Page 45 of The Predator
“When did this turn into a negotiation?”
She grins. “I’m not negotiating. I will do whatever you want me to do within reason. I just don’t want to lose any more of the person I am to the darkness of this life. I’ve sacrificed so much, too much at the cost of my own happiness, and I can’t do that anymore.”
She’s right and I can’t deny her happiness, not when I know how much all of this is hurting her. I have to keep her safe but not suffocate her. I’ve never seen her as a possession or item. Never seen her as anything other than Elyse, but I guess I need to work on showing her.
“Okay, but Ely?”
She tilts her head in reply, waiting. “Just know you will never be lost in the darkness. I live here, Little Prey. The dark is my home, and I’ll make you my beacon in it if that’s what you want.”
She only smiles, but it’s the kind of smile which makes me hope for better days, and when she feeds me another fork full of eggs, I take it.
Anything to bring her back to me, to bring us back to the way things used to be.
CHAPTER 13
ELYSE
After that night, we fall into this strange rhythm. I mean if you call tiptoeing around each other for fear of causing a catastrophic crash arhythm. As time passes and I think more about him killing his grandfather, I become less frightened and more understanding. I can’t judge him for what he did. I don't know the entire story, since he hasn't deigned to share it with me, but I have no doubt Sebastian had his reasons.
As I had mine. It was survival. Kill or be killed. I know this, and it’s the only thing I can tell myself to stop the guilt from eating me alive. I’m coming to terms with what I did. I hate it, but I also know I had no other option. Now my father wants to meet with Sebastian to discuss what will happen with me, as if I’m an object to be bartered.
I hate it. I hate him.
My father is the one who did this to me. Yes, Yanov might’ve been the one inflicting pain, but my father…he played the biggest role in my abuse. He sold me, offered me to his friends, and planned to marry me off to whoever gave him the most money.
Anger festers deep in my gut. I hate him, and I hate that everyone in this town thinks he’s the hero, when in reality he’swhat nightmares are made of. There’s no one as evil as him, no one who will go to the lengths he goes to to get what he wants.
That’s part of the reason I have a difficult time believing Sebastian. Not because I don’t think he can protect me, but because I know my father and what he will do. I’m not only afraid for myself, but for Sebastian, too. He has success, money, and power. Why would he risk all of those things for me? Why would he sacrifice so much?
Confusion accompanies that thought every time it surfaces, and I sigh through my nose as I make my way downstairs. It's been a week since Sebastian embedded himself deep within the confines of my heart. I’m consumed by him, and all I can think about is the memory of his hands on my skin and how I want him to do it again.
Which is a whole different can of worms since I refuse to ask him for sex, and he refuses to do it unless I "beg." And I know he won't back down since he's possibly the only person more hard headed than I am.
After wandering around the house aimlessly for a while, I find myself in the kitchen, a book in my hand, my index finger marking the page. It’s still and quiet, no one around other than me.
I hate how much has changed. How quiet the house is compared to what it used to be.
The only staff Sebastian has allowed in the house since I was taken is the housekeeper, and that’s only because he’s known her since he was a child and trusts her with his life.
I’m restless, eager to explore and leave the house, but at the same time the thought of doing so leaves me anxious. When will my father get impatient and show up? Or what is the next terrible thing he decides to do to me? I'm on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I reach for an apple from the fruit basket on the counter. As I do, my gaze falls on a glint of metal next to the basket, and I set the apple down to pick it up. It’s a necklace, the chain thick and expensive-feeling, with a glimmering heart-shaped pendant.
My fingers trace its smooth surface, the swirls and colors in the pendant’s glass catching the light and sparking curiosity. Whose is it?
I glance at the basket and the corner of a piece of paper catches my eye. Sliding the basket over, I pick it up and scan Sebastian’s scrawled handwriting.
For you, Little Prey.
A warm glow suffuses me, and I lock the necklace around my neck. The day ahead and all this business with my father suddenly looks less bleak.
My mind turns to another bright side in all this: Tanya and her pet security guard are gone now. Sebastian hasn’t told me what happened. But I suspect it has something to do with what I witnessed in the study that night. All I know is her room is empty, and he had the housekeeper bleach and scrub it from top to bottom. Bringing the apple to my lips, I take a bite and chew slowly.
Her absence doesn’t bother me as badly as that of the other staff. I don’t want to see her. I didn’t want to see her when she lived here, and I want to see her even less after what I witnessed between her and Sebastian. It’s another reminder, another secret added to the ocean of lies and half-truths separating us.
And the baby.Is it even possible? Or is that just one more lie?
I know I should ask him about what I saw and overheard, but the last thing I want to do is cause more problems, and I get the feeling that's what would happen. The housekeeper, Carey, bustles into the room, holding a stack of sheets. She pauses andgives me a disapproving look as she takes in the oversized T-shirt and shorts I’m wearing.