Page 107 of Midnight Wedding

Each night I cover more ground. I need to get some sleep, and I don’t want Arsen to notice that my routine’s totally changed, so I only give myself an hour. That’s enough time to get in, check out a room or two, and get out.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of rooms in this place.

One positive benefit of crawling around in the walls is I get a lot of time to think. And as I think, I start to process my feelings and all this weirdness.

I’m sure of two things. First, Arsen cares about me. He genuinely wants to build a family with me. Everything he’s doing, he’s doing out of a place of love. Even if his love is creepy and fucking crazy.

It’s still the best love he can give.

And second, I want that family too.

I ache every time I try to picture my life without Arsen. I despise the idea of raising this baby without him actively in the picture. I’m lonely at night in my lumpy, empty bed, and I’m itching to put all this stupid shit behind us.

But the distance is good.

I have a chance to discover what I really want—and to crawl around in the darkness.

“Shit, fuck, asshole,” I mutter as I squeeze myself between two wooden joists. “Mother dick cock fuck ass tits—” I pop out the other side and fall on my face. Dust claps up around me and I get a mouthful of cobweb. “Damn it.” I spit it out and sit back, breathing hard.

There’s barely any light. I hold up my phone and let it shine on the path. My clothes are covered in dirt and ripped in a couple of spots where old, rusty nails caught on the edges.

I fidget with my eyebrow bar. I lick my lips and wait for some sound. Nobody’s caught me yet, but it’s only a matter of time. I haven’t exactly been stealthy.

But nobody shows up.

“One more room,” I whisper, pushing myself to my feet. This is the final bedroom in this section of the house. If this isn’t it, that means I have to search one more entire wing, and who knows how long that’ll take? I already want to go back to Arsen’s room. I miss the way he looks at me, his hands on my body, his mouth on mine.

But I have to finish this first.

I shimmy onwards, cursing softly the whole way. There’s nothing on the path, no sign of life, no hint that someone might’ve come down this way. I’m starting to think this is another dead end when I reach a right turn and come to a halt.

There’s something up ahead.

“What the heck?” I whisper to myself, heart picking up. Sweat prickles my back. I lower my phone light and stare at a pile of blankets pressed up against a dead end.

I approach it slowly. The blankets look old and dusty. There’s a candle, an ancient radio, a few moldy adventure paperbacks, crayons, a yo-yo, two dull knives, and a stack of pens.

“It’s a nest.” My nerves are a freaking mess as I kneel down and rummage through the stuff. It looks like somebody used to come in here all the time. There’s even an old flashlight that doesn’t work.

But it’s what’s hidden in the blankets that makes my jaw drop.

The diary’s black. There’s nothing on the cover. No lock on the edge. Just a simple little book filled with tight, loopy writing.

The nameSona Sarkissianis written on the very first page.

I sit back against the wall, laughing like I’ve just discovered the cure for cancer, and skim the first page.

Dear diary. I’m not going to start every entry that way. I’m not that lame. But for the first one, it’s okay.

I’m back home again. I never thought I’d end up here, but life’s weird like that. I had all these big dreams: college, jobs, boys, money. The sort of stuff every girl dreams about. Winning big and slaying my enemies. And now here I am, back in my dad’s house again like I’m a freaking teenager. I’m even hiding in my old spot and writing in this dumb thing.

I made a lot of mistakes.

And I’m going to pay for them.

Sona’s asleepwhen I shuffle into the gap in the walls behind her prison room. She’s not tied to the chair anymore; Arsen brought her a cot and some stuff to keep her comfortable. The windows are covered in bars and the door was reinforced. I heard a few of the house guards talk about how she tries to escape every day, but she’s locked down tight.

“I found it,” I hiss at her. She twitches in her sleep. “Wake up, Sona. I found it.”

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