Page 28 of Chandelier Sin
They pushed up and scurried over to me.
“Sit up here.” I patted the seat beside me. “Start from the beginning.”
“The beginning, sir?” said Elle.
“I’m here to save you.”
“From what?” said Rachel.
“From anything happening to you. I’m the man who can prevent that.”
Elle leaned toward me with concern. “They promised we didn’t need to do anything we didn’t want to.”
Someone had to fucking tell them—better it be me. “They lied.”
Elle looked terrified.
“Just tell me you’re not here against your will,” I said.
Then, seeing their wide-eyed reactions, I had a heart-crushing realization.
Ihid away—stealing precious time on Pendulum’s roof.
I held a glass of champagne in one hand and my phone in the other, desperate to research Sinclair. The fact his name began with the wordsinhadn’t escaped me.
I didn’t dare risk scouring the Internet and leaving behind a trail of intrigue and obsession, since I couldn’t be sure my phone wasn’t being monitored. Such a threat loomed in the back of my mind from years of suffocating control.
These prison bars extended farther out than were visible, encompassing even the air I breathed, causing a constantly twisting knot of dread to form in my stomach.
Sometimes, you don’t know you’ve done anything wrong until it’s been done.
Atticus.
Even his name aroused me, causing all-encompassing sensations that made my belly clench and my clit throb.
Don’t.
Don’t tease yourself into thinking you can have something wonderful that could be destroyed on a whim.
I let out a sigh and turned my attention to the never boring ocean view, a glistening vista for as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, a lone sailboat bobbed along as though unaware it could be swallowed up entirely and then forgotten.
Maybe that was the answer—just leave.
Not without her.
She’s never coming back.My heart repeated the fear I refused to contemplate.
My once flushed face had cooled, and my heart rate was back to normal after having spent hours reminiscing abouthim.The dramatic man with inked hands and eyes that burned the truth out of me, even as I fought to keep my existence private.
Still, at least no one could read my mind, my thoughts, my private musings; a place I sought refuge.
One look at me and Aemon would sense something had happened, something extraordinary.
I needed time to shake off the Atticus effect.
Replaying our conversation, even though it had ended badly, I still craved another chance to spar with the dashing stranger.
I was forbidden to speak with him and yet that made him even more intriguing.
