Page 151 of Dance of Madness

“M-hmm.”

“Nero!”

I shuffle to the bars nearest to him, grab hold of them and press my face between them. “What thefuckis going?—”

“Four years ago…”

He steps a little more into the light, stalking slowly toward me, his eyes ripping me in two.

“My parents were taken from me. They ambushed them. Raped my mother, made my father watch. Then executed them.” His eyes pull to cold, green slits. “Gabriella was supposed to go with them. She would have been there too.” His jaw clenches so hard that the veins in his neck and up his temple pop. “Bet they’d have made my father watchthat, too.”

“Nero—“

“Shut. Thefuck. Up.”

The words erupt like gunfire from his lips. And his eyes…

They hold nothing but fury.

Pure hatred.

“I was going to go as well, you know. But instead, I made other plans. There was this girl I’d started talking to?—”

“Nero—“

I scream, stumbling back from the bars as he surges right into them, his face a mask of terror, his teeth bared as he grabs hold of the metal.

“Interrupt me again, and I swear to God I’ll fucking kill you right now.”

Sudden twisting pain lances through my chest, hurting so badly that for a second, I think I’ve actually been shot, or stabbed, and that somehow I missed it.

But it’s no weapon or bullet.

Just his words, eviscerating me and carving my heart from my chest.

Seeing the man I’ve fallen in love with—twice—looking me right in the eye and telling me in the plainest terms possible that hehates me.

“So… I skipped dinner to meet this girl I’d been talking to.” His lips curl to a cruel sneer. “Well,writingto. Vianotes, left in a goddamn book. We met after telling each other our dark, dirty little kinks. We wore masks.”

A tear starts to trickle down my face.

“And that night, I chased her, and fucked her, andfell. For. HER!” he roars, making me choke on a terrified whimper as I jump away from him.

“That girl wasyou, Milena,” he says, more quietly. “Don’t try to tell me it wasn't. I knew you were her the second I touched you again that first night here at Greymoor. I knew the first time I tasted you…kissed you…fucked you.”

A sneer ripples over his face.

“My littlepen pal,” he says dryly. “But…” he rasps. “What I didn’t know, wasthat.”

He jabs a finger past me, pointing to the screen on the wall.

“And you’ll make sure Nero is at the spot you agreed on?”

“Of course, Papa.”

“Excellent. If that changes, let me know immediately.”

“Yes, Papa.”

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