Page 104 of A Taste Of Darkness

The ache in my chest intensified as I clutched the fabric of Milo’s favorite shirt, the scent of him lingering faintly. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible was about to happen, and the weight of that possibility pressed down on me like a bag of bricks.

Tears blurred the world around me. I felt a sting of frustration and helplessness as I grappled with the tormenting what-ifs.

Even as I reached a trembling hand out and laid it on his chest, felt his heart beating against my palm, the fear lingered. It was a shadow that refused to dissipate.

The mere thought of losing him was enough to break me.

“Milo,” I whispered, hoping he’d wake up, but he didn’t.

At least not until a sob broke free and he suddenly ripped his eyes open and sat right next to me, pulling me into his embrace.

It happened so fast that I barely realized he was holding me until I heard his soothing voice. “It’s okay,” he said, his voice soft and reassuring, even though he didn’t know why I was crying.

Only when I calmed a little, stopped gasping for air, and my shoulders relaxed did he ask for a reason.

The tips of my fingers pressed into his warm skin as I forced myself closer to him. “Just… I’m worried.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can’t sleep. All these thoughts, they’re killing me.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“I don’t want to lose you again.”

Milo held me tighter, so tight I could feel his heart beating against my own. “I’m here, Sterlie, and I’m not ever leaving you, okay?”

“You can’t promise that when you know it’s not true.”

He pulled away from me and pressed his lips to my forehead before looking at me. “Do you want to go see Arlo? He did say he had an idea about how we could get out of here, so perhaps his enthusiasm will ease your mind.”

“Is he not going back to Toronto?” I asked.

Kai would miss him, I was sure. Arlo was his best and only friend aside from my sister. Though he definitely pissed Kai off more often than not, so I’d been told.

“I don’t think so. He only went there because of me. Dahlia’s here, as is Violet. Now that he no longer has to be away from them, I don’t think he’d want to.”

That made sense. “How did he become a lawyer?”

I’d been wondering about that ever since I found out that he was part of the mafia. I doubted anyone here went to law school.

Milo chuckled. “He slapped a false degree on Kai’s table. Probably said something along the lines of ‘I’m the best criminal defense attorney in the world.’”

“And Kai believed that?” Perhaps he wasn’t so smart after all.

“Oh, no, but he admired the fake degree and that he could use Arlo to get out of trouble, had he gotten in some.”

Now that sounded more like the brother-in-law I knew.

Either way, Arlo had been working in a law firm for years; surely, he picked up a few good things. If anyone knew how to get us out of here alive, it was him.

“Will he be mad if we wake him?” I asked. While I wasn’t sure what he had in mind or if it’d actually ease my mind, it was worth a try.

“Only if we wake Violet.”

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