Chapter 52

FIFTY-TWO

I keep my eyes closed as long as I can, knowing something is wrong. My brain is foggy, and my body feels sluggish and off. I attempt to force myself to relax as I try to remember what happened, but everything is obscured by smoke. Every time I think I have an answer, it's swallowed up by the darkness.

I'm breathing too loudly, and something is across my mouth. Slowly, my body starts to wake up, and I realize why it feels so wrong. My arms are bound behind me, and when I twist my wrist, something constricts them. Slowly, I test my legs and find each tied with something as well.

What the fuck is happening?

I know I need to look and find out, but fear fills me. Something inside me tells me not to, that I don't want to know.

"I know you're awake." The female voice echoes slightly. "You can't pretend. The drugs I gave you are short-lived, just enough to get you where I need you for now."

The voice is familiar, and it sets off alarms in my head, but I can't figure out why. I try to fight the fog when I hear footsteps treading closer, stopping before me, then warm breath wafts over my face. " Open your eyes," she whispers seductively, but I ignore her, trying to push the drug out of my system faster.

"Open your eyes!" The slap makes my eyes open and clash with hers.

Clarissa.

Everything comes back, leaving me gasping and struggling.

"There you are." She grips my face, stopping my struggles as she perches on my knee where I'm tied to a chair, blocking everything else out. "Your eyes, they are so bright." She rubs her fingers under my eyes, making me jerk my head away in disgust. Bile crawls up my throat as I finally get a good look at the room we are in, and I frown in confusion.

This is Rose Manor. The living room is dark, but I would know it anywhere. The question is, how does she?

I meet her eyes as she tilts her head. Her gaze runs across my face obsessively, and I want to recoil from her, but there is nowhere to go. Alek and the others must know by now, right? They will be looking for me. Alek would never let me go. I just need to hold on or get out of here.

She's only one woman—a crazy one, but one woman.

"You are much prettier than him. I do like a pretty face," she whispers, and my eyes widen as she drags the sharp tip of a needle across my cheek. "Now behave or I'll knock you out again. I would much prefer to have you awake so we can speak. I don't want any lies between us."

Breathing heavily, I mumble behind the tape across my mouth, and her eyebrows rise.

"If I take this off, will you behave? If you don't, I will be very angry."

I jerk my head in a nod, playing along for now. She watches me for another minute before standing and putting the needle away. Leaning down, she rips off the tape, making me groan. "Aww, did that hurt? Let me make it better." She kisses me hard. I try to tug away, but her hand grabs my hair, keeping me in place. I keep my lips locked as bile and shame roll through me. Finally, she pulls away, licking my lips and then hers. "Soft like I knew they would be."

I want to gag, but I swallow it back, refusing to show weakness in front of her. She's crazy, so who knows what she will do if I piss her off. No, I need to play this smart.

"Why are we here?" I ask, my voice rough and throat scratchy.

"I needed a place for us to wait until sunrise, until all the police officers are too busy catching him to look for us. What a better place than where it all started?" I frown, and she laughs as she sits down on the sofa opposite me. "You don't know? I was a member too, a long time ago. Hell, he introduced me to it himself. He flirted and played with me. I didn't know then, but he did it with everyone. I thought I was special. I'll admit I became a little . . . obsessed and unhinged. When he turned me down, I thought if I could just get him to see me, he'd understand, but he was always surrounded by people, so I removed them so he would notice me, but he got mad. However, my dad was sick. He'd been working at one of Ellis Ford's factories when he fell ill. He felt so guilty, so I used it." She smirks.

"I used it to keep us attached, even after we made the deal. He would take all the blame, and I would leave him alone. The idiot felt so guilty for his friends' deaths, blaming himself for me, that he took all responsibility, ruining his future. It was good, and I would wait for him to come back to me, but then he started teaching here." She stands. "And he met her. The moment I saw the way he looked at her, I knew he wanted her. He tried to keep his distance so he could keep her safe, but I saw it." She stops before me then, tilting my head back.

"I was going to kill her, but then I saw you and I understood, but then you met me and you were so kind. I knew you felt the same way I did, but you were trapped, even though you couldn't admit it, so I made a deal with him. He could have her if I got you. In return, I'd let her live, but he had to get rid of everyone around you to free you." She straddles me again. "Don't you see? I freed you. I freed you from them so we could be together. I did it all for you."

"And Ford and Alice?" I whisper, fighting back my sickness.

"He can have her," she scoffs. "It won't be for long. The idiot didn't understand that he wouldn't get out of tonight alive or without being thrown in jail. He'll take the fall for everything just like he did in the past. This time, his daddy can't save him. No money can, and I'll be free to have you for the rest of our lives. I don't need him anymore." She strokes my cheek as she speaks, petting me like a dog. "I have you, and we'll be together forever."

"Your father?—"

"Is dead," she reminds me. "A necessary evil. He started to suspect something was wrong with me and kept trying to warn people, even you. Honestly, he was a terrible father. He was always working and too busy to notice me. I think that's why he never realized what I was like. It was a shame he died of his illness—the one I made." I frown harder. "I needed an excuse to be tied to him, so I made him sick like some of the other workers, and I kept him sick, but he outlived his purpose just like everyone else."

Jesus Christ, she's utterly insane.

"Why me?" I ask, trying to keep her talking as I twist my hands, attempting to break the bindings while she speaks. I need to get out of here before she realizes I'm placating her and she drugs me again. I can't fight her when I'm drugged, and I have a horrible feeling I know what she will do to me.

She thinks I'm hers, just like he was.

"I watched you. At first, I thought you were dating Alice and that I could use you, but then I realized you were just friends. I let him think otherwise, though, to make him mad. But why you? You're pretty, so pretty, and you see this world for what it really is. You see the monsters in it, and you aren't scared to do what you need to do to get what you need and want, and when you touched my hand? I liked that. You hide everything behind a pretty smile, but there's a killer in you, Evan. I just need to push you hard enough, and then you'll be my perfect partner."

"You're wrong," I hiss.

"Am I? Tonight, you would have killed Stan if you had the chance." I shake my head in denial, and she grins. "Liar," she whispers into my ear before biting it as I jerk away. "You wanted to kill him, I saw it, especially when he killed your friend, the one always hanging onto you. What was his name? Tommy?"

I snarl, jerking against my restraints, and she falls from my lap from the force, the chair creaking. Laughing, she climbs to her feet as I swear. "Don't you fucking say his name."

"There you are," she purrs breathlessly. "So beautiful, that darkness you hide from everyone, born from pain, from surviving this world. We are the same side of a coin, Evan. Don't you realize that? I knew it the moment I saw you. I knew you belonged with me."

"Fuck you!" I scream, refusing to play along. I tug at my hands, feeling my wrists cut and bleed. "I'm nothing like you! Nothing, you sick bitch, and I will never be yours."

"You are mine!" she screams in my face, backhanding me, and I taste blood.

Laughing, I spit it at her. "No, I'm not. I won't ever be," I protest. "You make me sick."

"I will make you mine," she growls as she pulls at my jeans. My eyes widen, and my heart skips a beat.

"Get off me!" I yell, trying to push her away, tugging my legs and arms, but they are tied tightly. She manages to undo my button, and I start to truly panic. No, no, no, this can't be happening.

I struggle harder as she grins at me. "Let's see how much you protest after this—" I ram my head into hers, unable to do anything else to get her away from me. She stumbles back with a cry, clutching her nose, her eyes widening.

I panic at the fury I see in her gaze. She's crazy, and if I'm not useful to her, will she kill me?

"Evan," she warns.

"I want to know your plans," I tell her, hoping she believes it despite my outburst. "You're right. I've been hiding for so long. I can't just accept this."

She sighs, prodding her nose, and gives me a warning look. "I suppose I can accept that."

Jesus Christ .

A noise has her turning, and my eyes widen. I know that sound. It's the tunnel. Someone is coming.

It has to be Alek. He would never let me go. Worried she will attack him, I blurt out my next words.

"Kiss me, show me." She turns, distracted like I wanted, and despite feeling sick, I smile at her as seductively as I can. "Show me what it means to be yours."

God, even the words make me want to hurl, but I hold it back, and desire gleams in her eyes as she heads my way. She places her hands on my shoulders as I keep working my bleeding wrists, and she lowers herself onto my lap, grinding against me as her lips find mine. I have to fight not to throw up in her mouth as she gasps and kisses me.

My eyes are open, locked beyond her as I see the shadows move. There is more than just one person sneaking in behind her. They are all in robes, Silent Rose robes, and I frown in confusion, but when she goes to pull away, I open my mouth and let her deepen the kiss despite the sick feeling running through me.

One robed figure pushes his hood back, and Bones lifts his finger, pressing it against his lips, and I blink to let him know I understand as they hide.

Another robed figure is pushed from the tunnel, stumbling out. The sound makes her pull away.

I look past her and smile. "Looks like we have a visitor."

She turns, climbing from my lap to face the robed figure. The shape of them looks wrong, but I can't quite put my finger on why, and the robe conceals who it is.

Turning my head, I wipe my mouth on my shoulder as best as I can, feeling nauseous, and my eyes land on Alek, who's hiding in the dark. He winks at me and blows me a kiss, and I almost slump in relief, tears filling my eyes.

"I'm here, pretty boy," he mouths.

"Who are you?" she calls, and I turn forward to see her staring down the robed figure. I want to warn them, but Alek is asking me to trust him, as is Bones. I sit back, working my wrists harder, the blood making it easier, and I feel the binding loosen enough to start slipping my hands free.

The figure stumbles again, and the hood falls back, exposing Stan Ford's face. I just gape alongside her. "How did you get here?" she asks, hesitating, one hand clutching the needle she was going to use on me.

I need a distraction to get free. I need—an idea comes to mind, a bad one, but it's all I have. I don't know if this is what Alek planned, but it's too late to ask. "Kill him," I call. She glances back at me, and I smile. "He hurt me. If you love me, if you truly want me and say I belong to you, then kill him."

She turns back to him as he blinks, his lips twisting in a snarl, and I realize what's wrong—his arms are tied behind his back. "You," he hisses. "This is all your fault?—"

"He wants to take me from you," I say, egging her on. His eyes jerk to me, and he frowns. "He wants to kill us and run off with Alice. You can't have that. He can't have anyone else, and he can't hurt me. Kill him and we can be together."

"Shut up," he orders me and then looks at her. "Where is she? Where is Alice?"

"Alice, Alice, Alice," she repeats. "I am so sick of that name." She lunges at him, and he falls backward as she stabs him. He screams, unable to protect himself. I watch as she brings the needle down into his chest and neck over and over. He chokes on his blood, his eyes wide as she kills him.

I keep my eyes on her as I finally get my hands free.

I lunge from my chair and into Alek's waiting arms in the darkness. He cups my face and kisses me swiftly. "I knew you would come for me."

"I've got you," he promises. "It isn't over yet."

Someone thrusts a robe at me, and I struggle into it, confused, Clarissa's screams still reaching me. "Trust us," Alek murmurs as he pulls his hood up, covering his handsome face.

"Follow my lead, pretty boy. It's time to end this."

"You are one of us. It's our duty to stop you," someone calls—Autumn, I realize—as we climb to our feet and create a circle around Clarissa, who is panting, a bloody needle still clutched in her grip.

"You hurt one of ours and killed one of ours. Blood in, blood out," Bones calls. "It ends tonight."

She climbs to her feet, her eyes wild, then she lashes out. I gasp as Alek staggers back, the needle sticking from his chest. He plucks it free and tosses it away, but I know it had to hurt.

He's been chased, stabbed, and almost shot, and now he's bleeding again.

All for me, because of her.

Fury races through my blood, heating it as she stumbles backward, trying to find a way out. She might be a killer, but she isn't smarter than all of us, nor is she stronger. In the end, she's just a lonely, weak little girl.

I have an entire society.

Pushing my hood back, I step forward as I smirk at her in disgust. "You made a mistake," I say. "This is my house, this is my society, and that is my man."

I slam my fist into her face, knocking her to the floor as she gapes at me. "Evan?—"

"I'm not yours!" I yell as I hit her again, breathing heavily. I have no qualms about hurting her. She's a fucking killer, a goddamn virus, and maybe if someone had looked beyond her gender to the truth of her before now, Tommy might be alive.

I hit her again, and she takes it, not even fighting back, just looking up at me before she smiles. "I told you that you're like me."

I silence her by slamming my fist into her face once more.

I am not like her.

I'm not.

"Evan." A hand catches my bloody fist, and I look up, meeting Alek's eyes. "It's over. "

"She's still breathing. I won't let her hurt you again," I warn.

The smile he gives me heats my blood, even here. "She won't, but I won't let you become a killer, not even for me, pretty boy." He pulls me into his arms, wrapping one across my chest as I press against his body, his chin going to my shoulder as we look at her. "She's done. It's over."

I can't believe it.

It can't be . . .

Tonight has been one long nightmare, so I can't seem to relax, but when he turns me and presses his forehead to mine, I see the truth in his eyes.

"It's over, baby. I promise," he whispers. "You are safe, I'm safe, and Alice is safe. We are all okay. It's over. It really is."

I don't know why, but I start to cry, and before I know it, I'm sobbing in his arms as he holds me. More arms surround me, and I lift my head to see Alice, Lally, Bones, and Sky. They hold me as I cry until I pull back and wipe my face, looking at Clarissa just as dawn breaks through the glass window, illuminating the space.

"Now what?" I whisper.

"Now we go home." Alek kisses my cheek.

"He's right, go home," Autumn says. "We'll take care of everything."

I hesitate, and Bones nods. "The police are already on the way. We'll tell them everything. They'll want to speak to you, but our lawyers have already been contacted. Everything will go through them. This won't touch your future, and we'll control the stories that are released. We'll take care of everything; it's what we do. We are family. Now go home and rest."

"He's so hot when he's in control," Skylar whispers to me, making me choke and smile despite everything.

Alek picks my wrist up, frowning at the bleeding skin there. "Yes, and we'll get you cleaned up and treated."

"Me? You were stabbed twice tonight," I mutter as he leads me toward the tunnel.

"That's right." Sky slings his arm over Alek's other side as Alice and Lally shake their heads and walk in front of us. "Who gets stabbed twice? Seriously?"

"Not this again." Alek groans as I grin.

"Hey, Evan." I turn back to catch the phone Bones throws at me. " That's yours. Don't let the dead control you. We survived, and that's all that matters. Leave everything else in the past." He turns away. "Let's sort this mess out. It started with a Silent Rose member, and it will end with us too."

Smiling, I clutch my phone. I know he's right.

Tonight was the most horrendous night of my life, but looking at those surrounding me, I know it would have been a lot worse without them. I am so thankful they are at my side and that they love me. No matter what happens now, I won't ever let them go.