Muted voices drift up the staircase.
I don’t know much about the men in this house: my math professor, who brought me here, and my old fencing instructor, who delivers food I never eat. They hardly seem like teachers anymore. Everleigh said they asked Lucas Security to find me.
Why?
I briefly ponder the question, then I let it fade away. It doesn’t matter.
Nothing matters.
Knock, knock.
I throw the sheets back and drag on the big, fluffy robe that I found hanging behind the bathroom door. “Coming.”
I take a second to prepare and fling the door open. “Yeah?”
It’s the gardener with the thick, dark beard who wanted to take me to Paris. He’s holding a tray of chicken, rice, and veggies. It smells delicious. So did the last one. That doesn’t mean I ate a single bite of it.
He lifts the tray in his hands. “Brought this for you.”
“Thanks.” I take the tray.
“It’s Xavier,” he offers before I can retreat into my room. “We, uh, didn’t get introduced.”
“Right.” I prepare to close the door with my hip.
“Your sister said she’s stopping by.”
I smile apologetically. “I think I might be coming down with something. I’m all sniffly and cold. Can you let her know maybe next week?”
A probing stare. “Sure.”
I close the door as he’s still standing there. Once I’ve gotten rid of the contents down the toilet, I place the tray of empty dishes on my nightstand, ready to leave it in the hallway in a couple of hours from now.
And I shrug out of my robe and crawl back under the covers, drawing the sheets up to my chin.
I’m in a home with men I don’t know, and I should be more alarmed by that than I am. I should care more about getting revenge on the alphas who hurt me, and yet I feel numb.
I wake up, and I don’t know if I’m still sleeping because I don’t feel awake.
I’m angry, but I can’t make myself get up. Or I shake, and I can’t stop. Sometimes, I lie in the dark for hours, struggling to breathe through the certainty that I’m dying.
The old Della would have hunted those alphas who hurt her and torn them apart with her bare hands if she couldn’t find a weapon.
But that’s the thing.
I don’t feel like me anymore
Chapter 23
Xavier
I standoutside Della’s door for several seconds, frowning.
She was a squirrel of destruction a few days ago. Saw right through my fake flirtation like it wasn’t even there. It could’ve been the beard. It’s itchy enough that from a distance I resemble a bear.
Now she seems quiet.Tooquiet.
I knock on the door again.