Page 27 of Devil's Riches

Nate nodded. “Yeah. He knows my mom, so he practically rolled out the red carpet for me.”

“Must be nice to be a Lockwood,” I said with a thin smile. “I bet if I went to that hospital with a stab wound, Edward would fob me off on a first-year med student.”

Nate’s mouth turned up in a faint smile to match mine. “Take the pill. It’ll help with the pain.”

I tipped my head backward to swallow the pill. Then I looked up at Nate again. “I forgot to ask before. How did you know where Greg took me?”

“I didn’t know for sure. But when I found out Greg was the real Butcher, it made me think about your dad.” He paused and rubbed his chin. “That made me think of your old place, and how no one ever goes there anymore. It’s practically an island legend at this point; the old Butcher House. I figured there couldn’t be a better hiding place than that. A place no one even wants to think about, let alone go near.”

“Well, I’m glad you thought of it,” I said softly. “If you didn’t find me, he would’ve killed me.”

“I know.” Nate dipped his head toward the other side of the bathroom. “You should take a shower now.”

I nodded and turned toward the shower enclosure. Then I frowned and turned back. “Can I ask you something first?”

Nate’s brows furrowed. “What?”

“If you still think I might’ve had something to do with what happened to those girls last month, why did you bother saving me tonight?”

“I told you, I didn’t—”

I cut him off. “Let me finish. What I mean is: you could’ve left me with Greg down in that bunker twenty minutes ago. You could’ve let him kill me. That way you’d save yourself half of the dirty work, because you’d only have to kill him later. Not me as well.”

Nate was silent for a moment. I noticed he was pointedly avoiding eye contact with me again. “I need you alive,” he finally said. “You have information. Not just about the dead girls, but about everything that happened ten years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about all that stuff you told me about your dad, and the way he was set up by some sort of cabal. The one you call the Golden Circle,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “I used to think you were just making shit up, but obviously, you were right about all of it. So I need you to help me figure out everything that happened back then. Who was involved, why, and how.”

“Right. I guess that makes sense,” I muttered, even though I didn’t believe him. There was no way that was the only reason he’d decided to rescue me from his uncle. He could say it until he was blue in the face, but that kiss earlier said something else entirely.

His eyes rose to meet mine again. “Is that all?”

“No.” I tilted my head slightly to one side. “There’s something I think you should know. Something I’ve decided.”

“What?”

I hesitated and took a deep breath before continuing. “This is going to sound crazy, but… I’m staying.”

Nate frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m staying,” I repeated. “With you. I understand if you want to go back to the way things were and take me down to that other bunker when I’m finished in the shower, but you really don’t need to. I’m not going to try to run again.”

“Why?” he asked, eyes narrowing. He probably thought I’d succumbed to Stockholm syndrome.

“Because as fucked up as everything has been between us over the last few weeks, I actually feel safe with you now,” I replied, staring boldly up at him. “I know you said you didn’t rescue me earlier—you were just taking me back from Greg—but that doesn’t change what happened. When I was in danger, you showed up, and you stopped me from getting hurt. And like I said earlier, Greg wanted to kill me for what I knew. That means the others in the Golden Circle will want to kill me too, if they ever find out that I know about them, and they probably will find out, because I think Greg is still communicating with them in some way. Probably via your mother. So I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here with you. I need you to keep me safe.”

Nate stared at me, head slightly tipped to one side like he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “You know you don’t have a choice, right? You’re here because I want you here.”

“I know. But I’m just saying—you don’t need to worry about me trying to leave again. I want to be here now.”

With that, I turned and headed over to the shower. As I switched on the water and waited for it to get hot, I looked over my shoulder at Nate. He was still standing in the middle of the bathroom with a thunderstruck expression on his face.

“You might as well join me,” I said with a casual shrug. “No offence, but you look like you need it.”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “I spent an hour digging through a dusty old mausoleum this morning, so I’d be surprised if I didn’t look and smell like a pile of trash right now.”

“You were in a mausoleum?” I said, nose wrinkling.

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