Fallen Rose (Beauty and the Beast Trilogy #3) - Amelia Wilde Page 0,1

my toes all the way up. Even my breath feels colder. Caroline isn’t tall. She doesn’t tower over me. I don’t know what makes me so afraid I can’t move. The glint in her eyes, maybe. Or the sickening scent of all her money and power. Her fingertips meet my cheek, and then she brushes a lock of hair away from my face. Her gaze traces my features like she’s seeing me for the first time.

“I’ve neglected your little family for too long. It wasn’t your fault.”

The prison unlocks and I push her hand away. I’m too slow. Everything takes longer than it should. Breathing is harder. Thinking is harder. Leo, falling. The stretcher rails slipping out of my hands. Eva putting her hand to her eyes in the family waiting room. A long, silent ride home. Leo saying run. The black of his coat against the white of fresh snow. I’m burning. His fever. The half-conscious grip of his arms around my waist. He came back. He woke up.

And then.

The text messages. Why did I walk out into the snow without waiting for Gerard? If I’d waited, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have met Cash outside Leo’s gate. I wouldn’t have been standing there when—

“No, it’s not my fault.” I meet Caroline’s eyes with fear and anger rough-and-tumble through my gut. “None of this is my fault. You are forcing me to be here. You’re doing what you said Leo did. You kidnapped me. You had a man drug me.”

Caroline gives a little laugh and it’s so polite and incredulous that a pinprick of doubt digs in. Is it me? Am I the one who doesn’t know what’s going on? The last few days at Leo’s house were a literal fever dream. A fever nightmare. Nothing existed except Leo and the endless stream of cool towels I put on his neck, on his back. Maybe we were both sick. Maybe I’m sick now. I test my own forehead. I don’t feel feverish. I feel like I was drugged. Because I was.

“We’re family, Haley,” Caroline says. “It’s my responsibility to take you out of a bad situation and bring you home. There’s no telling what could have happened to you.”

“You sent a man to bring me here against my will. You sent my brother—” I can’t talk about Cash. Caroline has never sunk lower than sending her henchman to attack Cash, except for once. “He put his hand over my mouth. He drugged me.” I get my hand up to my jawline and skim my fingers over the skin there. I don’t have to look into the mirror to know there’s a bruise—I can feel the sensitive spot where his fingers clamped over my face to hold the cloth over my mouth. “He did this to me.” I lift my chin, angle my face toward the light.

She gives a fake, shallow gasp, and then she’s reaching for me. I hold my breath. I can’t stand it. Her touch is cool and featherlight. Caroline turns my face, peering at the bruise. It’s not like how Leo touches me, it’s nothing like it, and I don’t know where he is. I’ve been here long enough for him to find me but he hasn’t. The urge to hit Caroline, to attack her, dies a hasty death under my fear.

I know what she’s capable of.

“It was probably Leo Morelli who did this to you,” she says. “Everyone knows he’s the Beast of Bishop’s Landing. Violent. Unstable. Dangerous.”

“You’re the dangerous one.”

She smiles, looking beautiful and cold. “You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s probably Stockholm Syndrome. You’ve been kept captive for so long you actually sympathize with your kidnapper. I’ll help you. I’ll help you until you understand the truth.”

This is not my home. I’m not this kind of Constantine. I never have been, and I never will be.

She strokes my cheek again, then takes my hand in hers. I pull mine back just as quickly, but she doesn’t flinch, doesn’t blink. “Let’s talk about what you need. Something to eat, first. I’m sure you must be starving. And some new things to wear. What would you like? I’ve seen some lovely winter dresses that would be so gorgeous on you.” Caroline waves her hand. “But don’t limit yourself. You can have anything you want.”

“I want to leave. I need to leave here. I need to be with Leo.”

“No, darling.” A sad, soft smile. “You only think you want Leo Morelli because he conditioned