“Fuck you, Garner,” I spit. “That didn’t go so well, now did it?” I swallow bile in my throat, anger burning in my belly at the things he did to me, but I survived. And I will beat him.
Shoving off the door, I am more focused than ever on answers and an endgame, a motivation that has me hurrying into the bedroom and crossing to the security room in the corner next to the fireplace. Once I’m inside the tiny rectangular room, I sit at the small desk against the wall and key the computer to life. Clicking past the live feed now on the front of the castle, I struggle a bit but find the store security feed and the right date. With surprising ease, I’m watching myself chat with Marabella and Giada in the living area of the store in the Center Tower. I fast-forward and find the part where I left my journal in that room to inspect the delivery Kayden had sent to me that night. I watch Giada and Adriel interact in the living area, having some sort of heated words, but neither touches the journal.
I fast-forward again and find the moment Adriel’s foot hits something and he bends down and grabs the journal from the floor by the couch, where it’s obviously been knocked. He picks it up, but never opens it. He looks a little irritated, like I shouldn’t be so careless, or maybe I’m just remembering his attitude when he handed it to me. He simply stands, leaves the TV room, and finds me in the main store, where he returns it to me.
He didn’t take the pages out of the journal, but neither did Giada or Marabella. I sit back and stare at the computer screen without really seeing it. That day was the only time I’ve had my journal outside of this tower. And the only person who can get in here is Marabella. Sweet, loyal, wonderful Marabella. No. It’s not her. I reject that idea. But . . . if it is, who is she working for? Niccolo, Alessandro, or the worst possibility of all: Garner Neuville?
six
The door to the bedroom opens and I barely have time to turn before Kayden appears in the archway to the security room. And oh God. He’s so big and gorgeous and overwhelmingly male. He’s also radiating a sharp, dark energy that cuts and bites with the certainty I created it. “We were waiting on you,” he announces.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I realized that before this meeting, I needed to know who took those journal pages.”
“Because you still doubt my confidence in Adriel.”
“Because you made me question when the pages went missing,” I correct, “and the last thing I wanted to do was strain Adriel and Giada’s already fragile relationship by throwing suspicion on her.”
His expression doesn’t change, but there’s a shift in his energy that tells me he approves. “And what did you find?”
“Neither of them took it that day—and that was the only time I took it anywhere but here. And the only person who can get in here besides us—”
“It’s not Marabella.”
“Then who is it, and how did they get to my journal?”
“Maybe you tore pages out during one of your flashbacks.”
I think of the moment in the closet when I’d returned to the present, disoriented, and I let out a breath. “It’s possible. I’d really like to think that’s it, but my fear is that it’s not.”
“We’ll sit down tonight and go through the security feed. It’ll take a long time, but we’ll get it done. We’ll find out.”
“We?”
“Yes, Ella,” he says, an emphasis on my name that is one part cold and one part hot. “We. But right now, Giada and Marabella are in the Center Tower. I had Adriel come here to talk to us to ensure our privacy. He’s in the kitchen.”
I stand up, the few steps between us feeling like a world, and he slowly backs up to let me exit but doesn’t turn away. He holds his ground, almost willing me to hold mine, but I can’t. I don’t. I close several of the small spaces between us, stopping an extended arm’s reach from touching him. “I don’t want kids, who can get hurt. I don’t want a dog, because even though I like them, I don’t want to be licked all the time unless it’s by you. But I like cats. Do you? Because I think that we, and this castle, really need a cat.”
Still, there is no discernible reaction from him, his expression hard, his chiseled jaw harder, and it twists me in knots. It hurts, but what hurts more is knowing that his reaction is because I’ve made him feel what I feel right now. Rejected. Hollow. Empty. Unable to take the silence another minute, I start to walk away, but only manage a step before Kayden catches my arm and turns me back to face him. I’m once again staring into those unreadable eyes.
“He’s not happy,” he says, the warning about Adriel not exactly what I was hoping for.
“Does he know about my connection to the necklace?”
“I told him nothing more than what you did in the car, which is part of the reason he’s pissed, but I wanted you to decide what to share.”