Rohan glanced briefly toward the bed. “Little sister won’t be pleased to be left behind.”
“I’ll call Grayson,” Savannah said. Even saying her Hawthorne half-brother’s name seemed to be a bitter pill for her to swallow—though perhaps, Rohan noted, not as bitter as it once had been. “He can see to it that she’s taken care of. Alisa can have Knox take her home.”
“As you wish.” Rohan allowed his gaze to go to Savannah’s lips, then to the place on her neck where he could still see the beating of her pulse. “But a word of advice, love, your sister will be your biggest weakness, wherever she is. Always.”
And you will be mine.Rohan had no business thinking those words or anything like them, but there was no unthinking them, no denying the truth that he had checked on Savannahfourtimes this night.
And her body was so very warm.
Rohan knew better. He’d known better from the start.I have to stop.But there were moments in life when one had to choose: The guaranteed payoff or the risk? The long game or the short one?
There were moments in life—brief, finite, delectable moments—to let it all ride.
Chapter 43
GIGI
Gigi woke up alone. She went outside and couldn’t find anyone but Knox. It didn’t take her long to realize: Savannah was gone.
She left, Gigi realized all at once.With Rohan. And Brady. But not me.Not Knox, either, who confirmed for Gigi that the others had really and truly taken off.
“Savannah left me.” Gigi really should have anticipated this.
“Don’t look like that,” Knox told her. At leasthehadn’t left.
“Like my heart just chewed its own leg off?” Gigi’s eyes stung. “Is that how I look?”
All Gigi could think was that Savannah was who-knows-where—probably on her way to England and the duchess—and Gigi was here.I said no.She’d had a chance to do something, to bargain, to infiltrate the Gilded Blade, maybe even to find Avery. She’d had a chance to prove herself, and she’d said no.
For Savannah.And Savannah had left her behind, like she was a child.
“Don’t cry.” Knox sounded mildly panicked at the prospect.
“I’m not a crier.” Gigi’s throat stung more than her eyes. “Even as ababy, I almost never cried. My parents always said it was like I was born happy.” Happiness was a choice. Gigi knew that. She believed it.
“Damn it, kid.” Knox made his way down the hall toward her. “Cry all you want.”
Crying felt like giving up, but not crying would have been worse. Gigi’s superpower had never beenpretendingto be happy. She’d never pretended to be anything. Savannah was the one with masks. Gigi was just optimistically, maniacally, chaoticallyherself.
“Have you updated Alisa on all of this?” she asked Knox. He averted his gaze. “I’m going to take that as a yes,” Gigi said quietly. “I’m also going to go out on a limb and guess that she ordered you to take me home.” That was what Grayson would want. Savannah, too. They all just wanted to stash Gigi away, like a porcelain doll placed on a high and lonely shelf.
“Would it be so bad?” Knox asked. “Going home?”
Home was Gigi’s mom, the best mother in the world. Home was a place where Gigi was safe and loved andlucky. Home was the Arizona sun and Katara, Gigi’s—
Gigi stopped and sucked in a breath. She went back up to the loft bed, confirming what she’d just realized. “Savannah and Rohan took the kitten.” Gigi blinked, knowing she probably looked owlish. “They left me, but theytook the cat?”
Knox eyed Gigi like she was wrapped in TNT and filled with glitter, and if he moved a single muscle, she just might explode.
“I said noforSavannah,” Gigi choked out. “She told me not to disappear, so I didn’t. Maybe I wouldn’t have anyway, but I never even got the chance.” Gigi shook her head, sending her brown waves bouncing into her face. “I wanted—I don’t even know! I don’t even know what I want, Knox, becauseSavannahis the one with ambitions and plans and a—and a Rohan! She’s the one who won the Grandest Game. Savannahalwayswins, and I have always been okay with that. I have beenhappy, and I have tried my best to make everyone else happy and—”
Gigi cut off, because what else was there to even say?
“I don’t do hugs,” Knox told her. “In most circumstances.”
It was a miracle. A bona fidemiracle, and Gigi couldn’t even takehim up on it, because she was a glitter bomb of existential despair, and she needed to be elsewhere. Anywhere. She shoved her way out the door, onto the platform, and took to the ladder.
Knox followed. “Where are you going?”