Page 61 of Tangled Hearts

“I spoke to Ryder about taking you,” she said walking around me. “How do you think they knew you were there? Or how they passed through the barrier?”

“No, no, that’s not what happened,” I said, stepping away from her, remembering the necklace they had and how it felt like Mother’s magic.

“I hired them to take you, rough you up a little because you were getting restless again.” She smiled. “I need you to be scared again and the only way to do that was to have you taken. They don’t love you Oria, you were a job.”

“That… That’s not true,” I said, but the doubt began to creep in.

“I hid you well enough that no one should have found you, ever,” she said, stepping closer. “They are using you, they want you for their own gain.”

Tay’s suspicion was right, he knew this because he helped Mother to keep me there. He knew there was no way for anyone to find me, much less come through the barrier.

“No,” I whispered. “Our bond.”

She took a deep breath. “An unfortunate coincidence. I didn’t think you had more mates, I wasn’t counting on that because we already had Max.”

“They wouldn’t hurt me,” I said, but I knew there was no conviction behind it.

“That’s what they want you to believe,” she said, stepping closer to me. “They are professional thieves. They love to make money and you, my darling, are just a job to them. You being their mate makes things easier for them.”

This couldn’t be happening, she was lying, they loved me, I was their mate. They would never hurt me. Right?

“This is what they do,” she said, getting closer to me. “Now before this gets out of hand, tell me where you are at, and we can forget that this ever happened.”

I stayed quiet as I ran through all the facts again and I kept coming back to the necklace, I knew it felt like her magic. Why would they have it? They got in when no one else had.

“Let Mother help you,” she said, taking the last few steps closer to me.

“You mean let Mother help me get locked away again, so she can use me for her gain,” I snapped, stepping away from her. “Even if you exposed the truth about them, there is no way I’d go back to you.”

“I have protected you, you have lived a comfortable life,” she said, as her carefully stoic mask slipped into a sneer. “You think your family would have known what to do with you? I have kept you alive?—”

“I don’t know what my family would have done because you never gave them that chance,” I said, raising my voice. “Don’t make me think you did all this for me when we know this was all for your gain. I might be naïve, but I’m not stupid.”

“Then you know, I will find you,” she sneered. “You are mine and this isn’t the end.”

She lunged for me as I stepped back, hitting the window. I expected to get hit with her magic, but nothing happened. If this was a dream or I was in her mind, how did I get out? She ran after me when I threw open the window to the small ledge that was there. I didn’t know if this was going to work, but I jumped off. The feeling of free-falling never came, but when I gasped, I was back in the room with my mates.

They all looked at me with varying degrees of concern.

“Blondie.”

“Sunshine.”

“Heaven.”

Ryder was next to me. Soren and Gray were coming towards me, but I flinched and backed away from them. They stopped immediately as I noticed Max in the room too. He tilted his head to the side, like he was trying to get a read on me. He was the only one I could trust, he had also suffered at the hands of Mother and Taylin.

“Heaven,” Ryder said, bringing my attention back to him. “What happened? Are you ok?”

I looked at the three culprits and I didn't know what to do, but I knew I couldn't do it while they were staring at me. The need to confront them was on the tip of my tongue, but if I did that, then I wouldn’t be able to leave.

“I need space,” I quickly said, throwing some clothes on.

My mouth felt dry, but a weird taste was on my tongue.

“Blondie, what’s going on? What happened?” Soren’s voice was laced with worry.

“Nothing, I… I just need some space, please,” I said, as my emotions were all over the place. I didn’t want to break in front of them, I couldn’t, because if I decided to leave, I had to do it alone.

---