Page 78 of She Haunts Me Still

Mallory grips the scissors tighter, prepared to raise them like a dagger—

Just as a key turns in the door.

Mallory drops the scissors with a gasp. Victor whirls, and the door opens.

The blood drains from her face.

“Ezra…?”

20

Ezra stands in the doorway of his father’s office, coat collar up, gaze like a knife.

“What thefuckis going on?”

Victor smiles again. “Your girlfriend and I were just having a little chat. You should have brought her by the house, son. Where are your manners?”

“She’s not my…” Ezra’s jaw tenses. He takes a slow breath, nostrils flaring. “What is she doing here?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Victor says, stepping back from Mallory. “She has a voice. Quite a persistent one for such a little thing.”

Victor punctuates his words with a greedy pinch at Mallory’s hip, causing her to startle in an embarrassed yelp. He barks a laugh as he strolls to his desk chair, and Mallory glances back at Ezra, finding him glaring with such protective fury it thins her breath to nothing.

For a second, she sees him as she used to. The way he was in the candlelight, shields lowered, all his softest pieces on display. Here in this room, with his monstrous father toying with them, there’s nothing for Ezra to hide behind, either.

But in the next instant, his expression hardens to stone, making her wonder if she imagined that glimmer of tenderness in the first place.

“Did you come here for revenge?” he asks, voice frighteningly quiet.

Mallory blinks in surprise. “Of course not, I just thought—”

“You thoughtwhat?” Ezra’s eyes flash as he moves closer. “You’d play detective? What exactly did you plan on using as a bargaining chip?” His gaze drops to the neckline of her blouse, the top button undone around sweat-glistening skin. “Well. I always knew you were desperate, but I didn’t realize you were pathetic. Guess we were both wrong about each other.”

A fresh wave of hurt washes over her, humiliation multiplying at the implication behind his words. She searches for something equally harsh to reply, but Victor speaks before she can get a word out.

“That’s quite enough, Ezra.” The chair creaks as he leans back, his voice curled in amusement when he adds, “That’s hardly how you should speak to a woman.”

“Don’t worry, she’s leaving,” Ezra replies, his gaze still locked on Mallory’s.

Mallory glowers up at him. “Gladly.”

“One last thing, Lily Flower,” Victor calls. Too flustered to correct him this time, she just turns. “When you come to our gala, please do bring some of that careful research. I’d love to learn more about this mysterious Jacob. He sounds downright devious.” He looks at Ezra, smile slipping away. Victor holds his stare, something unspoken hovering between them as he adds: “Haveyouheard of him, son?”

Ezra’s jaw clenches again as he glares back at his father.

Eyes locked over a name, Mallory realizes, they both absolutely know.

Yet another piece of information Ezra’s kept tucked awaywhile she combed through history with tired hands. She wonders if he has any idea what it’s like to be a woman slowly realizing that both her past and future have never fully belonged to her.

Ezra catches her eye again, his expression now unmistakably laced with the faintest hint of despair. He knows, in this moment, there’s no chance of her ever forgiving him.

“Jules,” he says, “go back to campus. Now.”

This time, Mallory doesn’t hesitate. She rushes into the hall and sprints for the stairwell. She runs faster than she ever has, taking the steps two, three, four at a time, until her lungs balloon around the autumn air. She leans against brick, catching her breath, and presses her fingers against the swollen lesions beneath her choker. The world around her spins and spins.

You’re as good as done for.

Isn’t it comforting to know you’re right where you belong?