Page 93 of Her Ruin

Not foreign.Forgotten.

“Does he know you’re showing me this?” I asked, my voice low and grainy.

“No.”

“Then why?”

“Because you are a liability he can’t afford,” Rye said, gesturing to the monitors. “A distraction.” He looked at the monitor showing Zayn, and he lookedproudof him. “Does he look like he needs to be distracted?”

“He looks like someone I don’t recognize.”

Rye turned to me, his appraisal cold. “You lie like shit.” His hands slipped into his pockets so casually, like we were discussing the weather. “You know him; you’ve knownhimfor a long time.”

He was right. The Zayn I had spent time with these last few weeks was not the boy I met when I was younger. I couldn’t take my eyes off the man on the screen. The coldness that exuded from him, the haughty contempt for everyone he surveyed.Thatwas the man I knew.

Rye flicked the button on the remote, and the screens were dark, but I think the images were imprinted on my brain regardless.

“He cares for you,” Rye said, and I heard the hint of bitterness. “Caring makes you weak,” he said harshly. “Before you fuck around with him anymore, tell me, are you ready to acceptallof who he is?”

I looked up and met the cold blue eyes of Rye.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“Then leave, and don’t come back.” Rye looked me over. “You don’t belong here, Isla. You never have.”

I was already nodding. He was right; I didn’t. I glanced at the screens. Even though they were now dark, I could see the images of the lower club. The type of men who sat down there, who were undoubtedly breaking the law in some way, probably every way, and the man who sat amongst them like he belonged.

No. Not like. Hedidbelong.

And it terrified me.

I looked down at my feet. They were covered in sturdy boots, sensible like me. My heart was pounding. I took a steadying breath. I was here on my terms. I would not be dictated to by a giant who disliked me.

“I want to see him.” I looked up and saw the flash of surprise in Rye’s eyes as I spoke. “I came here to see him, and I’m not leaving until I do.”

Rye looked away, and I heard him suck his teeth as he thought about it. “I’ll put you in the loft,” he conceded. “He won’t be there immediately, and I think you’ve seen enough tonight, don’t you?”

I was already nodding. “His apartment will be fine.”

I felt numb as Rye led me through the maze of doors and corridors until we were climbing the stairs. He opened Zayn’s apartment door while I walked past him. He didn’t follow me in.

“Make yourself comfortable; it may be a while.”

The door closed behind him, and I sank onto the couch. Comfortable? I might never be comfortable in this building again. If that had really been Rye’s plan, he’d definitely succeeded.

All I could see was the coiled danger within Zayn as he sat in that lower club. What was he involved in? He was smart—he always had been—but surely, if he was smart, he’d know what was happening down there was stupidity.

He was not above the law. No one was.

Pushing myself to my feet, I paced his floor with my arms wrapped around myself, holding myself together. I looked with fresh eyes at his apartment. Opulent without being offensive. Expensive but almost demurely so. Understated, not like him. He was larger than life. Or was he just larger thanmylife?

When I was younger, twice I had turned to Zayn when I needed something. Once, as a naive girl searching for her first kiss. The other time, I was a frantic friend, realizing I needed more than just myself to stop my best friend from doing something he would regret. Both times, Zayn had accepted the responsibility effortlessly. He had appeared as if he was reacting to my demands, but when I thought about it, I realized how easily he had adapted.

He had always been dangerous. I knew this as a teenager, as I did in my early twenties, and I was reminded once more tonight.

You don’t belong here.

Rye was right. I didn’t. I never would. If I was honest, I had never intended to stay. We were too different. If I allowed it, and over the last few weeks, I most definitely had not, but if I did, I knew I needed to walk away before it was too late.

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