Page 79 of The Villain

“Please…”Don’t thank mewent unspoken.

It hit me when he guided me through the front door how glad I was to be home. It was the same feeling when I’d walked through the door after leaving Brandon and Sacramento.

“Athena?” He stepped in front of where I’d stopped. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just…happy to be here—to be back.”There was no place like home.

“I’ll set your things in your room,” he muttered and carefully placed my hand on the wall to guide me.

His shadow disappeared, and I took a deep breath, cinnamon and must filling my nostrils.Blindfolded or just blind, I’d never not know this place,and it was the same way I felt about him.

Gingerly, I moved toward the kitchen. The pulse in my head warned I was straining my eyes—my brain—too much; the shifting shadows I’d clung to all day were now less distinguishable.

I heard him make a noise down the hall, and when my head turned, my foot caught on a stack of boxes, and I cried out.

“Careful—” He was there, steadying me in an instant.

“Sorry, I should’ve unpacked these long ago,” I chided myself.

“It’s hard to go back to a place you know when you’re no longer the person you used to be,” he replied so easily, as though the thought came from his own experience and not just an interpretation of mine.

“Yeah,” I murmured, scrambling to say more when my stomach let out a growl.

“Shit.” He led me to the kitchen table and tucked me into a seat. Seconds later, I heard him rummaging through the kitchen.

“It’s okay. I’m?—”

“Hungry,” he finished. “I’m going to run to the store down the road. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh—” I broke off when his hands cupped my face.

“Please, don’t move.”

My jaw slackened, but the nearness of him made it impossible to do anything but nod. And then he was gone, the sound of the door locking almost as loud as the beat of my heart.

“Oh, Mom.” I sighed with a sad smile. “If you only knew.”

Carefully, I stood and used my hands to guide me around the table and chairs to the kitchen.At least, I’d managed to unpack all of the kitchen before the accident, so there were no boxes to worry about.

The boxes…

Since I’d moved home, I’d had plenty of time to unpack everything I’d brought back from Sacramento and everything I’d never taken with me—“We don’t need your mom’s old things, Athena. We’ll buy new.”Brandon’s voice echoed in my head. God, I couldn’t believe he was gone; I hadn’t even truly gotten through believing he’d tried to kill me, and now he was gone.

Like Mom.

Everything here reminded me of Mom, and I thought it was guilt that kept me from unpacking and settling in. Asthough I were taking over her space—her memory.But coming back like this—blind—made it clear that Dare was right.

I wasn’t afraid of losing her memory because I didn’t need sight to hold on to it. I was afraid of facing the person I was now…because she certainly wasn’t the same Athena who’d left here all those years ago.

Was I smarter now? Stronger? Or was I broken, too, for putting my love and trust in someone who’d betrayed me?

Would I ever be able to trust and love someone again?

Had it already happened?

I gripped the edge of the counter, my head lowering, just as I heard a noise outside. I stilled.Was that footsteps out back?

My heart instantly vaulted into overdrive.Oh god.What if I wasn’t safe? What if there was something else—someone else?

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