A grown woman. She’s seen so much, but it never changed her. It never hardened her. Which means she doesn’t have any defenses against the dark side of Tanglewood. Definitely none against Alex and the perverted teachings of Harmony Hills. Now I understand Ivan’s murderous rage. If he hurt one silky blonde hair on her head…
My phone lights up on my vanity, and suspicion makes my eyes narrow. I manage to keep a blank expression as I grab it from the small table and move aside. They’ll think I’m only checking my messages or maybe calling her. Presumably they’ve tried and gone to voicemail.
Sure enough, there’s a text. Sorry, it says.
Where are you?? Honor is freaking out.
Don’t tell her I talked to you. Pls.
Umm… why? She’s going to have a heart attack.
You owe me.
Crap, she’s right. I do owe her after she helped me out that night. I hate having to keep Honor in the dark though. I hate being in the dark, because I don’t know what’s happening either. At least, wherever she is, she has her phone and the presence of mind to text me.
I type again. Are you safe?
For now.
I think I’m going to strangle that girl. Only after Honor has a go of it, of course. But maybe every girl needs a little rebellion. She might need it more than most, the way Honor has protected her—overprotected her. After their rough beginning, it’s understandable that her older sister wanted to hold her tightly. Maybe a little too tight.
At least she isn’t taking a gray bus out of town, never to be heard from again. Well, I’m pretty sure she’s not doing that.
Stay that way or I’ll hurt you, I type before shutting off the screen.
My mind is racing, trying to think of how I can keep Honor calm without actually telling her anything. Okay, that is pretty impossible.
Ivan appears in the door, where I’ve seen him so many times. He doesn’t come inside, just gestures for me to come out. I can tell by his dire expression that he’s heard Clara is missing. In the hallway, I burrow myself into his side, needing to feel his solidity, his strength.
“Do you know where she is?” he asks, so softly I barely can hear him.
I shake my head without looking at him. “But she said she’s okay.”
He gives a faint nod. “That’s enough for now.”
Enough for now. Yes. I can trust her that much. God knows, she trusted me much more than that. I have to hope she knows what she’s doing, because I love her like a sister.
I love Honor like a sister. Lola too. I have an entire family here, built with every swing of the pole, every rough customer thrown out. For so long after I left Harmony Hills, I felt the loneliness like physical pain. But these girls are my family.
The Grand is my home, just like I told a crowd full of beautiful strangers tonight.
And this man is my heart.
Ivan watches me with quicksilver eyes. “To the basement, little one.”
He calls to me, and I follow him down, into the heat of him, the depths of him, burned and made new again. He takes my desire and turns it around, turns it into sweetness. He takes my kindness, my love, and warps it into lust. And each time he twists me, I’m bound a little closer to him, tied a little tighter. There is nothing that could break us now.
Every love story is a knot, and ours is threaded with steel.
He follows me down the metal stairs, and I whirl in the dank grey space, a flash of color, a bloom. “Where do you want me, Daddy?”
He sits at the high-back chair and pats his lap. I start to climb onto him, but he shakes his head. “Bend over, little one.”
I drape myself over him instead. His thighs are warm and unyielding against my front, caressing my breasts. He pushes up my skirt, and I hear his breath catch at what he sees.
My lace panties are torn away. They land on the concrete, a pile of pink scraps.
He found me lost, alone, and helpless—and gave me a place to call mine. This basement, this building. The space where he watches me, both of us held by our own dark desires, in these moments before he gives me my reward.