Page 114 of Rage
For years, I survived men trying to break me. Roman spent years trying to break her.
The difference is that he succeeded.
Until tonight.
I walk back to the bed and brush a strand of damp hair away from her face, careful not to wake her.
“I’ll be back before you wake.” The promise is quiet.
More for me than for her.
I switch off the lamp and lock the door behind me.
My house is almost silent when I arrive. My car wakes up the neighborhood. Zero is already waiting on the porch.
One look at my face, and his grin disappears. “You found something.”
“I found someone,” I correct.
He gets up and opens the door without another question. Valen and Azriel are already inside the living room.
Blunts, maps, and campus security reports are spread across the table. They know this isn’t about the Order. I pull out the marriage license and set it in the center of the table.
Valen picks it up first. His expression hardens. “What the fuck is this?”
“Roman.”
Azriel reads the names. Who the fuck is Roman?”
“He came to see Amy and gave her that.”
Zero swears quietly. “She didn’t tell Azriel.”
“I wasn’t here,” I point out.
I don’t make it a big deal, but why the fuck would she go to Azriel? I’m madder at myself that I wasn’t here to protect her.
“No.” Valen looks at me. “You weren’t.”
The room falls silent. I reach into my jacket again and pull out a photograph. It’s of Amy. She’s walking across campus. It was taken from across the street. Then another of her outside her dorm.
Roman hadn’t just found her. He’s been studying her. I found these in her room before she did. What I witnessed in the shower, I didn’t want to upset her more than she already was.
Zero’s voice is barely above a whisper. “He’s making a point. He wants her to know that she has nowhere to run. And I bet she isn’t too thrilled about being almost married to the prick.”
“No, she isn’t.” I look down at Amy’s photograph. “He already believes she’s caught.”
The words settle over the room because everyone understands the difference.
Valen leans forward. “So what now?”
I glance out the back glass window overlooking the pool.
“Victor is still on the hunt for Prey, and I’m not naive enough to think he changed his mind about Amy.”
A beat.
“But Roman...” Azriel trails off.
