Page 8 of Blood Descendants
My grip on reality.
But it’s not like I have anyone else in this world. Ophelia is my best friend.
I live in a shit apartment. It’s truly nothing to give up.
“What about my job?” I think out loud. But it’s certainly relevant. “I work full time. I can’t afford to just quit and walk away.”
Ares stares at me for a long moment, his knee bouncing up and down just slightly. “We will have to make this look real. As my fiancée, you won’t have to work.”
I look at him wordlessly for a minute as that processes. Iremember where we are. In an extremely expensive hotel, in the penthouse suite. Ares handed over that black card like it meant nothing.
I realize then that Ares is not financially dependent on his father. Not if they’ve been estranged for three years.
Ares is taking me on as his kept fiancée.
“I have an… emotional connection to my work,” I admit. “I don’t really just want to walk away. But my boss, he’s a massive asshole, and he’s not going to like me taking an unknown amount of time off.”
The smallest of smiles cocks in one corner of his mouth. And it just about makes my heart stop. Something grows… hot in my lower belly. “I’ll pay him a visit. I can be… persuasive.”
I don’t doubt it. It’s hard to imagine telling a man like Ares no.
I lean back in my seat, my death grip on my bag loosening. My eyes wander the penthouse, not actually seeing anything. I feel overwhelmed. Exhausted. But after three weeks of feeling terrified and desperate, I have my answer. I have a possibility. I have hope that I might find Ophelia.
Fuck it.
“Alright,” I say in a breath. “I’m in.”
Ares’ brows rise slightly higher, telling me he didn’t actually expect me to agree to this. “Okay,” he says, sounding a little relieved. “Go home. Pack. I will pick you up just after sunset.”
I raise an eyebrow at that. “So, the daylight part is true?”
Ares stands. “Not like you think,” he says. He watches me with expectation, a clear indication it’s time to leave. He probably paid thousands of dollars for this room, and we’ve only occupied it for an hour. “But I’ll explain everything later.”
We head to the elevator and then step inside.
“I need your number,” Ares says as the doors slide closed. He hands me his phone with a new contact card open. I hesitate for just a moment. Once I give it to him, I can’t just disappear and pretend this night never happened.
But until Ophelia is safe and sound, I can’t do that anyway.
I take his phone and type my first and last name – Lana Kincade, and my number. Just two seconds after I hand it back, my own phone vibrates.
“You’ve got my number. Text me your address,” he says, very business and matter of fact. He once again stares straight forward. “I’ll be there with a truck this evening.”
“Okay,” I say, my throat feeling thick. The doors slide open, and we cross the lobby. I step outside, and it’s clear Ares isn’t leaving just yet. I reach into my bag, my fingers wrapping around the cold metal.
“Keep it,” Ares says, raising his hand slightly. “You’re unlucky enough to be my fiancée now. You need protection at all times.”
Why the hell am I blushing? Why does him actually calling me his fiancée make my stomach do an immature little flip?
“See you tonight, Ares,” I say, his name crossing my lips for the first time. I like the way it tastes.
“See you soon, Vengeance.”
Chapter 4
“You’re really not even going to attempt to find a replacement for you?”
I don’t bother looking up at Dannika as I continue stuffing my clothes into garbage bags. “Maybe if you and Kylie pick, you’ll actually like whoever ends up in room three.”
