Page 151 of Feed Your Fiends

“The train?” I ask, flabbergasted, as I hail a passing cab. I could cancel my ride-share, but it shoots past me. Given my scant outfit of a corset and stockings and the fact that I’m perched on a corner, they probably think I’m bad news.

“I can’t take it any more. I want to see Etienne even if he doesn’t want to see me.”

“We’re going to Beaulieu tomorrow,” I say with a rush as I wave down another cab. “You’ll see him there.”

But then reality washes over me. Would Gant seriously harm Hale now that he knew the truth? Would he let Bart? And if they did, how could I just go to the academy like nothing’s wrong? As if I didn’t know the truth? As if the murderer weren’t in every single one of my classes? And how would the murderer just let me be when he knows that I know?

“Tomorrow’s too long. Besides, I’m not going to bother him. He won’t even know that I’m there.”

“What? Then how are you going to see him?”

A robotic voice drifts through the train’s speakers with an announcement.

“I’m boarding. I’ll call you once I’m in my compartment.”

Compartment?!

The line goes dead, and Gant’s name appears at the top of my contacts when I pull the phone from my ear. I can barely breathe as my thumb hovers above his name. I have to get into that penthouse by any means necessary… Could I just call him with an excuse? Would he even answer after our explosive encounter a mere twenty-four hours ago? And during his father’s private event no less?

No.I saw the finality in his eyes when he told me he wasn’t chasing me any more. He was bored and tired. Whatever hold I had over him was gone.

But…but what choice do I have? Hale.

Baby Hale flashes across my mind’s eye. Then the Hale who’d hired me and hid me, even if only for a little while. Then last night’s Hale, who’d welcomed me and locked me up safely where I could be alone and still surrounded by humans. If nothing else, I can honestly say that Hale gave me a chance. I have to give him one, too. A chance to get the fuck away from the Auclairs,now.

With a shaking finger, I dial Gant’s number, and immediately, the call disconnects because he’s blocked me. That revelation hits far harder than it should as I blink down at the screen.

Aria’s words from a drunken night in Beaulieu’s dorms come back to me.‘Imagine that? Being invaluable. So precious one day and a bitch on the side of the road the next. Games. It’s all games. We’re all just little toys for little boys. Until they’ve outgrown us.’

My ride-share, a silver coupe, pulls up to the curb, and I fly in without a clue as to how I’m going to break in.

Gant

Golden hair.Chestnut hair now.

Eyes like spring.Pools of baby blue.

A name like royalty.All Hale.

One year older.A filthy little liar who repeated a year.

Hungary.Some obscure European country.

‘We stayed out all night to a gypsy festival…’that’s what Delphine had said. Gypsies, or the correct term for Hale’s mother, Romani or Roma people.Pierrot isn’t a typical Romani surname, but it sounds so much like….Pelletier.

I stare at my mother’s portrait in the theatre.

You never gave him up. You tucked him at your side for all these years, and I was too stupid to see it.

“There you—” Hale says midway down the theatre’s ramp. His words die in his throat as he gazes at the portrait. “That’s…that’s so fucked of Bart.”

Yet, Hale was enjoying Bart’s company and Bart’s money while planning the private event. So how fucked is it really?

“You’re not alone, you know, in missing her.”

“I know tonight’s event has drawn out a decent crowd to see who’s won her jewellery contract.”

“It’s not all business,” Hale says lowly. “I would’ve come even if I weren’t the event planner.”

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