’d casually tossed an eyeball out the window.
During the removal, shock had drowned out the voice in my head that kept telling me to look away. I hadn’t thought he’d actually take out the man’s eye.
As I shut my eyes, my belly knotted, and I regretted my agreement to be his Fawn. Though it wasn’t like I’d had any say in the situation. My only options had been to accept his proposal or die. And I very much enjoyed breathing.
If only I’d followed Daphne’s advice and fled Saint Vale when we found out Enzo had selected me as a Fawn.
I’d feared my stepfather’s threat of Saint Vale being my last chance, but his repercussions of me leaving yet another university would’ve been less traumatizing than being stuck with a man who enjoyed plucking out eyeballs.
Technically, Enzo hadn’t done it for pleasure.
In a strange sense, he’d done it to protect me, but he didn’t have to go to such extreme measures. Simply punching the guy and leaving would’ve sufficed. De-eyeballing him wasn’t necessary.
I’d learned that simplicity wasn’t Enzo’s style. He liked to be batshit crazy at all times. After meeting his father and brother, I understood where he had gotten it from. His father had had no issue stomping that guy’s face in.
Jett had been right. They were most definitely Mafia.
While the man had been banging on my window and I was terrified, I could never paint Enzo as my knight in shining armor.
He was a killer who had killed that guy. Who killed Jett. Who might’ve killed his last Fawn … and I was sure plenty of other people.
Enzo drove through the neighborhood, passing run-down, neglected houses. We drove by homeless people sleeping on the streets and in tents. He suddenly slammed on the brakes to let an elderly woman cross the road.
A hint of a smile touched my lips at the softness on his face when he gestured for her to go forward. She raised her hand in a silent thank you before pushing her shopping cart ahead.
My smile dropped into a frown as my eyes met her saggy ones steeped in sorrow. Her cart was filled with random bags and clothing, telling me she was also homeless.
With my chest caving in, I knew that could’ve been the reality of my mother and me if my stepfather hadn’t stepped in.
When she was safely on the other side of the road, Enzo hit the gas. He maintained a normal speed until we left the residential area and reached the highway.
As if speed limits didn’t exist and he possessed no patience, he weaved between cars and lanes, not caring if the line separating the lanes was solid or dotted.
I sat in the leather seat, staring at him and committing his features to memory. After the funeral, he’d shed his blazer, draped it on the hook over the back seat, and pushed his sleeves to his elbows.
Tiny droplets of blood dotted his sleeve. The tendons in his jaw moved as he swallowed. He was always tense. I doubted even the best day of his life had brought him peace.
He darted around an eighteen-wheeler. His mouth was slightly parted, as if he was lost in thought.
How could someone so demented inside be so utterly gorgeous?
Before the Devil’s downfall, the Bible described him as being a creature of beauty and perfection, but that very beauty bred arrogance and corruption. The demon by my side was beautiful, too, but unlike the biblical Devil, Enzo’s looks weren’t marred by his sins.
Dark memories drifted into my thoughts, and I remembered how I’d been accused of something so similar. My father had claimed that my beauty meant I had been sent by the Devil to spread evil.
“Now, Blair,” Enzo said, snapping me out of going to that dark place, “we need to have a little chat.” He ran his finger over his ring.
“I’d rather we spend the car ride in silence,” I replied, flicking my nail against the thick stitching in the leather console.
“You have no say in the matter.”
“I can keep my mouth shut and not say anything.” I crossed my arms with a heavy huff. “How about that? It’s not like you can pry my mouth open.”
A smile tugged on his lips, and I should’ve known that was a prologue to his violence. He jerked the wheel so hard that my head connected with the window. Pain shot through my skull.
I worked my jaw to each side.
That was his soft caution to me to check my attitude.
A threat that, yes, he could pry my mouth open if he wanted. With how demented he was, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could crawl down my throat, collect all the words I’d swallowed for years, and drag them back up to answer his questions.
Frowning, I rubbed the side of my head, still not speaking.
“Tell me about your stepfather,” he said.
“Why?” I snapped.
“I’m curious.”
I tilted my head to the side, biting into my lip. “A question for a question.”
“I don’t do ultimatums, Blair.” He stepped on the gas, passing two cars, and a semi honked when he cut it off.
My heart was beating at the same speed as the car’s.
“What’s his name?” he asked.
“Bill.”
He scoffed, throwing me a dirty look. “That’s not his name.”
My brows furrowed as I tried to match his expression. “How do you know?”
“What’s he do for work?”
“Finance.”
“What’s his last name?” He fired the questions fast, trying to trip me up.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me, Blair.” His dark eyes stayed on the road as the sun set to our right.
“Seriously, I don’t know. I’ve met him maybe a handful of times. They prefer me away, which is why I’m at Saint Vale. Since the day my mother met him, I’ve either been at some boarding school or university.”
He drummed his hand against the steering wheel, thinking.
Of my punishment, probably. Or the next psychotic thing to do to terrify me.
He leveled his elbow on the center console, glaring at me. “Do you want me to take your eye next?”
“I’d prefer you not because I still won’t have that answer for you.”
“I believe those words would change if I had a scalpel to your eye.” He mockingly winked at me before making a slice motion under his brow. “I think you’d tell me everything I wanted to know about what was in your pretty little head.”
I raised a shoulder, a sarcastic expression on my face. “So you think I’m pretty.”
“I wouldn’t have had you on your knees, choking on my cock, if I didn’t.”
I coughed, suppressing any argument I had back.
“Why did the government seal your records?”
How did he know that?
That meant he was getting too close to things I didn’t want him to know.
Things he wasn’t allowed to know.
I tried to hide the fear sinking inside me. “I don’t know what records you’re referring to.”
He lowered the window, and a rush of cold air smacked me in the face. I held in a breath as he veered sharply into the other lane. Since that was what he’d done the entire drive, I expected him to rejoin the correct lane.
He stomped on the gas pedal, and we sped ahead, driving straight toward incoming traffic. The semi barreling in our direction blared its horn.
“You won’t do it,” I said through gritted teeth as I tried to maintain my composure and not let him witness my fear. My hair flew in every direction, and I swatted it away to keep my eyes on the road ahead of us.
He gripped the steering wheel tight with both hands, as if he were a race-car driver on his final lap, and turned his head. His haunting eyes locked with mine, brimmed with challenge.
I looked away, my lip trembling as we got closer to the semi.
“Don’t tell me I won’t do something. It only makes me enjoy that challenge,” he said. “I value no lives, Blair. Including my own.”
I winced, cupping my hands over my ears at the semi’s blaring horn in the background.
The tight knot in my throat dissolved as I screamed, “Okay! Okay! My stepfather had them sealed!”
The semi’s blinding headlights pierced the car, and I squeezed my eyes shut as Enzo jerked the wheel back into our lane, narrowly missing a minivan. He didn’t ease the gas once we were safely back in our lane, keeping his illegal speed as he continued driving toward the university.
I sat there, heart pounding, waiting for him to list off the rest of his questions about everything he wanted to know. I didn’t blame him for his curiosity, especially for someone who had access to everything like he did.
It was why the records had been sealed to begin with.
That way, no one knew who I was or where I’d come from.
The rest of the traffic grew more distant, and we passed fewer cars the closer we got to returning to Saint Vale.
Enzo went quiet at the wheel, his lack of speaking pissing me off after he’d jeopardized my life for a question that he didn’t even follow up with.
Staring out the window, I didn’t say a word as my body shook. I rested my head against it and released deep sighs to relax.
I drew back when he turned onto a gravel path with a rusted sign that said PRIVATE PROPERTY.
He drove a few feet until we were completely hidden among tall trees, and the highway was no longer visible. My muscles tightened when he released his seat belt, and I balled my fist around the door handle.
I gasped as he climbed over the console and quickly straddled me in my seat.
It was a tight fit, and his weight kept me in place. I attempted to wriggle, lifting my hips to buck him off me, as he pinned my wrists above my head.
I writhed, terrified of what his next move would be, while breathing in the scent of him, mingled with the seat’s fresh leather.
He rammed his hips into mine, pushing me more into the seat. “I want answers, Blair.”
I hated that I groaned before crying out, “I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t have the answers you’re looking for.”
“You have secrets.” He lowered his head to the crook of my neck and sucked on my skin. “You know why I love cracking open people’s secrets?”
Goose bumps dotted my skin, and I trembled when he released one of my hands. His rough palm skimmed beneath my dress as I squirmed underneath him.