Page 82 of Goldsin

I blink the mist away from my vision and glance at him. “Fuck. You.” I spit each word at his face.

Something seems to flash behind his cold stare before he chuckles like I’ve just told the funniest joke. He pats my shoulder and says, “You think she’s worth anything? Look at her. She’s just a vessel for my seed. A plaything for men like us.”

“I amnothinglike you.”

He hums, scratching his chin in thought. “You’re right. I’m not a pathetic excuse for a man.”

His comment falls flat as I hear my mom grunt in protest at her pants being pulled down her legs. The man’s grip is unwavering as he gets closer to having his way with her.

I look back at Lucian. “Let her go,” I demand. “She’s not part of this. It’s between you and me.”

His blue eyes frost my insides as we stare at one another, two sides of the same coin.

He whistles to the man, whose face is deep on my mother’s throat, and signals for him to leave. The grown-ass man whines and pushes her away before leaving the three of us alone in the room.

“Everything is always between you and me.” He sits back in his chair. “Next time I come to hear you’respending your time on the golden one instead of doing what I asked of you, I’ll have you watch as your mother takes it from the whole Inferno Consortium.”

I fist my hands, itching to unleash my wrath upon him, but my mom collapses to the floor now that no one is holding her up, and my full attention falls to her. Her chest rises and falls in hastening movements.

“Clean yourself up,” Lucian commands as he looks down his nose at her. “And you.” He points a finger at me. “Start acting like the son of the most powerful man in Seattle. Heir, after your brother, to a criminal empire.”

I kneel beside her and dry her tears with my finger. Then I cradle her shaking body in my arms and whisper reassuring words in her ear out of Lucian’s earshot.

I share some strength with her as she looks at me, color gradually reappearing in her skin. Without hesitation, I pull her up with me and out of the room.

You know what happens to the kids you imprison? They grow up to build cages.

How can I want to live when my mom taught me the only way out is death?

Sometimes I wonder if the golden one will save me or if she’s already too late.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

AURELIA

Ismile at the guards stationed outside the Harrows’ penthouse and make my way toward Julian’s bedroom.

After leaving the restaurant and saying goodbye to Eleanora and Emeric as they ventured off into the night together, I couldn’t shake the need coursing through me to share what I did with Julian.

Having someone besides Valentine to talk to about this hidden side of my life feels exhilarating. I want to see Julian’s face when I tell him how I left Marcus lying on the floor in his feces.

Julian and I planned for me to kill Marcus in the bathroom with the silenced gun, and to make it quick: in, shoot, out. But I couldn’t make it so easy for Marcus to pay for his sins. I needed more than to just make him bleed.

I needed to humiliate him. The laxative—that part of the plan was my own little touch.

The silent hallways seem to stretch out. I can almost hear my own heartbeat with how quiet it is.

It’s not surprising. This place has always been eerie. Elegant, but fucking terrifying. And not because of the monsters residing in it, but because they always seem to be goading me with stories of my mother.

These walls witnessed her undoing.

If only they could speak.

Dusting off invisible lint from my outfit, I’m opening his bedroom door without knocking when a piercing scream tears through the penthouse. My breath gets stuck in my throat, the sudden sound startling me as I whirl around.

I peek back through the hallway, but it’s deserted.

No guards running around. Nothing.

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