Page 88 of Inception

Before I could make anything of it, the man in the baseball cap turned around and faced me. His eyes were still shadowed by the hat but there was a wayward grin playing across his mouth. A mouth that I was familiar with. A mouth that I had both fantasized about and feared in equal parts.

“Hello, angel,” he smiled, tossing his hat away as he gave light to the face from my nightmares. “I’ve missed you.”

25. SECRETS

Watching Dominic move across the platform felt surreal. It was as though someone had knocked all the air out of my lungs—out of the world—and snatched away my ability to perform even the most basic human functions, like breathing or thinking or moving. All I could do was stare at him, paralyzed by the fear that had cemented my feet to the ground.

My mouth dropped open to gasp for air, to scream.

“Now, now, angel. Be a good girl,” he warned sweetly, pressing his finger against my lips to silence me. “You wouldn’t want any of these people to get hurt, now would you?”

My eyes flickered briefly to the happy, unsuspecting people around me, wondering what exactly he might do to them. Was he really capable of hurting them? Was I willing to take that risk? I shook my head. Or at least IthinkI did.

“Come on,” he said, leading me to the waiting carriage. “We’re going to take a little ride on the Ferris wheel,” he announced and then sat down at the far end, pulling me into the seat beside him. I didn’t even put up a fight, too afraid that he would follow through on his threat.

My eyes darted back around to the ticket booth, searching for Gabriel as though he were my one and only hope. I watched as he tore through the crowd, racing to make it back to me in time—to save me—but it was too late. The Ferris wheel was already moving, lifting us up higher and higher off the ground.

The crushing look on Gabriel’s face sent a rip through my heart as he watched us ascend further out of his reach. A look that only exemplified itself when Dominic leaned over the seat and waved down at him gloatingly.

“You look ravishing tonight,” said Dominic when he finally righted himself. He swung his arm around the back of the carriage and coiled his lips in a pleased smile.

Ravishing how? Like a steak?

The terror permeated my blood as I ran through all the definitions ofravishingin my head. I tried to convince myself that if he wanted to attack me—to feed on me again—he would have tried to take me to another place, a private location with no witnesses. That had to count for something, right?Right?

“Did you miss me, angel?”

I forced myself to look at him. “I can’t say that I did.”

“Really?” His eyebrows pulled into a point as he relaxed back into his seat, wetting his lips. “Then I haven’t been starring in your dreams every night since our kiss?”

I scoffed at his selective memory of that night. “Only if you count my nightmares.”

His laughter bubbled out, short and sweet. “As long as I’m haunting you, I suppose I don’t mind the means.” There was something truly terrifying about the way his baby-faced features nearly canceled out every sinister word he uttered.

“What do you want from me, Dominic?” My voice spiked unnaturally. “Haven’t you had enough fun?”

“There’s no such thing.”

“Are you going to try to kill me again?”

He clicked his tongue as though insulted. “Now where’s thefunin that? I have far bigger plans for you, love, none of which involve your death.” His grin widened. “Certainly not in the immediate future.”

An icy chill clawed its way down my back. “What plans?” I asked, choosing to ignore the latter part of his statement since my heart was already thwacking hard against my chest.

“Patience, angel. Don’t you like surprises?”

“No,” I said with absolute certainty. “I don’t.”

His eyes shifted briefly to the crowd below. “Let’s just say you’re going to help me get something.”

I swallowed hard. “Does this something have a name?”

“How do you name the unnamable?” His cheek hitched up in a jeering way. “I couldn’t possibly.”

“How am I supposed to help you get it if I don’t know what it is?” I asked, wanting to keep him good and talking.

“That’s the thing about vengeance, love. It has a way of working itself into the equation.” He reached forward and took a strand of my hair into his hands, twisting it gently around his index finger. “I only have to sit back and let its wrath light the way.”

---