Page 27 of Cinder
There isa car waiting for me when I flee the clubhouse. One of Viktor’s men is driving. He says nothing when I slide in and close the door. Simply ignites the engine and we leave. His silence is welcome. It gives me the peace I need to process what just happened. I reach up and touch my lips and realize I’m smiling like a goofball because Lars’s kiss lingers on them like sugar.
But my smile fades as my home appears in the distance.
Not home. Prison.
Behind those walls, Luca is waiting for me, and when I tell him I don’t have the recipe he will make me pay.
I glance at my wrist to see the time and notice my mother’s watch is gone. A surge of alarm slams into me, and in apanic, I twist my body each way to see if it’s slipped off in the back seat somewhere. But I can’t see it anywhere.
Tears prick at my eyes.
I mentally retrace my steps to when I saw it last. I was in the library with Lars. I remember glancing at it to make sure I wasn’t going to miss curfew. But then Lars caught me looking through the books.And then I climbed on his lap and kissed him stupid.
I swallow thickly. Lust swirls through me, but panic and fear nip at its heels.
I must’ve dropped it somewhere between the library and the car.
Oh God. What if he figures out who I am?
Luca will lose his mind.
When he finds out I didn’t get the recipeandleft evidence behind, he will probably lock me up forever.
Or kill me.
Fear snakes its way down my spine. I won’t tell him. I will figure out a way to get the watch back, so he never has to find out. Maybe sneak out via the secret passageway and return to the party.
But before that, I have to face my brother.
The car comes to a stop at the front door, and I brace myself for Luca’s reaction.
He’s waiting for me in the foyer. I see him, and the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end because just hispresence is enough to evoke fear, but knowing I have failed the assignment and left proof of who I am behind me when I fled means he is going to let his viciousness run wild.
He looks at the Rolex on his wrist. It’s new. Just like his suit and expensive shoes. “Sister, it’s good to see you made it home before curfew. Where is the book with the recipe?”
Fear throbs at my temples. I swallow hard and brace myself for his reaction. “I don’t have it.”
“What do you mean you don’t have it? You mean you failed? You didn’t do what you were sent there to do?”
“I was caught by their enforcer before I could retrieve it.” I swallow thickly. “But if you let me go back?—”
He slaps me so hard my teeth rattle, and I see tiny stars dance in front of my eyes.
I didn’t even see him move.
I fall to the floor, but he pulls me by the hair and drags me to the stairs where he shoves me down and the first step slams into my hip.
He leans down, his face enraged, his eyes wild, little drops of spittle forming in the corners of his mouth. “You incompetent, useless bitch. You had one task. One fucking task."
My cheek throbs, and my heart races, and I speak in quick, hushed tones. “It wasn’t my fault. They have a lot of security, and the enforcer was suspicious the moment he laid eyes on me.”
Luca sweeps a gaze over me and lingers on my legs, and thedark delight I see in his eyes makes me feel very exposed, very vulnerable.
If my virginity wasn’t worth so much to him, I don’t doubt he’d enjoy taking it himself. Because his heart is as vile and vulgar as it is black.
“You weren’t supposed to attract any attention. With so much at stake I expect you to do better.”
I grit my teeth, thinking of Lucretia. “I know what is at stake.”
