Instead, I let the panic chase me down the stone steps.
Everything burned as I sucked in lungfuls of cold-mountain air.
Above, the stars were strewn on forever, so dense they appeared knitted together, a glittering blanket that went on for an eternity that I refused to continue to live.
A life that had been chosen for me.
My heels clacked against the pavement, my movements inhibited by the ridiculous dress, one that was slit up high on one side, my legs bare underneath.
Another showpiece.
Dressed as a jewel.
I’d worn it to do a man’s bidding. A part I refused to continue to play.
Hugging my coat tightly, I ran as quickly as I could down the long driveway.
Ran with the lights of the mansion fading in the distance. Through the gate and out onto the side of the winding road shrouded by thick forest that rose up on all sides and into the cover of snow that blanketed the earth.
I ran until there was only darkness and stars and pavement underneath.
Ran until my breaths puffed in white plumes from my burning lungs, and I heard the loud roar of an engine coming up quick from behind, the spray of headlights illuminating the dense, dark night.
I simply ran.
But I knew, no matter how far I ran, I had nowhere to go.
THREE
LOGAN
The engine growledas I accelerated and rounded a sharp curve just on the other side of the gate. She couldn’t have gotten far, but I still felt like I was in a race against…something.
Dread.
Hate.
Possession.
I didn’t know.
I just knew it was straight-up chaos that whipped a tornado of need in my chest.
A toiling that writhed in that cynical pit that festered deep inside me. It seemed no matter how much I had, there was always this thirst for something that was just out of reach.
More, more, more.
I should have known it could never be sated when I’d been fighting for the wrong damned thing.
The bedlam eased a fraction when I saw a flurry of white up ahead, her thick coat glowing in the hazy dome of my headlights, silver heels glinting in the rays as she fumbled down the edge of the road.
Relief pounded through my bloodstream.
Only the sight of her spiked something else, too. A dark pleasure that rattled my bones. A sickening satisfaction that she was there.
I braked hard when I caught up, the car skidding to a stop two feet in front of her. Reaching over the console, I pushed open the passenger door.
“Are you hiding from me?” I couldn’t stop it from riding out.