“Please,” Willow says, rolling her eyes and turning back to me. “It won’t be something that you’re not willing to do. The Shadows aren’t those kinds of monsters.”
There’s a darkness in her eyes at the end, like clouds that sweep over the sun, leaving you shivering, and I’m reminded that Willow has her own past, her own tale of woe that she’s yet to share. I won’t push her though. She’ll tell me when she’s good and ready.
“How about a movie?” I suggest, grabbing her hand and leading her to the sofa, making scooting motions with my other hand at Loki and Jax so they give us some space.
“I’ll make some popcorn,” Kai offers, putting down his iPad and getting up to go over to the kitchen.
“Sweet and salty?” I ask, giving him pleading eyes, and he chuckles, placing a kiss on my lips as he passes.
“Of course, darling,” he replies softly, and I beam at him.
“Urgh, you’re all so in love it’s almost sickening,” Willow mock-scoffs, and I stick out my tongue, knowing that she doesn’t mean it.
“So, tell me all the gossip that I’ve missed out on,” I command her, and she wrinkles her nose as she thinks for a moment.
“Honestly? Not much happened,” she says, and then her eyebrows lift as she clearly thinks of something. “Oh! There was one thing now that I think about it.” She leans closer. “The ex-Governor’s daughter has gone missing, presumed kidnapped but no one knows for sure. Apparently, his son, R-something, used to go here but left shortly after Halloween last year, no one knows why.”
“Robert?” I ask, my heart beating fast at the mention of my would-be rapist.
“Yes! That’s the one! His sister went missing as it’s been all over the local news. She’s just vanished without a trace, kinda like you.” She winces as she says the last part. “Soz, babe.”
“It’s okay,” I reply absently, looking up at Ash whose jaw is clenched. “Did you know?”
“Of course,” he answers, arching one perfect brow in that way of his. “It wasn’t important, given the circumstances.”
Oh yeah, given my abduction he means. Fair point.
“Well, I hope that they find her soon,” I say to the room.
“I hope that they don’t,” Kai murmurs as he walks back, carrying drinks while the popcorn begins to ping in the pan. I look at him.
“Why?”
“The shit that we planted on the Governor’s laptop was nothing compared to the rumours of what he’d planned to do to his daughter. Word was that he’d put her virginity up for sale to the highest bidder, so long as they had good connections,” he sneers, and suddenly I feel sick, taking my iced tea from him but not wanting to take a sip after that.
“What?! But he went to prison, didn’t he?” I ask him, a coldness spreading across my limbs.
“Twelve-month suspended sentence provided he undertook psychiatric treatment,” Kai practically spits out, his nostrils flared. “He argued that he wasn’t well and needed help.”
“Plus, the Benjamins helped,” Loki adds, his upper lip curled in a sneer.
“Why is it always the rich ones? Why does their money make them untouchable?” I ask, my eyes stinging as I think about the things that I—and my mother—have had to suffer at the hands of these corrupt, despicable men.
No one can give me an answer, and we sit in silence for a few moments, each lost in our own morbid thoughts.
“So, how’s the baby?” Willow finally asks, and I give her a grateful smile.
We spend the rest of the afternoon catching up a little—though Willow is careful not to ask about my time in England and mostly regales me with all the latest Highgate gossip—and watching terrible rom coms on the massive TV. It’s so normal that my skin begins to itch, and I fake exhaustion to go upstairs to Loki’s room, well, my room too, as I don’t want Luc’s old room now even though Ash did offer it to me. I need some time alone, still not used to so much contact with different people. I get jittery seeing the tightness in Willow’s and the guys’ eyes as they glance at me. We all know something is up, I’m not the same girl as I was before, and I hate that they might think it’s them that’s the issue. It’s not, it’s me. I’m…broken.
And that pisses me off. The fact that that cuntbag, Adrian, has made me feel uncomfortable with the people that I love. Has changed me irrevocably that I feel like I no longer know myself.
Isn’t the princess meant to live happily ever after once the bad guy has been slain by her knights?
Yet, he isn't—wasn’t—the only villain of my story, was he? I only have to think of Julian cuntish Vanderbilt’s wicked smile and lingering touch, Rafe Griffith’s lecherous gaze, and John Matthews’—fucking paedo prick—cruel words.
No, Adrian Ramsey was not the only evil that needed to be eradicated. There are still yet more waiting for their karma.
Sunday night rolls around and I can’t sleep, slipping out from between Ash and Kai who did their best to exhaust my body with so many orgasms I lost count. But my mind won’t settle, the sticky dread of what tomorrow morning will bring occupying my jumbled thoughts. It’s the first day back in class, and I don’t know how I’m meant to function, how I’m meant to be after all this time of being away.