Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

“Have you seen Dr. Brenner recently?” I asked lightly, approaching Gemma.

She looked up from her phone. “No, why?”

“No reason…” I lingered on her midriff, long enough for a wrinkle to appear between her brows, then kept walking. I saw her tug down her shirt out of my periphery.

Why was it when I should be on my best behavior, I was always on my worst?

I hadn’t even crossed the foyer when I caught Theo’s gaze. He watched me too closely, seeing right through me. I walked past him like it wasn’t a big deal he was there, or that he’d seen what I’d done.

He fell in step behind me.

Our footfalls echoed in the vaulted castle ceilings, haunting. While the castle was centuries old, inside had been entirely updated. Switzerland was the light to Crowne Halle’s dark. Just as opulent but with pale blue, silver, and white decor.

My wing was no different, all silver and blue, with regal furnishings as old as the castle. The minute we got back to my room, I busied myself. I grabbed my suitcase, throwing it on my bed, wrinkling the satin. I had to unpack, because Gray still kept Story. So I focused on that.

“Are you ready to tell me what’s going on?” Theo’s low, steady voice was at my back.

“You’re not making much sense, Theo.”

Theo always had a hard time with how my peers got away with everything. I knew deep down that when it came to me, he wouldn’t let it go. Which meant Mom would never give me another chance, and somehow, worse, Theo would leave my side.

I was already out of my mind trying to figure out how to keep them away from one another.

Theo gripped my chin, drawing my eyes away from my haphazard unpacking. “Abs.”

Warning flared bright in my brain. Theo could see into me. He could rip out pieces of me I didn’t give him permission to take. He was clawing into my soul at that very moment.

I dropped to my knees, reaching for a distraction as much as I was reaching for his buttons. He grasped my wrists, holding me off.

“Fuck off, Abigail. Do you think I’m that simple?”

I bit my lip, looking away.

Still holding my wrists, he bent until we were eye to eye. “Who is he? Who has you this scared?”

“I don’t know.”

He dropped my wrists with so much force I turned in the other direction.

“Classic Abigail. At any sign of pain or hurt you build your walls. Can’t let anyone see those deep, dark insides, after all.”

I didn’t speak, focusing on his black sneakers.

“You spend so much time picking out the most precious items. You turn lost and forgotten things into treasure. Would you ever put them on some weak, breaking metal band?”

“Of course not,” I said.

“So why are you doing that with your soul, your heart?” He touched his pastel bracelet on my wrist. “Your bracelet will break if you keep building it with brittle wire.”

I knew he was talking about more than his bracelet, more than my jewelry. My heart ached.

“Why are you hurting, Abigail?” he asked softly.

“Don’t make me lie to you!” My throat was clogged with tears. I never cried. Theo was the only one who did this to me.

He watched me in silence for so long my knees started to ache. The muscle in his jaw twerked with how tight he clenched. The hollows of his cheeks even deeper, gaunter. His eyes were a campfire, blazing and fierce, yet soft.

“I can’t let this go,” he finally said.