Chapter 20
ZEKE
Eden
“There,” I grit as I close out of Luca’s Instagram account. “It’s sent. Now can I go see her?”
It’s been over a week since he’s let me see my sister.
After my trip to Miami, I barely made it home. Whatever cocktail of poison Luca hit me with had me crawling. Literally. I hardly had anyt ime for the antidote to disperse through my veins before the asshole jabbed me with another needle.
Then he sent Ivan and me on another errand. More prepping for one of his sick little trials he’s got planned for her boyfriends. I know why he’s doing it, keeping me away. He wants me out of her orbit so he can turn her into his little perfect Izzy all over again.
He’s changed since she’s arrived here. He’s angrier with me. Like Bella not remembering a life she never lived is somehow my fault.
I told him I could still do it. That I could get her there. That this shit would take time, but he’s not listening. He’s not hearing me.
My control over him is slipping. I can feel it in the way he looks at me now. No longer lustful… or loving. Like he no longer wants it to be the three of us anymore. Only the two of them and I’m just in his fucking way.
He hasn’t tried to touch me once since I got back. I know I shouldn’t care, but a small part of me does.
No, you don’t care. You can’t care. Stay focused.
Remember who the fuck you are!
Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.
“Very well,” Luca says, smug as ever. “I guess you’ve earned a little time with her.”
When I step inside of Bella’s room, she’s not here. For a moment, I just stand frozen. My sister’s signature cherry and vanilla scent hitting me like a gut punch sending memories of our life in New York running through my mind.
Then I notice something on Bella’s pillow. Claire’s letter.
I sit down on the edge of her bed and unfold it, my eyes scanning the words. Every line feels like someone dragging a blade across old wounds.
It’s because of me his obsession didn’t die with your mother.
“God, Claire. None of this was your fault,” I whisper into the air.
Play his game, but never let him win.
I scoff. “Yeah that’s working great for me so far.”
When he starts to slip, and he will, look him in the eyes and remind him who he is. Your brother. Your family.
“Fuck, Claire. I’m so sorry.” A tear slides down my cheek. I catch it with a shaky finger before it blurs the ink.
As I close the letter, I notices Bella’s handwriting on the back. I open it back up and flip it over.
“What the hell?” I mumble as I begin to read.
IZZY CHEAT SHEET
Roses were her favorite flower.
She liked wine. Gross wine that is bitter as shit. CHOKE IT DOWN!
He took her to Florence after making the Revs. (BIG FUCKING DEAL SO QUIT FORGETTING!)
Ivan is Krolek’s brother and Luca’s cousin.
Luca is allergic to peanuts… go find some!
He will fold if you cry so weaponize that shit!
Zeke was taken so he could gain more access to you, but then he started to fall for him? IDK… ask Zeke more about this one!
Apparently she really liked the Spice Girls.
Don’t forget to find Mama’s necklace!
They met when they were 6.
Luca was jealous of Daddy… is that whay he killed him? FIND OUT!
She only liked strawberry milkshakes.
You IZZY hated thunderstorms! -ISABELLA MARIE BLACKWOOD
#11 yes that’s why he killed him. It’s my fault
“Zeke?” Bella says, standing in the doorway wrapped in a towel.
I hold up the list. “Bells, what is this?”
“Seriously, that’s what you’re worried about right now?” she barks, yanking the letter out of my grip. “You’ve been ghosting me for days.”
“I haven’t been ghosting you.”
“Then where the hell have you been?” she ask, full of sass with her hands on her hips.
I laugh, shaking my head. “Just get dressed.” I glance up to the camera in the corner. “In your closet.”
“Obviously.” She rolls her eyes and stomps into the closet to change.
There she is. Fuck, I’ve missed her. Even when she’s being a dramatic pain in my ass.
“So where were you?” she snaps from the closet.
“Miami.”
Her head pops out of the doorway, soaked black waves dripping on the hardwood. “Miami?!”
“Yes, Bells. Miami.”
“What the hell were you doing back there?”
“I’ll tell you once you get dressed and get out here.”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Fine.”
After a few minutes, she’s dressed, somewhat dried, and sitting on the bed waiting for me to start talking.
“Where do you want me to begin?” I ask.
“Well,” she says, leaning back on the headboard. “I don’t know, maybe with the fact that you were in Miami while I was forced to play house with a deranged psychopath! Or the fact that you’ve apparently been sleeping with—gross, I can’t even say it.”
I huff a laugh.
“It’s not funny.” Her steel gray eyes glare at me.
“Tell me about it,” I say. “I’m the one who had to live through it.”
“Or this,” she says, sighing as she holds up the letter.
“Okay.” I nod. “What do you want to know?”
“All of it,” she says while handing me the letter. “I want to know it all.”
I shift my weight to the center of the bed, blocking her from view of the camera. She notices.
“Can he?”
“Yeah,” I confirm. “Don’t know if he’s watching or not but just in case.”
“Got it.” She leans around me and flips off the camera.
“Really?”
“What?” she asks. A small smile curves at her lips. “Start talking Bruce Wayne.”
I can’t help but laugh as déjà vu hits me. “Alright,” I begin. “So like I told you before, when I first arrived it wasn’t here.”
“Right.” She nods. “The ninja turtle sewer.”
“Yeah. Except when I woke up chained to the wall, I wasn’t alone. Claire was there chained up as well, bloody and bruised right next to me.”
Bella gasps.
“She helped me through everything. Cleaned me up when Luca beat me for the stupidest shit.”
“Like what stupid shit?” she asks.
“He wanted me to upgrade the collars. Make them shock and poison whoever it was on. Had me test it on innocent people. But I tried to tell him that I was just a hacker and—”
The memory flashes. The smell of charred flesh. Their screams begging me to turn it off. What I did to those poor, innocent people.
I shake out of it.
“Every time I failed, his anger grew. Until one day I finally got it right.” I scratch at my neck under the collar. “Only to be rewarded with the upgraded version of the collar strapped to mine and Claire’s neck.”
She sighs. “Zeke.”
“I know.” I reach out for her hand, she takes it. “She talked about you all the time.”
She tries to smile through the tears. “What’d she say?”
“That she loved you more than anything in the world. That she was proud of you. And that she hoped he’d never get his hands on you.”
She nods.
“Claire was,” I say, blinking fast. “She was an amazing woman. Saved my life in here. More than once.”
I look down at the letter, catching another tear before it falls to it.
“Relax.” Luca says, his breath hot against my neck. “You can do it. I know you can.”
“Please,” I whisper as the sting grows. “Just… just stop.”
“Now why would I do that?” he laughs in my ear. “We’re just getting to know each other.”
“No.”
“One day soon,” he grunts. “You’ll be begging me for this.”
“No.”
???
BELLA
Day 22 in Eden
“Zeke,” I say, shaking his shoulders. “Zeke!”
“NO!” he yells as he finally snaps out of whatever nightmare he was just tangled up in. His whole body is shaking, sweat dripping from his forehead. Aunt Claire’s letter is a crumpled up mess in his fist.
“Shit, I’m s-sorry,” he rasps, trying to flatten it back out on his jeans. “I didn’t mean to ruin—”
“Hey,” I cut him off, my hands reaching up to cup his face. “Zeke, just breathe.”
He flinches at my touch and I hate it. I’m going to take my time filleting Luca for everything he’s done to my big brother.
“You’re fine,” I whisper, even though I don’t believe my own words. “I’m here.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m nowhere near fine.”
“You will be.” I grip the back of his neck and yank his head down until our foreheads collide.
“What is your name?” I whisper.
“What?”
“What is your fucking name?” I repeat, more sternly this time.
He nods against me. “Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.”
“Again.”
“Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.”
“Again.”
“Bells,” he whispers.
“Again!” My voice cracks.
“Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.”
“Good,” I say, pulling away and wiping a tear off my cheek. “Do you want to talk about where you just went?”
He shakes his head violently. “I-I-I can’t, Bells.”
“Okay. Okay.” I say, reaching for his hand. He doesn’t retreat from my touch this time. “But if you ever want to, I’m here.”
“I know.” He squeezes my hand. “I know.”
“Change of subject?” I ask, keeping my voice soft.
“Please,” he says through a small laugh, releasing my hand.
“Alright,” I continue. “Miami. Why the hell did he send you there?”
He lets out a long sigh. “For the trials.”
My brows pinch. “The what?”
“Bells, I don’t really know how to tell you this. It’s like this… a game. Well, sort of. I mean…” he starts rambling. “Luca has these… well they’re these—”
“Just tell me,” I snap. “Please.”
“He’s putting your boyfriends through trials out there.”
“Why?” I sit up straighter on the bed, criss-crossing my legs.
“Between buying time for you to remember that you’re Izzy and making them suffer for touching what he thinks is his, I guess.”
I blink back the tears. “What sort of trials?”
“Twisted ones that are built to break their spirits,” he says, looking off at the mural. “Twelve of them.”
“Twelve?!”
He looks back at me. “Yeah, but it’s ok. We’re gonna get out before then.”
“How? You’re forgetting the part about the electroshock poisonous bomb collars strapped to our necks.”
“Still working on it.” He shrugs, scratching at the skin under his collar. “I’m never around a computer long enough without him hovering.”
“Perfect,” I groan while picking at my leggings. “So what is he making them do?”
“It’s different each time, sort of,” he begins. “He’s got them tailored to each guy. He’s got Cade out there doing art projects and Lex…”
He pauses.
My fingers freeze. “Lex what?”
Zeke swallows. “Luca’s created his version of the initiation to the Hollow Kings for Lex.”