Page 112 of Voracious

“Only.” He shakes his head and gets to his feet. “It’s the fifteenth. Aria would be horrified if she knew any of this. I should be telling her. She could help him.”

“You’d be putting her in danger.”

“I know.” He looks over at Eva then back to me. “And you still have all of your protection? Christopher can’t get to you?”

I nod – he asks me this every day. “He’d need to survive multiple gunshots to get near me.”

Tobias slouches in the seat in front of me, thinking to himself. “I feel useless. More useless than usual.”

“You sent one hundred guards to Russia to watch Kade – I don’t think that’s useless.” I had no idea he was as resourceful, considering he’s locked up. But apparently, Tobias has a lot of connections.

“They all died within a day,” he replies bluntly.

“And you paid someone to keep an eye on Luciella while she’s at university.”

“But I’m not there. I’m here, in this fucking…” He lowers his voice and glances at Eva. “I need to get out of here.”

“Aria would never forgive you.”

“My son is more important,” he counters. “My kids are more important. Aria can just deal with it.”

I stay silent, because I get it. It must be horrible to know your child is in the situation Kade is in and not be able to do anything about it.

“I need to leave now; I have two minutes left. Eva won’t be with me tomorrow morning, so you might want to get some goodbye cuddles.”

He cheers up instantly when Eva wakes and grabs his face. He tells her he’ll see her soon, then pulls me in for a warm, caring hug. I love getting hugs from him. He doesn’t always give them out, so when he does, I wrap my arms around him tightly and stay until he kisses my temple or the top of my head and tells me to fuck off.

“I’ll bring you chocolates and popcorn for our movie tonight,” I say. “Remember to keep me a seat!”

While I lie in bed, scrolling on my phone, I try to call Kyle, but he messages that he’s at work and will ring me back once he’s finished.

Barry and Lisa are out for dinner with Eva – I said I wouldn’t be joining since I’m going back to the facility soon for movie night.

I click my screen off and toss my phone on the bed, heading up from the basement to grab a drink and fold laundry. I always help around the house. I think they’ve got used to me being in their space to the point that Lisa sometimes prefers me over her husband.

I turn on the speakers around the house. “Porcelain” by Moby plays as I pull my hair into a ponytail and tidy up. I fold a blanket, some dresses and Finding Nemo PJs and take them upstairs to Eva’s room. It resembles a Disney princess room – her name is printed on the wall, her toys stacked up on the chest, her teddy bears all on her little sleigh cot.

Once her room is done, I grab a duster and get to work around the house. The living room is probably the messiest room, since we’re always in it.

I freeze when I walk in and see someone standing there.

The duster drops to the floor.

I gasp out anoand back away until I knock over a lamp, just as he rushes to me and covers my mouth. “Shhh, baby. You need to stay quiet and come with me.”

I’m frozen in place, my heart rate accelerating, waiting, needing Barry’s men to barge through the door and save me. My lungs stop working, terror coursing through me as Chris snakes his arm around my waist and walks me out of the living room.

He drags along the hall to one of the spare bedrooms, and as much as I fight against him, kicking my legs and elbowing him, he doesn’t let me go as he pulls me into a room.

“They’re coming for you, you stupid bitch,” he says, throwing open several wardrobes and swearing to himself. “If I let go, will you scream?”

“Screw you,” I mumble against his palm, sinking my teeth into his hand and drawing blood.

He hisses and throws me to the ground. “Did you not fucking hear me?” He assesses the bite mark on his hand and shakes his head. “They found you. You need to hide.”

My eyes water, my jaw rattling. “How did you get in here?”

Barry has this place heavily protected. Alarm system. Cameras. Security parked outside. Everything.

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