Page 88 of Monsters Wear Crowns
But underneath it… I could feel something else.
Fear.
I sat still, my heart still slamming against my ribs, the echo of Moreau’s words crawling through my head.
“Those Vaughan men, taking and destroying.”
I hated that they stuck. Hated that the sliver of doubt had found a home in my mind. Because as much as I wanted to believe it was a lie, as much as I wanted to believe Rafe, I knew the way my father had used my mother. I’d watched it eat her alive. And now, I could feel myself slipping into something just as dangerous.
My stupid, reckless heart was already latching onto him. And Rafe…he wasn’t making it easy. Because I didn’t feel that he was reciprocating in the way I wanted.
The car pulled through the mansion gates, and the second we stopped, Rafe was out. I followed, but the distance between us had already opened into a chasm. He paced the room like a storm ready to break, tension rippling through every step.
“You shouldn’t have gone into the office today,” he growled, his voice low and sharp. “Itold youit wasn’t safe.”
My own anger flared hot and fast. “I’m not going to hide just because Moreau is trying to scare us. And in case you forgot, my presence wasneededthere today.”
“This isn’t about fear, Adela. It’s aboutsurvival.” He turned on me, his eyes burning. “Do you have any idea what could have happened tonight?”
“I know exactly what could have happened!” My voice cracked before I could stop it, the weight of the night finally crashing down. “But I’m not going to live my life in a glass box. I won’t be my mother.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, and they hit the room like a gunshot.
Rafe stilled. His eyes went dark. “What does that mean?”
But I couldn’t say it. Not when everything inside me was still splintering. Not when Moreau’s voice still whispered in my head, planting roots I didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Rafe…” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my balance. “We need to hit back. And not just with fire this time. We need to take him apart. Piece by fucking piece.”
For a long moment, he just watched me. Then that slow, wicked smile curved his lips, the one that made my stomach flip even when it shouldn’t. “You really are perfect,” he murmured.
But the words cut more than they soothed.Perfectwasn’t the same asloved. And I was starting to wonder if I’d ever know the difference. He stayed up for a while longer, talking on the phone and with his men. I showered and slid into the soft, white blankets. When he finally came to bed, I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned toward him in the dark, my voice soft but steady.
“You haven’t told me everything.”
A long silence. Then: “No.”
My throat tightened. “Will you ever?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached for me, his hands rough, his mouth desperate, and I let him. Because even though my mind was screaming at me to pull back, I couldn’t. I knew that he had a way of silencing my questions with intimacy, but I just...couldn’t push him away.
Because the fire between us was the only thing keeping the fear at bay.
But I knew the truth.
This couldn’t hold forever. And when it finally broke…we’d both burn.
***
The next morning came too soon. I woke tangled in Rafe’s sheets, my body aching in ways that had nothing to do with the fight from the night before. The room was still dark, the early morning light just starting to creep around the heavy curtains, and for a moment, I let myself exist in the quiet. His warmth was still on my skin, and the memory of his hands lingered like a brand.
But the bed next to me was empty.
Of course, it was.
I sat up slowly, the cold settling in as I reached for my crimson robe. The night had been a blur of heat and desperation–a language we both spoke far too well. But the silence that followed it? That was what kept me up after his breathing had gone steady.
He hadn’t answered me.
I didn’t know if he ever would, and it made me nervous.
