At last we come to the berth where the Chancellor hides his private cruiser. Long, gleaming, and shaped like a bullet, it’s painted black so he can come and go from the school at night without anyone noticing.
I’ve stolen it once before.
Tonight I won’t be bringing it back.
I carry Nix on board, binding her hands and feet and cuffing her to the railing for good measure. She’s starting to rouse as I do it, and she stares around at Anna, Leo, Hedeon, and Sabrina with an expression of absolute betrayal.
When she turns her gaze on me, there’s far more than hurt in her expression. Her eyes burn with pure fury.
30
Nix
I sit on the deck of the boat, bound hand and foot, while Ares steers us out of the limestone cave, out onto open water.
It’s cold and windy, the waves rough and black, tossing the speedboat like a cork. I can see the strain on Ares’ arms as he steers us through the wild currents and unexpected rocks, away from Visine Dvorca, out into open ocean.
No one is speaking because we all understand that distracting Ares at this moment might lead to us being smashed to bits in the frigid January sea.
Though I’m silent, my mind is working a thousand miles a minute.
I’m looking from face to face of each of these people I considered my friends, everyone I trusted at this school. Understanding now that they were lying to me all the while. Conspiring against me.
Kade, Dean, and Hedeon are huddled in conversation inside the protected shelter of the bulkhead. Leo and Anna are up at the wheel with Ares, helping him watch for obstacles in the water.
Sabrina sits on the deck a few feet away, watching me.
Once Ares has us pointed toward what I assume is Dubrovnik, he lets Leo take the wheel.
He comes to speak to me, tall and upright, the wind whipping his dark hair around his face. He hasn’t shaved in a day or two. Stubble shadows the hollows of his cheeks and jaw, and the cleft in his chin. His shirt, damp with salt spray, clings to his chest.
“Don’t be scared,” he says.
“I’m not scared,” I hiss at him. “I’m fucking furious.”
I yank hard on the cuffs binding my wrists together, that clamp me to the railing. The chains rattle, the metal biting into my flesh. The railing makes a sharp, splintering sound as it jerks against the wood.
Ares’ jaw tightens, but he makes no move to release me.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way,” he says.
“That’s no fucking apology,” I reply.
“I had no choice.”
“Oh shut the fuck up, you had a thousand choices.”
Now he frowns, his dark brows coming down low across his eyes.
“Maybe I did,” he says. “But I can’t see this ending any different.”
All I can think is how fucking stupid I was.
All the things I must have missed.
I knew from the moment I met Ares that he hated me. I could feel it radiating out of him.
I’ve always had good instincts. But I ignored them. I pushed aside the things that seemed strange, that didn’t make sense. And why? Because he was handsome? Because he paid attention to me? Because I was lonely, and I needed a friend that badly?
Because he made me feel things I never imagined feeling . . .
Things that keep coming back to me now in flashes, bright and beautiful and intensely sensual, protesting that they were real, that they meant something, while the chains around my wrist declare the opposite.
“Who are you?” I ask him, furiously blinking back the burning tears that want to flood my eyes. “You’re not Ares Cirillo.”
“No,” he says. “I’m not. My name is Rafe Petrov.”
The pieces fall into place.
Kade Petrov. Rafe Petrov. And . . .
Miss Robin. That beautiful face, those brilliant eyes, that low, husky voice like a thrill across the skin . . . so similar to Ares. To Rafe, I should say . . .
“She’s your mother,” I murmur.
“Yes,” Rafe nods. “She’s Sloane Petrov.”
“You lied to me all along. From the day we met.”
“Yes,” he says. And now I see a flicker of guilt in his eyes, but I don’t fucking care. I don’t care if he feels bad about it.
“So what is it, then?” I say. “Revenge? My father killed someone you love, and now you’re going to kill me?”
“No!” Rafe cries. “No one’s killing you. No one’s going to hurt you, Nix.”
“Liar,” I say, bitterly.
“Look,” Rafe says, gripping a handful of his own hair before roughly pushing it back. “Marko has my father. He’s been holding him prisoner, extorting us for money. We’re finally getting my dad back. I had to bring you as insurance. But I promise you Nix, no one is going to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.”
“You’re not going to hurt me. You’re just going to kill my father in front of me. Is that right?” I ask him.
Now Rafe’s face darkens with that shadow that I’ve seen before. When I’ve caught glimpses of who he really is.
“He has to pay for what he’s done,” Rafe says.
“I won’t help you,” I say, through gritted teeth. “I’ll fight you. I’ll stop you if I can.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Rafe replies.
That only makes me angrier. He thinks he knows me, while he lying to me the entire time. Well, I might surprise him still.
My mood is as black as this sunless ocean. Every person I’ve ever cared about has lied to me, used me, and made a fool of me.
First my father, then my friends, and finally Ares. I mean Rafe. Fuck, I can’t even wrap my brain around this.
He’s the deepest cut of all.
I really thought he loved me.
I’ve never felt so connected to someone. I thought we were bound together by a thousand links, every shining moment that we spent together another clasp between us. Now it all seems tainted and tarnished, false as nickel and fragile as paper, tearing apart in my hands.
I see Sabrina arguing with Leo up in the bow of the boat. The cousins are snarling at each other, their words lost to the wind. Anna tries to interject and Sabrina snaps at her too, though usually the two girls are on excellent terms with each other.
Finally Sabrina stalks away from them, crossing the deck and dropping down next to me, no space between us.
“They won’t let me untie you,” she says, irritably.
I ignore her. The handcuffs aren’t the issue.
“What are you mad at me for?” Sabrina says. “I found out about all this the same time you did.”
I’m not disposed to believe anybody’s story right now—certainly not anybody in the process of kidnapping me.
Still, Sabrina did try to stop Rafe hauling me off down the stairs. She followed us onto this boat because she was worried about me—and because she loves to be in the thick of drama.
“Are you going to help them?” I demand.
“Probably,” Sabrina admits.
“Well fuck off, then!” I snap.
Sabrina sits quietly for a minute, not offended, but obviously considering what to say to me next.