Page 122 of Fall Into Me

Calista

After

“Up we get.” Declan used the knife at my throat to get me to rise from where I’d been crouched next to Jerry.

My body was on autopilot, which was working just fine for me right now because every signal I was demanding my brain to send out wasn’t computing. My tongue refused to work, my arms refused to move. To lash out.

I was picturing it on repeat in my head—the different ways that I would be able to disarm him. None of the moves I’d done before, but that didn’t matter. If I could just get myself to dosomething,it would be better than what was happening right now, which was me, alone in my house, and a psychopath holding a knife to my throat.

Jerry was lying still on the floor, the silence around him so deafening it was like the entire world had disappeared. I focusedon his chest, trying to catch the faintest rise and fall. If I focused on that, I wouldn’t crumble. Not yet.

“You’re awfully quiet, Calista.” Declan leaned into the space between us, his face morphing into a mocking pout. “From everything I’ve gathered, this house is usually quite loud.” He leaned back, his smile turning feral as he used his gun to gesture to the bedroom. “Especially in there.”

His insinuation made my stomach churn, the violation sharp and personal. Rage flared in me, hot and quick, but it didn’t burn away the fear. He’d watched us. Fane and me. That realization made my blood boil, but the knife against my throat reminded me how easily he could cut me down. My weapon—the one that should have been at my side—lay unconscious at my feet.

“I thought you said not to make a sound.”

Declan’s smile faltered for a moment before twisting into something feral, dangerous. “No one likes a fucking smart ass, Calista,” he hissed, and I swear to God, I saw his black eyes swirl like something foul lurked underneath.

I swallowed four times before I managed to open my mouth and push out any more words. Half because I was doing my best not to tell him to go and fuck himself and half because my anger was definitely a coping mechanism to mediate the tremor I felt starting in my hands at the very real fact that I was here, alone, and had for the first time in my entire life had a gun pointed to my head.

“You’re supposed to be in Artington.” My voice came out strong. Calm and steady, and I was so fucking impressed with myself, particularly when I caught the tiny blink of surprise from this asshole when I didn’t start blubbering. Don’t get me wrong, I was pretty sure if I could’ve, I would have already pissed myself, but it turned out I was made from a lot stronger stuff. I just really needed to catch up with the fact that maybe I wasn’t innately soft.

MaybeI wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The thought gave me something else to hold onto, something to focus on.

“Ah, right. Well, you see, I amintimatelyaware of Ashton and all his little connections, not to mention their lacking legality.” He started to wave his gun around while he spoke. “I did go back, just for a few days. Just to set a few things into motion. Swapped my cards with a buddy of mine. He didn’t even know!” Declan raised his eyebrows at me in some weird, silent way of letting me know he thought that would impress me. A brilliant move in…whatever this was.

A game. That’s all this was to him, and he’d decided to make me an unwilling player.

“But, and this is where it gets really fun, I’ve beenright here!”He whispered the last bit like a secret, and all the food I’d crammed down my throat with Delilah threatened to come back up. “Actually, that’s not true. I’ve been outthere”—Declan gestured his gun toward the front door—“while he was inhere. Withyou.” The barrel of his gun swung back to rest right in the middle of my forehead. It was no easier to live through it the second time, especially with a knife at my throat.

“Fane?” I just wanted to keep him talking. It was the only thing running through my mind. If he was talking to me, then I was alive. “Is this like some unrequited love thing?” I swallowed and tried not to wince at the way the knife shifted where he held it.

Declan’s smile dropped instantly, and it was like looking at a completely different person. No less fucking rotten, but a different kind of rotten. It pulsed from him now, and it was very clear that I had not only missed the mark, but I’d sent my assumption out so wide that I felt the way his hand twitched at my throat. How easy it would be for him to flick his wrist all because I couldn’t hold my tongue.

In my defense, I’d never been in this position before, so I had no idea that my defense mechanism was me turning into a fucking dumbass with zero concern for her own well-being.

“I watched you,” he hissed. “Night after night. I was curious to see how broken you were after I hit you with my car. Did you like how I had a little fun with your brakes?”

“You tried to kill me.”

He waved his gun, dismissing my statement before dropping it down to his side. “Don’t be so dramatic, Rosie. Can I call you Rosie? I like it.”

“No, you fucking ca—ah,” I gasped, grinding my teeth together when he pressed the knife further into the side of my throat. The sting of it made my jaw cramp, and I felt the tickle of something dripping down my neck, soaking my shirt.

“Shh, shh, shh.” Declan tucked the gun into the back of his jeans with a casual ease that spoke to how comfortable he was in this moment. His free hand rose, fingers trailing along my cheek with a feather-light touch that felt grotesquely intimate. I forced myself to keep swallowing, my throat constricting against the rising bile.

I didn’t see it coming.

One second, the knife was there, sharp and cold against my neck. The next, it was gone, his hand swinging back in a blur.

The slap landed with a crack so loud it reverberated in my skull. Pain didn’t register at first—it was just sound and shock. And then it hit me. My skin ignited, a searing blaze consuming the entire left side of my face. It felt like a swarm of fire ants were crawling under my skin, biting and stinging as they spread across my cheek, my lips, beneath my eyelid.

My nose throbbed, sharp and hot, and the vision in my left eye blurred, leaving me momentarily disoriented.

I couldn’t stop the yelp of surprise that escaped me—a small, involuntary sound that felt like a betrayal. I wished with everyounce of strength I had that I’d swallowed it down, buried it deep where he couldn’t find it.

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