58. Kiera
KIERA
Eager to leave the weight of the conversation behind us, I let Dom help me into the Camaro and drive away into the night. I still wasn’t sure where we were going, and for a moment, I didn’t care.
As long as we’re far away from this haunted fucking house.
Though the car ride was long, the silence stretching between us was longer: it seemed that we’d left everything there was to say on the garage floor.
For months, we’d barely spoken — by her own design, I now realized. And now that I knew her secret, I wasn’t sure what to say.
A saccharine smirk tugged at my lips with that thought. When we were kids, Madeline and I had been inseparable. I was always chasing after her, trying to be like her, thinking that everything she did was so cool.
Even as she’d become a teenager and our lives became more complicated, she was always a steadying presence for me. She was the only person who bothered to ask about my interests, let alone check on me. She never made me feel like the annoying little kid tagging along with her.
But those innocent versions of us had both shattered a long time ago. The woman beside me whiteknuckling the steering wheel was not the little girl I used to know. Our history would always linger, but she was someone different now. So was I.
And now that the wall between us was crumbling, I owed her the grace of letting her be someone new: of meeting this new version of her with an open heart.
Because she was so fucking delicate with my heart last time.
I rolled my eyes, as frustrated by my own irritation as much as anything else. Maybe she did mean everything she’d said, or maybe it was all a bullshit apology. Another lie to get what she wanted from me.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
My thoughts were so consuming that I didn’t realize we’d gotten anywhere until Dom parked the car on a side street in the city and hopped out of the driver’s seat. My heart clenched as I peered out the window, hoping the tinted windows did something to obscure my face.
For months, Dom had been keeping me locked up inside her mansion for safety, insisting that I wear some itchy fucking wig or disguise every time I stepped foot off of our turf. So on what fucking planet was she willing to flaunt me on a major city street full of security cameras?
As she cruised around the car and popped open my door, I leaned toward the center console. “Someone’s going to see…”
But Dom simply shook her head, glancing up at the nearest security camera outside of a shuttered Parisian cafe. “No they won’t. Cameras are out anywhere within ten blocks of here.”
My brow furrowed. “How…?”
“Anyone using Zeus’ security software is experiencing ‘routine maintenance’ disruptions tonight. And anyone who isn’t got their lines clipped…”
I gawked up at her, but she simply shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t look at me like that. A very generous electrician will be making the rounds tomorrow to fix it, free of charge. But for tonight…”
She held her hand out to me, offering to help me out of the car. It still felt odd, after months of the cold shoulder, to let Dom help me. But the devil I knew was probably better than being stubborn and busting my ass in these heels.
I grasped her strong hand, the warmth of her palm sending a fresh wave of goosebumps over my skin. I had known Dom forever, but apparently, the time apart had morphed our closeness into… something I wasn’t sure what to do with.
As I looked up at the cafe’s dead camera, I was struck again by how much had changed — and how powerful Dom’s position and wealth had made her in our time apart. Realizing just how much she could get away with was as impressive as it was terrifying.
But even through my nerves, I looped my arm through hers, letting her lead me down the block. Despite all of the shops being closed this time of night, it felt nice to walk out in the open like a normal person. Just this brief taste of normalcy would have been enough of a gift.
But when Dom did something, she did it all the way. And I knew that around one of these corners, there was something big waiting for us.
What would even be open this time of night?
I racked my brain for an answer, but before I could wager a guess, Dom stopped in front of a frosted glass door and began fishing a small key from her pocket. Peering up at the sign over the door, my heart pounded in my chest.
I glanced back at her in time for her to swing the door open, holding it as she gestured for me to enter. “An art gallery?”