Page 96 of The Depraved Prince
I push my long, overgrown bangs out of my face and wave awkwardly. I bite my lip and try to hold myself together until I find the right words.
What the hell do I say?
Hi? I was held captive by a vampire billionaire?
No, that doesn’t sound right. They’ll throw me into a mental institution if I say that out loud.
Leah is the first one to move. She lunges toward me and practically tackles me into a hug. She starts to bellow uncontrollably as she pushes her body against mine so tight it knocks the air out of me. I cough into her chest as I try to steal the air back that was thrown out of my constricted lungs.
I want to hug her back and join in her tears of relief,but I can’t. I keep waiting for my vision to sting and my throat to ache, but nothing comes. I feel numb. I’m absolutely numb…because of him. I crave to be held by someone who has destroyed me beyond repair…instead.
“Millie! You’re here. It’s actually you! Oh my God!” Leah cries out.
Cole and Nash appear behind her. They both place their hands on my back, rubbing it in circles to ensure I’m real. I peek a glance through Leah’s hair.
“Millie…you’re alive. You’re okay and in one piece.” Cole tells me as his eyes brighten and his cheeks pinken.
Wow. I miss his voice. Was it always that deep and smooth? Have I been gone that long that I don’t recognize Cole’s voice?
“Where the hell have you been? I’m sorry! But please tell us everything. What happened to my baby sister?!” Nash whisks me away from Leah. He pulls on my arm, wrapping his hand around my elbow, and crushes me with his massive body. Nash smells like he always did before. Before he moved away for college, I see that he still wears Dior Men cologne with Old Spice deodorant.
He wraps his arms around me, suffocating me in his embrace, and I feel him cry. His chest and chin twitch against the top of my head with agony mixed with relief.
Shit.
I’ve never, ever, ever seen my big brother cry before, and it actually kills me. He pulls back and tightens his hands on my arms, gripping my skin firmly.
They all look at me with vehement, curious eyes, dreading the answers they so desperately seek. But…I’m not ready to give them any yet. I bite my lip and ask myself the one question I need answers to.
“Is it true?” I pause, looking at Cole, Leah, and finally, my big brother. “Is it true Dad’s dead?” I stammer with a broken, soft voice.
He purses his lips, nods slowly, and his Adam’s apple bobs tensely. “Yes, the night you disappeared, Cole, Hayes, and Leah went to check on you after you quit your job at the coffee shop. He was worried about you, everyone was, so he went to check on you a few days later and found father…he—” Nash pauses, unable to finish his sentence. “He…”
He looks away from me and stares at the floor like he’s picturing my dad’s dead body. I’m trying not to do that myself, but darkness clouds the corner of my vision before I know it. My once-taut muscles now loosen like I’m about to fall over. I blink briskly, trying my best to pull away from the weakness, but it’s overpowering and swallows me whole until I’m in the shadows.
34
MILLIE
Three Weeks Later
I faintedafter Nash tried to explain. I spent the next two weeks surrounded by doctors and police in the hospital. Nash took me in when I went unconscious, and because I had to know if Hayden and Kallum were telling the truth about ‘Valkyries,’ I asked them to run scans all over me and dive deep into my blood.
Doctors ran multiple tests on me but could not find any cancers, disease, or tumors. They said something small popped up, and they sent it in for tests, but I won’t get those results for a while. So, I think my death will most likely be caused by heart failure. Or maybe the cancer won’t show up until I turn twenty-three. Either way, I felt like I had escaped fear, only to be thrown back into it. I would wake up every day wondering if my heart would stop beating.
My face and return to my home have been on every single news network, and I hate it. I hate that I’m now known as a girl who mysteriously disappeared and has now returned safely, but I won’t give any details about what I went through.
I’m just not fucking ready. I don’t think I’ll ever be prepared to share. The police are trying to push me for answers, as well as the therapist they hired to come to my house once a week, but I don’t want to talk about it. So I talk about my parents instead.
Or maybe you’re still trying to protect Hayden and the ones you love by not revealing his existence. You still love him.
Either way, I cannot form any sentences about Hayden without wanting to cry. So, if I think I’m going to get to a place where I feel like I’m going to scream or break, I push away and avoid the conversation. I explained to Nash that he needs to respect my boundaries by letting me open up to him when I find the perfect moment. He told the police and everyone who was invested or cared about me to back off for now, and everyone agreed.
Leah and even Cole offered me to stay at their place so I wouldn’t be alone. I reassured them that I wanted to take on my healing journeyby being alone. I haven’t been alone. I want to grieve my father and what I went through…alone. I need to learn to find solace in solidarity, even if it’s one of the lowest times in my life.
I want space and time to think about everything that I went through and losing my father. It doesn’t feel real. It’s like I refuse to accept my horrid reality where vampires exist and my father is gone.
My mom has called my father’s house multiple times to check, and we’ve talked. The conversations are short, but at least she’s checking on me. It’s weird to see my mom care about me, but I’m still getting used to it.
