Page 44 of Stolen Love

They’re pushing him too far. Turning him into something he isn’t. And I don’t know how to stop it.

Leaving him isn’t something I want to do. It isn’t even an option. We need a plan. And not one where I do what Nicole wants.

I only agreed to her demands to buy time. I have no intention of marrying a man I don’t love to make her happy. Deal with my dad or not.

All this time I’ve been fighting to stand on my own feet and live my own life. One with real love and connections. One where the monsters are vanquished because I am finally strong enough to fend for myself.

I’ve found that with Rogue. I’ve learned my worth and my strength. And I won’t let anyone take it from me. Not without a war. All the secrets, threats, and pain only make me more certain that I can’t give in.

But wars have casualties, and we are losing. We have lost so much already; Marty, my dad. How long until they turn Rogue’s love for me into the very poison that will destroy him?

My hand goes automatically to the key at my throat. Perhaps because right now it’s the closest I can feel to my dad. Or maybe because this is the only clue that we have. And figuring out why he sent it to me is the best shot we have.

When that man handed me the envelope in Adira’s dressing room, I thought there would be some explanation for why Dad had to leave me. Or a list of his suspicions. Or even a justification for why he would make a deal to marry me off to Nathaniel Croft.

Because there had to be one. If my dad did make that deal, which I’m still struggling to believe, then he must have felt like he had a good reason for wanting my marriage to Nathaniel.

But there was none of that. There was no letter at all. Just this key.

Dizzy continues pulling things out of the wardrobe. A red dress with a mid-thigh hem and ruffles. A sheer floor-length gold gown.

She’s occupied so I slip into the bathroom and open my purse on the counter.

“This is divine. It must look so cute on you.” She holds out a blue corset and floaty skirt. The corset has tiny white flowers that look like stars beaded onto it.

“I made it.” She’s making heart eyes at my dress so I’m not too worried when I pull out the pregnancy test box and drop it in the top drawer of the vanity.

With everything else going on, I’m struggling with knowing that I could be pregnant and not having taken the test yet. I’m getting quite desperate about the answer.

My belly fills with butterflies and I press a hand to my abdomen. At this point I’m like ninety-eight percent sure that I’m pregnant. It’s that two percent possibility that I’m not that feels huge. This is supposed to be one of those momentous life-altering moments, right?

“Well, it’s gorgeous.” She drapes the material across her torso.

It doesn’t matter what the test says if we can’t work out this key or find a way to make my family back off without Rogue having to give up a little bit of who he is in the process. The idea of being pregnant while dealing with my mother… and now with Alec on the loose… if anything happened to our baby I would never forgive myself.

I think that’s probably why I’m so nervous to take the test. I close the drawer and rest my hip against the countertop. None of this stuff can wait, but right now it has to. Adira is looking into the key and Rogue is with his family. I can only focus on Dizzy and those bruises. On her brother, West.

She fingers the blue lace frill around the top of the bust. There’s a wistful expression on her face. “I wish this color suited me.”

“I think it would actually,” I say. “Why don’t you try it on?”

“Really?” Her eyes light up and she flaps her hands at her side like a hummingbird’s wings. “Do you mean it? I can try it on?”

“Go ahead.” She’s acting like she’s never played dress up in a friend’s closet before. For some reason that bothers me. Probably because I know what it’s like to be that lonely.

“Eek. This is like…” She starts stripping out of her dress. “Growing up with West… well, he’s seven years older than me, so he left to go to college when I was eleven and came back home when I was seventeen.” She pulls the blue dress over her head. “So those teenage years were lonely. And I used to make believe that I had a sister and that we’d share clothes and do each other’s makeup and hair.”

“I know what that’s like.” In a lot of ways her life seems to parallel mine. Except I had Adira and the queens. I think she only has West. “Tell me about the bruises, Dizzy.”

She smoothes the dress down before reaching for her wrist. “Oh, these?”

“You said you’re arguing and you can’t be around him right now,” I remind her. “And then you have those.”

Alec is free and I’m on edge, so maybe I’m putting my own problems on her. But after all the years that I suffered in silence, I wish someone had asked me if I was all right. Given me a chance to see that the monsters weren’t in my head. But I guess it wasn’t that obvious. Not even my own father had seen.

“Um… he can be…different. Sometimes.” She averts her gaze, glancing at the bathroom, where my favorite makeup is displayed in acrylic organizers. “Do you think I could play with your makeup? Try to come up with a look to go with this dress?”

“Maybe I can do your makeup.” I follow her into the bathroom where she’s checking herself out in the mirror.

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