Tears stream down my face as I whisper, “Please…Why can’t you just love me?”
“Sterling.” I hear my name, distant and muffled, but I’m still trapped in the dream. “Hey, it was just a dream. You’re okay.” The voice threads through the darkness and wraps around my chest like a dark angel’s hand. “I’m right here. You’re okay.” I force my eyes open and find Kiera leaning over me. “There you are.” She gives me a soft smile. “You had me worried for a minute.”
“Sorry, I guess talking about everything last night triggered the nightmare.” I groan as I push myself upright, catching sight of the hint of sunrise edging through the window. “Did I wake you?”
“No, I couldn’t sleep.” She rocks back onto her heels, where she’s kneeling beside me on the bed. “You okay?”
Nodding my head, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just need a caffeine fix.”
Kiera laughs under her breath. “Thank fuck, I need caffeine too. Let’s go before Lila wakes up. She’s the devil without it.”
We stand up and make our way to the kitchen. Kiera beelines straight for the coffee pot, rifling through the cabinets until she finds what she wants, then gets the machine going before dropping onto a stool at the island. “What do you think our parents were up to?”
I sigh. “I don’t know—but knowing Angelina and Wade, nothing good. We’ll keep searching, though.” She nods, already drifting into her head.What are we missing?
Chapter Fifteen
What the hell were our parents doing?My mind reels with everything we’ve unraveled in the last twenty-four hours as the sound of a door opening down the hall echoes. Lila is the first to appear. Her liner smeared under her eyes. Cam trails after her with his shirt inside out, the collar stretched like he lost a fight putting it on. A slow grin spreads across my face. “Morning, lovebirds. Sleep tight?”
Cam groans. “Don’t.”
Lila cuts me a look sharp enough to stab as she lunges for the coffee pot and pours the black liquid like it’s morphine. She takes a long drink, then eyes me over the rim. “Speaking of missing beds…where were you, Ki?”Ohh, she’s in a mood this morning.
“I was with Sterling. We talked, then passed out.” I arch a brow at them, propping my elbows on the counter. “Good thing, too—someone occupied the guest room.”
Cam lets his forehead fall against the granite with a dull thunk. “Can we skip the play-by-play?”
Deciding to get in a few jabs, Sterling chimes in. “Why skip? It’s been months since Cam entertained company.”
“Fuck. You.” Cam’s words come out muffled against his arms.
Lila doesn’t show an ounce of embarrassment; she never does. She’s always been confident, perfectly content in her own skin. “Okay, enough teasing, Cam. What do we do next?”
Sterling and Cam trade silent looks, having an entire conversation passing between them without a word. Sterling speaks first. “We keep everything steady. Same tone, just a different meaning. If Wade sniffs any change, we’re all as good as dead.” Lila and I both nod. “Cam and I will lay the first breadcrumbs, make him believe Asher’s the shadow haunting him.” Sterling’s locks on mine. “Ki, what was your endgame?”
“I was going to drive him mad, make him question his own sanity, and then end it,” I say, not a shred of remorse in my voice. “He will not survive his.”
No one blinks. Judgment requires a soul, and we left ours in that basement months ago. “Fine,” Sterling says finally. “We table the finale. For now, we sell Asher as Judas.”
“Okay,” Lila and I say together.
Sterling’s next words drop like a blade. “You’re not going back to your dad’s apartment. Either of you. Not tonight, not ever.”
“No, that’s not happening.” I snap. “Dad can’t get into my apartment.”
“He can, and he has,” Sterling says quietly. “I didn’t mention it because, at the time, I didn’t know you were the person we were looking for.”This can’t be real.
“And how would you know that? Stalking much?” I toss him a mischievous grin, letting the accusation curl like smoke between us.Of course, he is. I already knew that, though.
Sterling just smiles, unbothered. “Seriously, you can’t stay at your place, and it’s not safe for Lila to go back either.”
The reality of everything sets in, heavy and cold. I always knew this was going to end one way. What I didn’t expect was for it to drag my best frienddown with me. I tried to keep her out of it. “So, Lila’s collateral? And where are we supposed to go?”
“She always was,” Sterling says firmly. “The moment he finds out it was you, the ones that you love the most will be used against you. You and Lila are staying with us.”
I swallow down the urge to go and kill Dad right now and take a slow, steady breath. “Okay, but we have to go get some of our things.” I turn to Sterling. “Is that okay, caveman?” I ask sarcastically.
Sterling checks an invisible watch, then thumps on his chest, making light of the situation. “Go. Be back before dusk.”