My lips curl into a cold smile as I imagine the pain and fear she’ll feel. It's only fair after what her family did to mine.
5
KEIRA
Sleep claims me despite the terror I feel at my predicament. The night has been crazy. Phoenix isn’t dead, and yet he’s not the man I knew. It’s a disappointment on so many levels, but the first is that for a split second, I thought maybe he’d finally fulfill his promise to take me away. Maybe we could be a family. It must be that hope that has my dreams rolling back the years to when I was eighteen and I’d snuck out of the house to meet him.
In the dream, it’s late at night as we sneak through his house trying to be quiet as we laugh and kiss and get lost in each other.
He grabs my hand and tugs me into the library.
"Aren't you supposed to be studying?" I tease him. It’s summer and he’s just finished college, but he’s taking a special course to get some sort of license to work in his father’s business.
"I'd rather study you." He sets me on the desk his mother uses to run the house.
"Someone could see us." But I don't try to escape. I never could resist him.
"Let them." His fingers trace my jaw. "I'm tired of hiding how I feel about you."
My heart soars. So far, our relationship has been a secret. While our families work together and are friendly, there’s been growing tension. Phoenix says he feels it too, and he has a sense that his parents are looking to arrange a marriage between him and another family. It breaks my heart, but Phoenix says it won’t ever happen. He’ll run away, take me with him, before he’ll be forced to marry someone else.
But he’s not the only one who has felt the need to keep our relationship a secret. I’ve given Phoenix something my father feels is his to give away, my virginity. Then again, if he knew I’d had sex, he’d force me to marry Phoenix, and that’s what I want more than anything in the world.
I rest my head on Phoenix’s chest, memorizing the steady rhythm of his heart. "We could run away."
"We could do anything." His lips brush my temple. But I want more. I find his lips and kiss him. He groans and traces kisses down my neck as his hands roam lower, setting my skin ablaze through the thin fabric of my dress. He pushes it up and wraps my legs around his waist. Everything else fades. Family expectations, social obligations, the growing tension between our households. Here, we're just Phoenix and Keira, two hearts beating as one.
Phoenix's fingers tangle in my hair, and I melt further into his embrace. Our clothes disappear, and his lips suck on my nipples, making me whimper with need. The next moment, he thrusts inside me and I gasp at the wonderful sensations. My mother always suggested that sex was a chore, but with Phoenix it’s amazing. He rocks inside me, and I hold on to him, savoring the feel of him, the building friction. I’m teetering on the edge of bliss. It sits right there, a moment from shattering. My breath hitches and holds as I hold in that limbo between tension and release.
Suddenly, the warmth vanishes. Phoenix's grip tightens painfully in my hair, yanking my head back. His eyes, once soft with affection, now glint with malice.
"Did you enjoy playing with my heart?" His voice drips venom as he transforms into a stranger wearing Phoenix's face. "Making me believe you actually cared? It was an act, wasn’t it, Keira? You whored yourself for greed."
"I do care. I love—” My protests die as his cruel laugh echoes through the room.
"Your family destroyed mine." He releases me with a shove. The books around us burst into flames. Smoke fills my lungs as the inferno consumes everything. Phoenix's silhouette stands unmoved among the blaze, his expression twisted with hate.
"This is what your so-called love did to me." He spreads his arms wide as fire licks up the walls. "Burned everything I cared about to ash."
I bolt upright in bed, sweat coating my skin. My heart thunders as reality crashes back. The memories of young love have morphed into this nightmare. Phoenix isn't the boy from my dreams anymore. He's become exactly what he said, a monster forged in the flames of my father’s betrayal. And I'm his prisoner.
I press my palms against my temples, trying to silence Phoenix's accusations echoing through my mind.Monster.Whore. Each word cuts deep.
I understand his pain, even his hatred toward my parents. But he’s not blameless. He whored himself for his family too. In my father’s eyes, he took my only value and then tossed me aside. I don’t condone my father’s actions, but neither can anyone be surprised that he sought retribution for what the Ifrinns did to me, all to humiliate my father.
And now, ten years later, Phoenix and his brothers are back for vengeance. I have no doubt we’re being kept alive so he can humiliate us. And when he’s done, we’ll all be dead.
Brigit. I can’t let her become another casualty of this war. I have to make sure she’s okay and then figure out how to get her out of here and away from Phoenix. For her, I'll risk everything. I've spent nine years protecting her. I won't fail now.
I slip from bed,not bothering with my robe as I make my way to check on Brigit. The door handle rattles, locked from the outside. Of course. I'm his prisoner now.
But then I remember Phoenix teaching me how to pick the lock when I told him my father sometimes locked me in my room. I run to my bathroom and grab a bobby pin and return to the door. I pray there isn’t a guard outside as I slip the pin through the hole and poke around until I hear the tumbler release the lock. I freeze, heart thundering in fear, but no footsteps approach. Easing the door open, I slip into the darkened hallway.
I start down the hall to the back stairs to the third floor. The stairwell is pitch black, but I know my way even with my eyes closed. I reach the landing and start toward the door to the attic at the end of the hall. Each step, I’m terrified I’ll be stopped. I’m panicked about what I’ll find when I finally reach the secret room. What if Phoenix posted guards? What if they've already found her? My chest constricts. I should have fought harder, should have run with her years ago. Should have?—
A floorboard groans. I duck into an alcove, pulse racing. I listen for footsteps, but I can’t hear over the roar of my heartbeat in my ears. After a moment, I continue my journey. The door to the attic is so close now. Just a few more steps and I can ensureshe's safe. Then back to my room before Phoenix discovers I'm gone.
My heart leaps into my throat at another creak. The darkness stretches endlessly before me. Phoenix’s men could be here, and I wouldn’t know. Maybe they’re following me, looking for Bridgit. I stop, second-guessing my plan.
