Page 76 of The Depraved Prince
I place my hands on my hips and pace on the balcony. If he turns me, my eyes will be red like his. This is not a life I aspire to have. I want to stay human, but I can’t confess it flatly. I need to convince him to let me go slowly over time.
“I want to finish college. I want to see my parents again.” I concede when I stop in front of his chest.
He towers over and smiles like I asked him if unicorns exist.
“You will, I promise. First, I need to speak to my father about something important.” He kisses my lips quickly but softly and starts to walk away.
“I’m going to watch TV if you don’t mind?”
He opens the door to his room and turns over his shoulder.
“Of course. I’ll be back because we have a celebration to announce tonight.”
What in the world could we be celebrating? The death of King Davenport, maybe?
“And what is that?” I ask.
“You’ll see.”
25
MILLIE
It’sabout an hour since he left. So I keep busy with a movie even though I’m starting to fall asleep. Nightmare On Elm Street is over, so I decide to look for another movie to watch while I wait for his return.
I sit in the bed wearing a sultry black dress Hayden asked me to wear, my back to the new, unbroken headboard. I flip through the channels and realize Hayden has news networks on his.
Sure enough…I’m staring at a photo of me with a substantial MISSING text on top of it. My brother is there but where’s my father? He must be home. I can’t imagine what my absence has done to him and everyone that cares about me. They’re all pale, with sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks. And then I see my mother, holding onto my older brother, Nash.
My mother! She’s there, she cares about me, she’s there, and there’s no fucking Santiago in sight.
They look distraught.
Cole stands tall. His dark sandy hair looks longer than usual. He always keeps it short, but he looks different. Could it be my absence? Watching him takes me back to my days at the coffee shop. The days when he bossed me around, sprayed me withwhipped cream when work was slow, and even our one intimate night during Thanksgiving.
“We all hope Millie is still alive.” he stares at the camera like he wants to talk to me. “Millie, we love you. Please come back home. Whoever has her, release her to us. Do the humane thing,” Cole begs, and my God, I miss that voice.I miss him.
I look at Cole, and my heart flips. My stomach turns to knots, and a tear slips out of my eye as I think about my old life. Leah stands behind him, holding onto my brother Nash.
“Millie.”
Hayden’s voice startles me like I was caught doing something terrible, and I turn off the TV before I can hear the rest. I pull my knees to my chest and let the remote fall to the side of my hip.
“Hayden…I—” I look at the dark television. “I was flipping through the channels when I saw the news.”
He stares at the black screen as he stalks forward. He stops at the end of the bed and then back to me.
“I could feel you heat up when you saw him.” Shit. He’s referencing Cole. He had to be standing there watching me.
“Do you love him?” He asks me with a tone that sends shivers down my spine like he’s ready to destroy the TV so I can never see Cole again.
I shake my head almost too quickly.
“I-I,” I stutter. “He’s my friend. I care about him, yes.” As he clenches his jaw, I slip the words out of my tightening, dry throat. He brushes a hand through his wavy dark black hair as he digests my answer. He nods slightly longer than usual as his chest rises and falls like he’s trying to contain his composure.
“You don’t love him. You love me…” He walks toward me as my entire body tightens. “Right?” His hand reaches for mine, and I look at him doe-eyed.
Do I love Cole? I do, in a sense. Being trapped here…held prisoner by a monster, has made me realize many things. It hasmade me wish I had tried to take things further with Cole despite my doubts.
