Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“You can’t take care of her,” Declan says. “You can’t let her go because she’s supposed to be dead. You can’t trust her to stay hidden or not to harm herself because she’s going to be angry with you. You can’t move her with you because she’s supposed to be dead. You can’t keep her tied up somewhere because eventually, you’ll have to leave her alone for too long, and she’ll die. Or they’ll notice, and she’ll die. And she’ll hate you for it until she does. You haven’t thought this through.”
“Girls don’t like being tied up and held prisoner,” Luca says. “Learned that one the hard way.”
“So, you’re saying my only option is to kill all three of you.”
“That’s one option,” Declan says, propping his feet up on the coffee table. “Help us get her out of here.” He turns to me and adds, “Come sit down, honey. It’s okay.”
I look to my leftto Lucaand shake my head. “I don’t think I should.”
“Luca, sit down. You’re making Teagan nervous.”
“And the masked douchebag with a knife makes her feel all warm and fuzzy? Why do I make her nervous?”
“More like wet and horny”
“Mother fuck”
“Luca, don’t!”
“You’re unpredictablethat’s why,” Declan says. “Sit down.”
Luca sits at the edge of the bed. He’s still in only his boxers and has that crazy look in his eyes he gets sometimes.
With his long hair and beard, he looks like a deranged, tattooed Jesus.
“Now will you sit, Teag? Put the knife down. I’m trying to be your port. That’s what you want, right?”
“Yes,” I say, lowering the knife. I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand and sitnot beside Declan but at Luca’s feet, wrapping my arm around his leg. I press my lips to the inside of his knee.
“I love you, Teagan,” Luca says. “He doesn’t love you.”
“I know that,” I tell him.
“You’re my baby, aren’t you, Teag?” Luca says, pushing his hands through my hair.
I nod.
Sebastian glares at me and then Luca. “Maybe I’ll let you go if you let me kill that one.”
“Like my dad killed your mom?” Luca taunts.
“Didn’t you kill your own mom and then fuck your new one?”
“Sebastian, please leave him alone.”
Sebastian moves to the other side of the room, pulls out the desk chair, and sits wide-legged with his arms crossed in front of him. I look from him to Declantheir size, their posture it’s like looking in a fucking mirror. How didn’t I see it?
“Sebastian,” I say, “you should take off your mask. I bet Declan wants to see your face.”
“No.”
“He remembers you. He’s your brother.”
Luca scoffs. “They’re not brothers.”
“You’re his brother, too, Luca.”
“I really wish I’d let that one die on that plane,” Sebastian says. “I despise you. There is something really wrong with you, isn’t there, Teagan? You want to die for this guy? Maybe you should just slit your throat so we can be done with this.”
“Don’t listen to him, Teagan,” Declan says. “He doesn’t mean it.”
“I’m not. I wasn’t talking to Bone Saw. I don’t want himI want Sebastian.”
“She’s right, though. I do remember you, and I do want to see your face. We are brothers.”
“I don’t want to see his fucking face,” Luca says.
Apparently, that’s all the convincing he needed. Sebastian lowers the hood and removes the mask.
He’s uncomfortable; he doesn’t want to look at either of them so he looks at me. The similarities are striking. All three men have the same cheekbones and brow ridge; Declan and Sebastian have the same dark eyes and hairline. Their hair and skin tone is different but still, I don’t know how I never noticed it before.
I missed him. He missed me, toothat’s why he’s here. He disobeyed for me. He killed another member of The Order to save me.
Declan’s righthe’s not going to hurt me, and so he won’t hurt them.
“Sebastian could come with us,” I tell Declan.
“Fuck that”
“He can’t, honey. Sebastian is rightno one leaves The Order. They’d kill us all,” Declan says. “Do you have a car?”
“Yes,” Sebastian says.
“There’s a small airport not far from here. Bring her there after the wedding.”
“No way. We can’t trust him with her,” Luca says.
“He came all the way down here to save her. And he’s not stupidhe knows this is the only way she’ll ever be safe. He’s not going to hurt her; he loves her.”
I hold my breath and waitwait for him to say yes, I do love you, Teagan. But instead, he stares straight ahead at the wall, thinking it over.
“She gets under your skin, doesn’t she?” Declan asks.
Still, he says nothing.
It’s quiet for a few minutes. I cling to Luca’s leg and stare at the head on the floor.
I remember the scared girl in the bathroom in Dallas, covered in blood, afraid of what it meant. Now, I’m sitting in a hotel room with a dead body and a severed head, unaffected.
Its eyes are open.
“Fine,” Sebastian says.
“Okay,” Declan says. He leans forward in his chair.
“No,” Luca says. “I’m not leaving Teagan with him. I don’t trust him.”
“Do you trust me?” Declan asks.
“Are you kidding? No. You left her. I’m not leaving her again.”
“Teagan, come here,” Sebastian says.
My eyes dart to Declan, who nods.
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.