Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” he growls. “So just shut the fuck up. You don’t know shit about me or my brother. Got it?”
“Yeah,” I say weakly. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Luca. I got it.”
He smirks, his tone, again, changing completely. “That’s better. I warned you about that mouth, didn’t I?”
“Y-yes.”
He releases my collar and gently cups my cheeks with his hands before kissing me on the mouth. It’s soft, sensual. I wait for Declan to stop the interaction, but he doesn’t.
When he pulls away, he rests his forehead on mine and says, “I’m sorry about that. But thank you for telling me your secret, Teagan. I think we understand each other a lot better now, don’t you?”
I swallow hard, my heart pounding. “Yeah, I think so.”
I understand that Luca is dangerous, like they said. He’s probably the one responsible for Bridget’s death and maybe another girl, too, from the sound of it.
“You look so sexy when you’re scared,” he whispers into my ear. “Be careful with that.”
“Go back to the house, Teagan,” Declan says. “And you’re not leaving againnot until I tell you to.”
I don’t argue. How could I? I’m in a secluded area in the woods with three men more than twice my size.
Desperate to be back inside the home with the rest of them, I take off down the path back to the house. I don’t hear them follow.
And when I get far enough that I can no longer hear their muffled voices or see their silhouettes when I look back over my shoulder, I run.
Once I started running, I didn’t stop.
By the time I reach the house, I’m sweaty and winded. I close the door behind me, grateful both for the false security that comes with being indoors and that the first floor appears to be empty, and then head upstairs to Layla’s bedroom, locking the door behind me.
She isn’t here, either.
I take off the coat, sit at the edge of the bed, and try to get a fucking grip and process what just happened with Luca.
And beyond that, what does it mean for me between now and Wednesday with no cell phone?
But it’s a big house. There are a lot of people here; maybe they’ll just ignore me.
The silence isn’t helping, but I’m not about to start roaming the halls. I turn on the TV only to be disappointed again.
Of course. There’s no wifi hereI should have known better. It looks like there is a DVD player, but from what I can see, there aren’t any DVDs in this room. And you know what else isn’t in this room? A fucking clock. I realize I’ve had no concept of what time it is since I saw the clock on the microwave this morning at 11:00 AM, and it makes me fucking crazy. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m in one of those horror movies I obsess over, and I don’t love it.
A young woman trapped in a secluded mansion in the mountains in the middle of winterno one is looking for her, and there’s no way out.
I lie face down and scream into my pillow until my lungs hurt.
Then, I remember what River said earlierthat if I got lost, I could follow the river downstream, and I’d eventually run into the main road in town.
It’s better than freezing to death, and it’s better than dying here like all the other fucking idiots in my favorite movies.
I make a decision. Tomorrow, as soon as I get the opportunity, I’ll go. I think I’ve seen all there is to see here anyway.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when the doorknob begins to turn back and forth. I wait, and when it stops, there’s a knock.
“Layla?” I call out hopefully.
There’s no answer; I hear more fumbling with the doorknob before the door creaks open. When Declan walks in, I sigh and lie back on the bed.
So much for hiding out.
“Don’t lock the doors in my house,” he says.
“Why not?” I ask. “Doesn’t look like it matters anyway.”
He sits on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry about what happened in the woods.”
Did he just apologize to me? I prop myself up on my elbows and look back at him with a furrowed brow. “What?”
“I think maybe it was a good thing, though. Don’t you? Maybe you can understand now that Luca is just unwell.”
“I’ll stay away from him until Wednesday, like you said. But I am not the one seeking him out. I haven’t done that, not one time. And I still don’t understand.”
Declan climbs further onto the bed and tosses the teddy bear Layla clung to so tightly last night aside like it’s nothing. Then, he lies down next to me, mere inches away.
“You were trading stories, right? That’s what Luca said.” He props himself up on his side then runs his hand through his raven hair, brushing it away from his eyes.
“Not really,” I tell him. “I told him a story. I never got one.”
“Well, I am going to tell you a story about Lucaor maybe about Luca and I boththat might help you to understand. And it’s not the one he was going to tell you.”
“Okay ” I say hesitantly.
“Our mother died shortly after he was born,” he says. “She hemorrhaged; they said there was nothing they could do. He never knew her, but I did. I was three years old.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“I don’t need you to do that. Just listen. Our dad, as you may know, is a pretty prominent international investor. He’s acquired quite a bit of wealth as well as inherited it, and he was never around a lotalways traveling, we always had live-in nannies. And, when I was seventeen, Dad came home with a twenty-one-year-old bride and told us she was going to be our new mommy. But new mommy didn’t understand how things worked around here; she thought that since they were married, my dad was going to be around and would stop sleeping with other women.”
“And he didn’t.”
“No, he didn’t. And they fought and fought until she decided that to get back at him, she was going to start sleeping with his son.”
“Wait so you had an affair with your stepmom?”
“No.”
“No?” I ask.
“Luca did.”
“Luca? But he would have been ” I start to do the math in my head, thinking I must have misunderstood.
“He was thirteen when it started, yeah. You’re about her age, Teagan. Can you think of anything you would want from a thirteen-year-old boy?”
“What?” I ask, repulsed. “No.”
“Exactly,” he says. “But he thought they were in love. Eventually, he called my dad and told him, and he immediately hopped on a plane. He prepared this big speech where he was going to tell my dad she wanted to marry him instead, and they were going to leave together; he told her to pack a bag, and then she left without him before my dad made it home. He was devastated. He was convinced for months that she would come back for him, but obviously, she never did.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.
“Because that’s the story that matters,” Declan says. “That’s Luca’s origin story, and that’s why he’ll never really be able to love a woman. It fucked him up, Teagan. He doesn’t understand this concept he’s obsessed with. He’s not capable of it. But he is more than capable of violence in its name. I’m not controlling him, Teagan. I love my brother more than anyone; I would do anything for him. I’m taking care of him.”
“Are you?” I ask.
“Am I what? Capable of love?”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.