Page 196 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

She would never trust him again. How could she? Surely he’d proven himself as bad as Devin and Jack. He’d tried so hard to show himself different, but he’d failed. Again.

He didn’t know how long he sat there before Sebastian opened the door and walked in. Alex jumped to his feet, silently begging for answers.

Sebastian stared at him with that frightening intensity he got when he was reading somebody. After a long moment, the Immortal soberly nodded. “It’s not your fault. You were drugged.”

Alex couldn’t move for a long moment, then he let out a shuddering breath and slumped back against the wall and ran his hands through his hair. No matter he’d been drugged, whatever he’d done to Anna had been unforgivable, even if it wasn’t his fault.

His body went cold as thought back to earlier in the day. He’d gone to the Manor as soon as he returned to San Francisco, intending to work out the aggression and stress he always dealt with after a mission with the Red Girls at Devin’s Manor. He’d done it countless times. The last thing he remembered was smiling at one of the girls and sitting down on her bed. “Devin!” Rage flooded his body. “Fucking Devin drugged me again!” This time he made him hurt Anna. He clenched his fists. More than ever, he wanted to destroy that evil son-of-a-bitch.

Sebastian put his hand on Alex’s shoulder and looked directly into his eyes. “Alex, you need to calm down. You cannot go out there in a rage or you will terrorize Anna again.”

The words were a bucket of ice water in his face. He swallowed, his shoulders slumping. “Does she know? Did you tell her?”

Sebastian nodded. “For the most part, she believes me. She said you didn’t look like yourself when she first saw you. That you lookedinhuman.”

Alex looked up at his friend with watery eyes. “What did I do?”

Sebastian shook his head. “You don’t?—‍”

“Please. I must know, Sebastian.”

Sebastian pursed his lips and tilted his head. Then he nodded and shared what Anna had told him. By the time he finished speaking, Alex’s face was green and he rushed to the toilet to vomit.

Sebastian handed him a towel when he finished. “Is she alright?” he asked.

“I healed her body and cleaned her up. Physically, she’s fine. Emotionally... I don’t know. I think it is going to take time.” Sebastian leaned against the vanity. “I think you need to return to Frankfurt as originally planned.”

Alex shook his head with a heavy heart. “No, I need to stay and make things right with Anna. I can’t leave her like this.”

“If you stay, you will continue to be vulnerable to Devin. The only way you will be able to help her is if you go home and study the ancient tomes.”

Alex sighed and closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later and looked directly into the Immortal’s piercing blue eyes. “Am I fighting a battle that is already lost? Answer me truthfully, Sebastian.”

The Immortal gave him a sympathetic look. “You have only lost if you give up before the fight truly begins.”

Chapter 87

“Daddy?” Anna’s bleary eyes opened to see a man that looked very much like her father sitting next to her. The room was dimly lit and the sky outside her window was dark. Night had fallen.

“No, Anna, I am not your father,” the man answered gently. He had a nice smile.

Anna blinked again. No, it wasn’t Daddy. But he definitely had a resemblance. “Are you an Immortal?” she whispered.

The man chuckled. He wiped her forehead with a cool cloth. “How are you feeling?”

Why had he asked such a question? Had she been sick? Her body felt empty, the same way she felt after a healing sleep. She sat up and tented her knees under the blankets. “I don’t know.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Anna searched her memory and let out a choked cry when she remembered Alex’s cruelty. Her eyes burned with tears and she pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, causing golden sparkles to appear. “Alex hates me,” she whispered. “I was wrong about him.”

“Why do you say that?”

Anna told him what Alex had done. The man listened attentively and silently. She dropped her hands to her sides and turned away, her heart feeling as empty as her body. “I’m just his slave.”

“I don’t think that’s true. He cares for you a great deal.” The man told her that he believed someone had drugged Alex and that he didn’t know what he was doing. “Do you believe me?”

She studied his face, then instinctively attempted to read him, but she couldn’t. Then she remembered she couldn’t trust her ability to read men. “Why should I believe you?”

“My name is Sebastian. I am not your father, but I am his brother.”

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