Page 87 of Beautiful Things Obey
Was it because of Ben? Maybe it has nothing to do with me. Has he gotten them into something? He was always straddling the line between lawful and illegal, or so he suggested. He never came out and said it, and I never pressed him for details. But I do know he does something in finance and makes a lot of money for a lot of powerful people.
Did he fuck up, and now Nessa is paying the price?
But even as the theory forms, another one quickly follows. And this one is much darker.
What if it’s not about Ben?
What if it’s about me?
What if Konstantin has found me and is going after the people I love?
I’m untouchable in Silas’s fortress. What if he’s taken my best friend to smoke me out?
Oh God… What if my secret has gotten my best friend kidnapped and…
I can’t finish the thought because if I do, I will shatter into a million small pieces, and no one will ever be able to put me back together again. I hate it in this helpless place. It takes me back to the edge of when I was sixteen, and I stabbed the man multiple times for trying to force himself on me. Or when my husband hurt me a few too many times, and I had, had enough of being a pawn in a man’s world. But this is different. Nessa and Larissa are innocent.
“Hey.” Silas’s voice cuts through my panic. “We’re going to get Larissa, and then I’m going to find Nessa. And I promise you, baby, I’ll deal with whoever did this.”
I nod because I can’t speak or swallow around the cold lump in my throat. I don’t give a fuck about how I look right now. All of my bravado has leaked out of me. But if I had to choose, the only person I would have led to see me at the core like this would be the man beside me, assuring me that everything will be okay.
“Breathe,” he says.
I take a deep breath and let it go slowly. But it does little to ease the fear chewing me up from the inside out, and by the time we reach Nessa’s apartment several minutes later, I’m barely holding it together.
What if the phone dying wasn’t the reason the call with Larissa cut short?
Questions fly around in my head.
I barely wait for Silas to bring the car to a stop and hit the ground running toward the apartment complex. I punch in the security code, and the door from the street unlocks. Racing up the stairs, my heart is pounding, and when I reach the front door, I knock rapidly.
Nothing.
“Larissa, baby, it’s Auntie Leo.”
Still nothing.
My heart stops.
I knock again. “It’s okay, Larissa. You can open the door now.”
I hold my breath.
Come on, baby. Answer the door.
Inside, the deadbolt turns, and a wave of relief rushes through me.
Oh, thank you, God.
The door opens, and the smell of sugary cereal hits me before anything else.
Larissa stands there with a milk mustache and a wide grin.
“Auntie Leo!” She throws herself at me, and I drop to my knees and pull her into my arms.
She’s warm and sweet and smells like milk and Froot Loops. She squirms because I’m squeezing too hard.
“Auntie Leo, you’re squishing me.”
