Page 102 of Monster's Edge

“Where are we going?” I ask quietly. I’m not really sure that I want to know.

“You’ll see.”

Ian smiles as he leads me down the hallway, which is very narrow. It seems to be much smaller than the rest of the hallways in his house. For just a brief moment, I feel a tremble. I really, really hope he’s not going to do anything crazy.

We’re pretty high up, and we’re pretty out of sight.

What if he plans to lock me up here in a cage?

What if he’s going to leave me up here?

“Mr. Salucci?” I whisper, stopping suddenly. Ian looks at me, surprised. Maybe he’s shocked that I’m remembering my manners and that I’m using the title he prefers to speak to him. Perhaps he just doesn’t know what I could possibly want from him right now.

“Rose?”

“Are you...” I look around wildly. Why do I suddenly feel so nervous? It’s not like Ian hasn’t scared me before. He has. He’s the epitome of scary. He’s always grabbing me by the throat and trying to hurt me. He’s always doing things like punishing me and teasing me and being a little too rough with me.

This is different, though.

There’s a fear welling up within me that is very, very primal. It feels like the fear I experienced when my father threatened to sell me to another man. I wasn’t about to let myself get murdered, and Georgetta was able to save me from that.

Still, what I’m going through now is very, very different.

“Am I what?”

I swallow. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up, but I felt the need to. Now there’s no backing out of whatever it is that I was going to say. This guy knows me far too well to let this go. He knows me better than I think...better than I want anyone to know meever.

“Are you going to murder me on our wedding night?” I ask.

His eyes darken. “Why would I do a thing like that?”

“Because you have my father’s money now,” I offer quietly. “You can throw me away if you want to.”

He’s on me faster than I expect. For such a big, towering man, he moves like a damn jungle cat. I’m not really sure how he manages to do that, but he does. He grips my throat, shoving me against the wall so hard that the wood paneling behind me vibrates.

“Let me get one thing straight,” he says harshly. “I willneverget rid of you, Rose. Never. Do you understand me?”

I nod slowly, nervously. I’m still not entirely convinced that I’ve heard him correctly. What does he mean that he’ll never get rid of me? How is that even possible? A guy like him is rough around the edges. Callous. Mean.

Guys like Ian Salucci play with their food before they eat it and spit out the bones.

“Tell me you understand,” he says. “I want to hear the words. Say them out loud, Rose.”

He’s being harsh with me. He’s being tough, but I find myself nodding.

“Yes, Mr. Salucci. I understand. You will not throw me away.”

“I willneverthrow you away.”

I nod again. He’s still staring at me like he can’t believe what I’ve told him, but I don’t care anymore. I can rest assured that I will be here for a very long time, apparently. I can rest with the knowledge that Ian and I are going to be a couple for, quite possibly, an eternity.

If Ian wasn’t the villain in every story I’ve ever heard about him, I might actually start to believe he’s a hero. He saved me from my father, after all. He killed the man who spent years abusing me and tricking me. He’s fucked me senseless in more ways than I could ever explain.

But heisa bad man.

Heisa villain.

A normal person doesn’t kidnap young women from parties and fuck their brains out. An ordinary guy doesn’t go kill his future father-in-law for being a prick. A regular man doesn’t look for excuses to murder people. It’s just not in their lifestyle. It’s not a part of who theyare.

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