Page 80 of Guarded By the Phantom

“Sit!” my mother screamed when I lurched to my feet. “Listen to me or I’ll give them the go ahead to end him right now!”

I sat down slowly, watching her without blinking. This couldn’t have been my mother. Clarissa Ashford was selfish and cruel, but this unfeeling, callous person was so much worse. She was a monster.

“Good,” she said through clenched teeth. “They are nearby, waiting for my call. But he doesn’t have to die, Barbara. You can save him.”

I didn’t move or speak, waiting for the inevitable. I didn’t know what was coming, and yet I did, too. It was like a horrible premonition that hung heavy in my chest but couldn’t be translated into words.

“You will make him leave. You will be thorough and do a good job. If he suspects anything and sniffs around, the hunters will eliminate him. Do you understand?”

I nodded once, hot tears sliding down my face.

“After that, you will accept Adonis’s courtship and marry him in two weeks. The invitations are being printed as we speak. If you do anything contrarian during that time or at the wedding, the hunters will find Phantom and eliminate him. Do you have any questions?”

“If… If I do it all,” I began, hating how tremulous I sounded. “You will send them away after the wedding? He will be safe?”

She nodded, shooting me a distasteful look.

“Oh, Barbara. If you had only been so loyal to your parents and not to a filthy monster. Don’t look at me like that. It’s all your fault. If you were a good daughter, I wouldn’t have had to do any of it.”

I hiccupped as my heart heaved with pain at what I had to do. To think that only last night, I said I loved him, and he was so happy. And now… I had to break him.

But even broken, he would at least be alive. I took a deep breath, looking at my mother with all the hate I felt for her. Unlike her, I knew exactly who was to blame for it all.

She rolled her eyes while a victorious smirk played on her lips.

“Well, go on. You have one hour to make him leave.”

Chapter 27

Phantom

Imade my girl a rose bouquet. There was a small greenhouse in the garden, the roses inside luscious despite it being October, and I cut a dozen, tearing away their thorns. Nothing was allowed to hurt my beautiful doll, not even a thorn.

I hummed a love song under my breath when I spotted her in the ballet studio. She wore a black leotard, and I grinned. Not as sweet as pink, it made her look much naughtier. I wondered if she felt well enough for a quickie. Probably not. Maybe I could get my fix by eating her out again.

“Hey, baby,” I said with a grin, showing her the roses. “Beautiful flowers for my beautiful doll.”

I flinched at the look she gave me. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen on her face, so cold and unaffected, like she was a sculpture and not a person.

“Baby? What’s wrong?” I asked, looking around to see who had upset her so much. I’d fight them right now. Whoever hurt my girl would die.

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “I just got bored.”

I looked back at her. “Bored? Of dancing?”

“Of you,” she said, turning her back to me.

I saw her face in the mirror as she brought her arms high over her head and stretched to the side. She seemed impassive and disinterested, and my heart lurched in my chest. Even though my brain didn’t understand her yet, it was like my heart already knew. Like it had expected it all along.

“What… What did I do?” I asked, squeezing the roses so hard, the bouquet shook faintly.

She straightened, shrugging. “Well, you did everything I needed. I don’t want anything else from you.”

“I don’t understand.”

My broken parts screamed at me to leave, to spare myself the humiliation. After all, I’d known it all along: she was too good for me. Yet, I couldn’t just go. She told me shelovedme.

“What’s there to understand?” she said, turning to face me.

---