Page 32 of Tormented Heir

Then again, how can I pay the bills and care for a kid on my own? I’m being naïve. Cade won’t be living with me because the authorities surely wouldn’t allow it. A perfect in-between plan would be to rent somewhere close by, but that still means I need a job, and one that pays well. My dream was to finish my degree in literature and begin a postgraduate course in creative writing, but it was difficult without any money to fund my tuition. My student debts are already high; with a further course, they’d have been astronomical. I was running out of money to even live day to day, hence why I came back and agreed to stay when Dad asked me to.

But just what the hell have I landed in the middle of?

Sickness washes over me as I think about the conversation I overheard. Is Cade safe? Am I? I had really bad vibes from Ari. The way he looked at me and touched me, and this overheard conversation has me deeply unsettled.

Back in my room, I get back under the covers, but sleep eludes me.

10

ADRIANA

PRESENT DAY

Loud banging at the door has me jerking from the fitful sleep I finally fell into. I glance at the clock by the bed. It isn’t even six in the morning. What the hell kind of hour is this for a delivery? I wait for Hana to move her lazy ass but hear nothing. Another bang rents the air. Sighing, I get up, pulling my long t-shirt nightie down from where it’s gotten rucked up in the night.

On my way down the corridor, I check in on Cade. He’s still miraculously sleeping. Then again, the kid can sleep through the loudest movie. I smile fondly and pad down the stairs, yawning.

I open the door and stare in shock at the figure on the other side.

He grins at me.

“Ari?”

“You remembered my name,” he says with a smirk.

“Um, yeah, um … let me go get Hana.”

“No need.”

“Sorry?”

He leans in. I shrink back but his arm goes around my waist and pulls me into him. His other hand slaps over my face, and something wet covers my mouth and nose. I struggle and inhale desperately. I can breathe, thank God, but then the smell hits. Something sickly sweet but with a harsh overtone. What the fuck?

I struggle more, screaming into the material over my face and kicking my legs at Ari.

“Don’t make me choke you to sleep,” he snarls in my ear.

“Hana,” I manage to gasp around the cloth.

He laughs darkly. “Hana has her ear plugs firmly in place. She can’t hear a thing. She will wake up, and you’ll be gone.”

I scream louder.

His next words chill me to the bone. “She put her ear plugs in on purpose. Her white noise machine is turned up too. Plausible deniability.”

What the hell? Is he saying Hana knows this is happening?

The conversation from only a few hours ago floats back to me, but I can’t make sense of it because my head is swimming. I think I’m going to be sick.

“Jesus fucking Christ. Go under already.”

He pushes the cloth harder against me, and I can’t get in air. My blood pounds in my head, and my hands curl into claws as my legs shake and start to buckle.

Sweat breaks out all over my body, pinpricks of panic as lights flash in front of my eyes.

Then nothing.

Darkness.

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