Page 12 of Caution

“That’s ludicrous,” I scoffed. “I’m nobody to you.”

“That’sludicrous,” he countered, moving from where he’d been standing for most of the conversation, closing the distance. “You’re everything to me.”

My head cocked to the side; eyes narrowed. “We don’t know each other.”

“You are sorely mistaken if you think that matters.”

Anger flared up in me, so sudden and severe I had to grit my teeth to bite back the kind of reflexive vitriol I couldn’t afford to spew right now.

Not when I was being held captive by a man— monster?—who seemed to think this was some sort of fate.

This could get even more dangerous for me than it already was.

Fast.

I shook my head, turning away from him again while I gathered my thoughts before speaking. “I thought you were going to give me some answers,” I said, glancing back. “When you caught me listening to the conversation with your brother. You asked where I wanted to start, then shoved me in here to make me wait while you did… God knows what. And I’m still just as in the dark now as I was then.”

“You’re not, actually,” he insisted. “You just… don’t see it yet. But I do. I’m watching you unfold as we speak.”

I huffed. “You keep saying cryptic shit like that, and I’m trying to get you to understand, that doesn’t mean anything to me. Why can’t you justexplain?”

“Because it’s better if you unlock it on your own.”

“Unlockwhat?!” I demanded.

“Yourself,” he answered. “The very essence ofwho you are. You already know the truth, Ambrosia. You know who you are.Whatyou are. You just don’t want to accept it.”

“This is insanity.”

“Thisis prophesied.”

I laughed.

Because what the fuck elsecouldI do?

“Do me a favor?” I asked. “Whatever the hell you’ve been smoking, snorting, huffing, et cetera? Can I get a hit of it before you… dismember me or whatever it is you’re planning?”

He… was not amused.

He actually seemed a bit…sad?

“Let’s go,” he suddenly declared, already turning for the door.

“Hold up. I’m not going anywhere with you,” I claimed, even though my body moved like I was on marionette strings connected directly to his hands.

“I thought you wanted answers?”

“I do, but—”

“But nothing,” he said, fixing me with a glare. “The longer you remain in the dark, the more dangerous this world is for you, and the more likely I am to get fucked over, which I refuse to accept. So… it’s time to force the issue.”

“Meaning what?!”

“Meaninglet’s go.”

Once again, my limbs were out of my control. I was just… moving. It was a dizzying feeling, but my feet were steady, movements sure as I followed him from the room, down the hall, down the stairs, to the car.

We drove right past my house.

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