Page 30 of The Dancer and the Dark
She opened her mouth, but he stopped her.
“Mourn whatever you need to mourn,” he added. “Yes, your father’s death. But you’re allowed to mourn for the relationship you didn’t have too. Mourn the father he wasn’t that you wanted him to be. You get to grieve for all that, Chloe. Mourn for it, because you deserved to have it.”
Chloe took a deep breath and nodded. “Mourn the life I thought I’d have that didn’t happen.”
“And celebrate the life you do have,” Zain said. “Even if it’s not what you imagined.”
She nodded. “I don’t want to go back. Not to any of this. My future isn’t here.”
Her future was with a dark lover who treasured her, who had never neglected or abandoned her. A man who understood what it meant to be alone and cherished her even more because of it.
“I think I’m going to marry Gavin,” Chloe said.
Zain’s eyebrows went up. “I have all kind of questions, but maybe put your game face back on for now because your mother is walking out here.”
“Right.” Chloe stood and walked out of the gazebo. “Hey, Mom.”
“Getting some fresh air?” Clara was dressed in an impeccable dove-grey suit and a navy hat. “Your cousins are all inside. Brother Archibald just left, and they were going to put on a movie for the little ones.” She looked around Chloe. “I thought maybe Gavin had arrived. I heard you talking.”
“No, he’ll be here around seven.” She frowned. “I was just talking with Zain.”
“Your friend with the long hair?” Clara frowned. “I didn’t see him go in the house.”
Chloe smiled. “What are you talking about?” She turned. “He’s right…”
Zain was nowhere in the backyard.
Chloe’s eyes swept the grounds, taking in the heavy brush along the property lines and the expansive lawn. Zain hadn’t walked past them and he wasn’t visible.
She gripped her mother’s shoulder. “Mom, go to the house and get Audra.”
“What—?”
“Right now, Mom!”
Her mother turned and walked quickly when she heard the urgency in Chloe’s voice.
Chloe stayed on the walkway, scanning her surroundings. She was visible from the house, and she was counting on that giving her some security.
“Zain?”
It was probably nothing. He’d probably slipped out the side yard or he was checking with the security team along the back fence.
“Zain!”
She got her phone out and texted him.
Where RU?
She heard a faint chime from the bushes and a rustling sound.
Fuck.
Chloe turned and started to run toward the house, but the pinching pain in her neck told her it was too late.
The darkness took her.
9
