Page 68 of To Love a Monster
It falls away with a wet snap as he speaks.“You’re okay,” he says, his voice low and calm.“You’re safe now.”
I shake my head, violent and desperate.“No.No, where is he?Where’s Nikolai?”For a split second something flickers in Matteo’s eyes, but it’s gone before I can grasp it.
“He’s not here,” he says softly.“But I promise you, we’re getting out of here.Once I have you somewhere safe, I’ll go find him myself.”His tone doesn’t waver, doesn’t offer false comfort.It’s just filled with pure certainty.And I want to believe him, I need to, So I nod, barely.
Matteo rises to his feet.Behind him, Carl’s body lies still, bloody, broken, and lifeless.Matteo steps over him without a word.“We’ve got to go,” he says to the men, but his eyes are locked with mine.
And even though every cell in my body is screaming for Nikolai, I let Matteo pull me to my feet and lead me out of the basement.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nikolai
The gates creak openbefore the car even stops, high walls and black steel swallow us like a mouth with no tongue, just silence and the kind of darkness that lingers even in daylight.The safehouse isn’t just any old house.It’s a fortress made up of clean lines, reinforced glass, and no windows on the ground floor.Armed guards are stationed at every blind spot, dressed in black and as still as statues.
I step out of the SUV before the driver can even put it in “park.”Matteo is already waiting at the entrance, having done his own sweep of the perimeter.His expression is carved from stone.There’s no emotion, no softness.Just the man I trusted with my life and now had to ask to step the fuck aside so I could get to his daughter.
“She’s inside,” he says, walking with me as we move through the entry hall, past the biometric scanners and scentless white corridors.“In the guest suite in the East wing.She hasn’t spoken.She’s refusing water, food, and even medical treatment.”
I stop mid-step.“What?”
“She hasn’t let anyone touch her,” he said.“The only time she’s spoken is to ask one question.”
He turns to face me fully now.“She asked if you were coming.”My throat tightens.
“After I said yes ...she went mute.She’s waiting for you.You’re the only one she trusts and that’s all we’ve got right now.”
He pauses, his eyes narrowing slightly.“I don’t know what the fuck you did to blur the lines so deep with my daughter, but whatever it was, it worked.And because of that, right now, you’re the only thread keeping her from unraveling completely.”
“Then give me a few minutes,” I say.“Please.”
Matteo studies me for a moment before nodding once.“You have ten minutes.Tops”
He turns down the opposite corridor without another word and I move fast.Down the long hall, past doors that lead to panic rooms and armories and medical bays until I get to the last one.
After sliding my fingerprint along the keypad, the lock disengages with a hiss and there she is.She’s sitting on the edge of the bed, still in the same clothes she’s been wearing when Matteo pulled her out of that basement.She’s wearing blood-streaked jeans and her shirt clings to her like a second skin, creased, dirty, and torn.
