Page 75 of The Loathing

“Okay,” she just about manages, her voice trembling.

I graze my lips over her forehead, pressing softly, my own eyes closing as I inhale her scent.

She opens her bedroom door, breaking out of my grasp and I hate that I am having to leave her already. I step behind her, my foot just over the door threshold.

“I’ll be back at midnight; be ready, okay?” I don’t want to seem demanding, but the sooner we are out, the better. “When your father looks back on the cameras which we both know he will, he will just see little old me dragging my suitcase up to my rental car. For all he knows I am on my way to the airport. He wants me gone, he isn’t going to question me and by the time he comes for you…”

“I’ll be gone,” she whispers.

“You’ll be gone,” I nod, reaching for her hand and holding it tightly, my thumb brushing against her knuckles.

“Okay,” her whisper is soft, her fingers from my grasp before her hand has fully left mine and I hate the emptiness that I feel.

“I’ll see you soon, Amora.”

“Goodnight Titus,” she gives a little nod, stepping back from me and it takes all the strength in me to turn and walk away. I just hope she trusts me enough to come with me. I can’t leave her here. I won’t.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AMORA

I pace up and down my bedroom, my heart jackhammering in my chest, nausea ripping through me every second, the blood pumping in my ears suddenly giving me a sickly headache.

Was I an idiot for trusting Titus? Shall I stay here and just take whatever my father is planning on doing? Do I stay like the perfect daughter and do as he says?

No, no I can’t.

I have to stand my ground. I cannot, I will not go with The Knight Brothers.

My father will need to find some other way to repay them for killing their father.

It was a mistake.

A careless one at that, but I am not paying for it.

Rushing through to my wardrobe, I have no idea where I am going, but I need to pack sensibly and suitably and for any possibility. I pull at my tees, summer dresses, jeans, yoga leggings, vests, and pyjamas. I look at my formal wear, half hesitant but decide against it. I feel like we will go somewhere secluded, away from prying eyes.

I pace into the bathroom, clearing my shelves of all my toiletries that I may need. I have no idea where Titus is planning on hiding me away but I want to make sure I have everything.

Nerves crash through me, making me second guess everything.

Maybe I am wrong.

Maybe I need to do this for my father, avenge his name for the mistake he made. It’s only fair.

An eye for an eye.

What if they did do that literally and take my life to avenge their father?

How would Xavier act knowing that they’ve killed his only daughter? Broke down his walls to the point of complete weakness and strike him through the heart, taking him down with me? What if they haven’t agreed a peaceful trade? What if they do want blood? That’s what they threatened. My father has blood on his hands and he needs to clean them, but it doesn’t matter what he promised to do to clean them, they weren’t interested.

They wanted what he held most dear in his life.

The one thing he possessed that no one else has had.

The purest thing of all.

Me.

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