Page 123 of Kept

“Ruined!” he roars, and I shrink away as he stalks me. “Bythem. You let them touch you. Let themdefileyou.”

“Dante,” I blurt, and he stops. “Who was he?”

Ethan is breathing hard. “He was sleeping in the warehouse underneath. Some junkie. So desperate for a fix, he didn’t even notice what he was taking when I handed him the syringe.”

“Psyche,” I whisper. “Cupid?”

He laughs, a shrill, piercing sound that curdles my stomach. “Oh, they were beautiful. They thought they’d found a little love nest, those two. The young love of teenagers. So I gave them one. Together forever.”

He advances on me. “I gave them all exactly what they needed,” he murmurs. “They didn’t thank me for it. They had no idea. But genius always goes unrecognized.”

I’m going to be sick again, and I breathe deeply, trying to stop my head from swimming. Piercing pain rings through my face, courtesy of my little trip to the hard ground. “How?” I ask roughly. “How did you do it?”

“I had a workspace,” he murmurs, almost dreamily. “Such a beautiful workspace, Zella. And so close, right underneath you. I was always so close to you. I never really left, apart from my little trips abroad.”

His hand finds the top of my head again, and he strokes my hair, almost reverently. “You’re a masterpiece, Zella,” he whispers. “And it’s time to come home.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I force out, and his grip on my hair tightens.

“No more of this. I have a new place now, Zella. I had to start again, but we can do it together. You’ll be right there, in the middle of it this time. I have the perfect pose in mind.”

My shoulders start to curl over. I know exactly what he means.

And if I leave now, I will never escape again.

One of his statues. Forever.

47 – Enzo

“Areyouhumming?”Ryderasks with interest.

I ignore him as I head upstairs. He follows behind me, poking my back.

“No,” I snarl. “I wasn’t humming.”

I don’thum.

“It sounded like you were,” he points out. “Sounded an awful lot like the tune from that film we watched earlier.”

I scoff, ignoring him as I continue. I don’t hum songs from ridiculous animated films about fish with memory loss.

I don’thum, full stop.

Ryder follows me down the hall to Zella’s room, and I turn on him with a scowl. “Will you fuck off?”

“Hard pass,” he says brightly. “I can’t sleep without my little thief.”

I grit my teeth. “I wanted her tonight.”

He tsks. “Have to learn to share, little blue tang. Don’t worry, though. I’ll teach you.”

He taps on Zella’s door before I can respond, and we both wait. And wait.

“It’s late,” he murmurs. “She’s probably asleep.”

Disappointment curdles in my stomach, and I shove past him. The door handle opens smoothly under my hands, and we both stare at the decidedly empty room. Ryder sighs. “Ten dollars that she’s running naked in the trees again.”

I blink, slowly. “Again?”

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