Page 10 of Shattered Sinner
Diving between the obstacles forced so much more physical exertion and having to deal with the fact that it was almost pitch black made things more difficult, but also forced me to rely on my other senses more. My body was exhausted and bruised, but I was determined to make it through.
My hand struck a wooden surface, and I found my saving grace: a doorway. I threw my body weight onto the door, and as it opened, the light blinded me. I had made it.
Breathless, I turned to the clock on the wall. I read the number that appeared on the television screen in front of me fifteen times before I believed it. Eight minutes and two seconds. I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, but I couldn’t fight the grin that crossed my face. Tonight had been one big test, but I had prevailed.
I let out a deep breath. A sense of relief rushed through my body at having completed these challenges. While I knew this was only day one, and there would be more challenges I would need to face, it felt good to claim this win. I didn’t know how much it would take to prove that I was worthy of being a Chevalier. I went back to trying to catch my breath as I waited for Nash to leave. But he didn’t.
“Have you spoken to Bianca recently?”
My heart felt as if it stopped beating. The question forced me to jerk my head up to look at him given it was the reason we literally had a fist fight the day before. His gaze burned a hole into me even though he was the one that brought her up.
I shook my head. "Not recently. Why?"
The smirk that formed on his face told me all I needed to know regarding what he was about to say. It wasn’t going to be anything good.
“Her engagement is going to be announced soon.”
I think my soul left my body. What did he just say? There was no way that I heard him correctly. I stood up to my full height and said, “What did you just say?”
"Bianca is engaged. She's moving on from whatever you two did. You should do the same.”
“You’re full of shit.”
Nash crossed his arms across his chest. “You don’t have to believe me. There will be an announcement in a couple of days.”
I glared at him and turned away, taking my time to shake the hands of several Chevaliers before I left the building. It wasn’t the smartest thing to piss off the chairman of the organization that you’re about to join, but I didn’t care. I was raging inside and being able to maintain control of myself as I walked out of this warehouse was a miracle.
As I stepped into my SUV and closed the door, my emotions swirled inside me like a tornado. It took everything in me not to wipe the smirk off Nash’s face.
Bianca was engaged.
There was no way that was possible.
I clenched the steering wheel, and it was only when I saw people leaving the warehouse that I snapped out of it. I threw my vehicle into reverse and backed up to give myself enough room to turn and head down the street to the main road. Nothing about any of this made any sense.
My thoughts didn’t make any sense, and I was acting on pure instinct. There was no way I was going to just let this news fly.
I hadn’t been willing to admit it to myself until this moment, although it had been true for a long time. Bianca was mine. I would turn everything in this universe to ashes to have her. And if I couldn’t, I would make sure no one else would either.
6
BIANCA
Isighed as I rubbed a hand down my face. Between the hours I’d spent searching for Iris both online and in person and trying to figure out a way to get out of this stupid engagement, I was beat. The only thing I could find was a trail of breadcrumbs that seemingly led to nowhere.
I checked her social media accounts, hoping to find anything that would allude to where she could be. But there was nothing to find.
I’d been up to Westwick University several times since she went missing, in hopes of finding something, but those all turned up empty as well. In fact, that was where I was once again, trying to see if there was something I missed. I’d even run into Aria again and she still hadn’t seen or heard from her. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.
The more I searched for her, the more my concern for her increased. There was no doubt in my mind that something was wrong. It was a feeling that had settled in my gut and refused to go away.
As I walked back to my car, having explored the economics building on Westwick’s campus, a chill ran through me like wildfire, quickly spreading throughout my whole body. It was starting to get dark, and being anywhere near Westwick when it was light outside was creepy enough, but being here as the sun was setting was even worse. I looked around to see if I saw anyone, but I didn’t. With a renewed sense of focus, I put my head down and walked faster to my car. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was following me.
I wanted to tell myself that I was imagining things, but I didn’t want to take the chance that I wasn’t.
Once I reached my car, I locked my car doors and swallowed the lump in my throat. I attributed my skittish behavior to the fact that I was scared for Iris, and that I hated being anywhere near Westwick, let alone on its campus.
I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot without taking another look back at the place I’d just left. As I was driving back to my apartment, an idea popped into my head. I glanced down at my console and saw that it was getting kind of late, but if I didn’t at least try this idea, it would haunt me until I did.
