Page 23 of Theirs to Rule

His words hit me harder than I wanted to admit. “Am I a vice you’ll have to pay for eventually?” I asked before I could stop myself.

He looked at me, his gaze steady and unflinching. “If you are, I’ll gladly pay the price for the rest of my life.”

Damn him. He always knew exactly what to say.

But I couldn’t stay here, not forever. As much as I wanted to let him be my safe place, it wasn’t fair—to him or to me. I needed to face everything waiting for me out there, even if it scared me.

“You should be working instead of babysitting me,” I said, trying to sound teasing but knowing it came out more serious than I meant.

He brushed it off with a wave of his hand. “It’s fine. Most of my work is Zoom appointments anyway, and I’ve got a few kids who need me to check in.”

My chest tightened. Of course he was worried about them. Kids who depended on him, probably more than I realized. I wanted to ask if any of them had mentioned the things Bianca had told me, but I couldn’t. Not without breaking my promise to her.

“I get it,” I said, forcing a smile. “They’re lucky to have you.”

“And you’re lucky to have me,” he shot back with a grin.

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “You’re not wrong. But I should probably get going.”

“Peaches, you don’t have to?—”

I cut him off, shaking my head. “I need to, Dante. I need to handle this. I can’t just hide here with you, as tempting as that is.”

His frown deepened, and I reached out, placing a hand on his chest. “You’ve been amazing. But I need to prove to myself that I can get through this. That Kage doesn’t define me.”

He sighed, his shoulders relaxing just a little. “Okay. But call me. Check in.”

“Of course,” I promised.

He called me an Uber, making sure I was safely inside before telling the driver to take care of me like his life depended on it. Typical Dante.

As the car pulled away, I glanced back at him standing in the driveway. It would’ve been so easy to run back to him. But I didn’t. Because this was my mess to clean up, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else carry the weight for me.

The Uber wound its way up the mountain road, the tires crunching against the gravel. Trees with blood-red leaves loomed over us, casting eerie shadows. Even in the daylight, the landscape was both beautiful and unsettling, reflecting the turmoil within me.

As the car ascended the twisting path, I couldn’t help but think of the last time I’d been on a road like this, driving the Bugatti at full speed up to the lookout with Officer Davis chasing us. The memory was still vivid: the roar of the engine, the sheer terror as Davis’s patrol car bumped us, the sickening relief when he flew off the cliff right before we hurtled toward the same fate. But we’d been lucky.

I wondered if Davis had a family, friends who mourned him. Who had he really been working for? It wasn’t Silas; Silas was dead. Someone else was behind all this—Ava’s murder, maybe even the missing college students.

The questions swirled in my mind, a dark cloud with no silver lining.

The Uber pulled up to the chateau, and I was hit with a fresh wave of sadness. This was the place where I’d lived with Kage. The stone façade, the ivy climbing up the walls, the grand entrance—it all seemed to mock me now. Kage was still in the hospital and for the briefest moment, I felt the need to call the hospital and check how he was doing. But that was stupid. According to Dante, Callum had said Kage was improving.

I had to move out of the chateau before he got back.

But where would I go? The thought of crashing in Bianca’s dorm room crossed my mind.

It wasn’t ideal, but it was a start.

I got out of the car, my feet dragging as I walked up the steps. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of cedar and faint traces of cologne—Kage’s scent. It seemed so weird, being back here, where we both lived, where we’d fucked, where I’d told him I loved him.

I stood still, waiting for any sound that would indicate anyone was in the house with me, but I heard nothing. The living room was empty, but a video game was paused on the TV. Ty’s doing. It looked like he had just stepped out. A new pang of hurt hit me. Despite our past and how he’d treated me when he’d arrived at CU, Ty had helped save me from Silas, his brother, and Davis. I thought that was the night of a new beginning for us. A beginning that could start with being friends. Yet Ty hadn’t reached out to me while I was gone. Even if Dante hadn’t clued him in on what was happening, and I doubted that wastrue, shouldn’t he have come looking for me? Hadn’t he been worried?

Apparently not. He’d been hanging out playing video games as if everything was right with his world.

I pushed the thoughts aside and despite wanting to go to my room, climb into bed and cover myself in blankets, I took Bianca’s words the other day to heart. I started searching the chateau. I needed to know if there were any hidden mics or cameras. I checked every room, including Kage’s and Ty’s, relieved that I didn’t see any sign of drugs in Ty’s bedroom. I checked every corner, every crevice. It took hours, and I found nothing.

Maybe Bianca was just being paranoid.

---