Page 119 of Bite Me

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh? That’s not Dacre that I smell all over you today?” He leans in till I feel the warmth of his breath on my ear. “Some smells you can wash off, and others you can’t.”

My cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Sorry you had to learn it from me. Dacre isn’t ever going to be relationship material. No one with families like ours ever is.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Dacre

The car creaks to a stop. I can’t see anything through the tinted windows, but according to my watch, it’s nearly 9 p.m., which means we’re nowhere near Doxlothia. I’d have jumped out and made a run for it, but Liam had already planned for that. No matter how hard I punch or kick, the windows won’t break.

So I’ve sat in silence, with the only light coming from the LED strips at the door and the console. These limos are usually stocked with snacks and drinks, but there’s a lone water bottle in the fridge.

As far as Emma knows, I left this morning after our first night together and have yet to check back in, so she’s either suspicious that something is wrong or, more likely, she thinks I’ve abandoned her.

Every time I think of that, I punch the window again.

To be productive during the long drive and save my knuckles, I make a list of a hundred things I know about my grandfather. And on that list, one of the first things that comes to mind is that he is not obvious. Which, in this case, is good.

He won’t outright hurt Emma while she has so many eyes on her, so I think, at least for right now, the only danger is to me. Another thing, maybe number fifty-four: he’s good at breaking people. And, maybe most important of all, the very first thing on the list: he always gets what he wants.

The door opens before I can break for it, and there’s a pillowcase placed over my head. It must be from one of the estates, but it doesn’t smell familiar. Even with the cool wind against my skin, I’m not picking up any smells to indicate a location. Liam probably dusted enchantment over the cloth that dulls the senses and makes you “compliable,” because I don’t try to run again. I just walk wherever he leads.

There are only two sets of wooden steps as he escorts me through winding hallways. I haven’t been to every estate my family owns, because it’s redundant to visit another mansion with another garden and marble floors. There are some that my grandfather uses for business, and I imagine there are plenty he never tells anyone about, even me.

Only when I hear the slam of a metal door does the pillowcase come off.

There’s nothing to scan or identify. I’m at the threshold of a mostly empty room with one single overhead bulb, wooden floors, and a rusty metal door.

Liam pushes me to sit on the small bed pressed to the edge of the room. Next to it is a toilet that’s caked with hard water stains.

“Wouldn’t dream of being anything other than obedient.” I gather my hands in my lap as I sit on the bed.

There’s no way I’m getting past him to the door. Liam is a Were who may be past his prime, but I’m still no match for him if he shifts.

“You made all this for me? Or does my grandfather have some dirty business secrets I’ve yet to hear about?”

That part is obvious, but he won’t tell me anything.

“This is not an invitation to talk. You’re going to sit there while I fix your mess. You’re getting married, even if I have to drag you there unconscious.”

“I want to be with Emma. I don’t want to do this shit anymore. He can take my shares of the company because I’m done.”

“Is it that easy for you to give up everything?”

For Emma, yes. I’ve finally found what I’ve been missing. I never wanted to do my grandfather’s bidding, but I had no choice before. Or at least, I thought I didn’t.

“Why do you care what I do?”

“Because your grandfather cares! The paperwork has already been done. Everything has been set up for you, and you’re throwing it all away. You don’t understand how disappointing your betrayal is.”

“I don’t? Me, of all people? I didn’t betray him. He betrayed me. He’s so obsessed with his legacy that he forgot how to be a grandfather, and this is the consequence: grandchildren who hate him and want nothing to do with the Everhart name.”

This empire he’s been trying to set up has failed. He had only two sons, and instead of uniting them, he pitted them against each other. My uncle and his wife couldn’t conceive children, so they left my father and his children to bear the brunt of the Everhart name.

“So you want to turn out like your sister, then? Alone? No direction? No family?”