When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,57
Fabricio—and all it got her was sold on the black market.
The world wasn’t fair. And it didn’t operate on a karmic cycle, much as people wished.
She flopped down beside him and gently poked the crease between his eyes. “Then what is it that has you thinking so hard?”
He smiled slightly and playfully batted her hand away, like a small kitten.
She raised her eyebrows, and he sighed heavily before admitting, “I just feel like I’m slipping back into old patterns.”
“Old patterns?”
He stared up at the ceiling, brow furrowing. “I’ve escaped from Reyes, from Henry, from the Family, but a part of me feels like I haven’t really escaped. This is all I did in the Family. Hide away until I was needed, and then I’d terrify the Family’s enemies. I’d hurt them, punish people for their transgressions. Nothing’s changed.” He met her eyes. “Even though I’ve escaped, all I’ve done is the exact same things I did when I was in a cage.”
Nita bit her lip, because he wasn’t wrong. “You don’t have to stay with me. You’ve always been free to leave.”
“Nita, I’m not going anywhere.” His voice was gentle. “It’s not about you. We’re partners, and you’ve been doing better about not asking for things I can’t give. I appreciate it.”
“Then what can I do?”
“Nothing.” He sighed heavily. “We’re in a bad situation right now. We have to get through it to survive, and it will be ugly. I know that.” He rubbed his temples. “But it doesn’t make me feel less trapped. I feel like a hamster on a wheel, running the same route over and over. And even though the wheel is gone, all I’ve ever done is run, but now I don’t know where I’m running to or what I’m running on. I’m just running.”
He ran his hands over his forehead and fisted them in his hair. “I want to get off this wheel. I want to try and figure out who I am outside of that life.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet.” He closed his eyes. “I just want to try something different, force myself outside of everything I’ve ever lived.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll hate it, but at least it would jolt me off the wheel, so I can figure out who I am for myself.”
Nita lay back and considered. “What kind of different?”
He gave her a small self-deprecating grin. “I have no idea. I guess it’s something I’ll have to figure out.”
Nita linked her fingers with his. “Whatever you decide, I’ll be there for you.”
His smile was soft and genuine, and he shifted slightly to press their foreheads together for a moment and whisper, “Thank you.”
Nita wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. “Always.”
They curled up like that, arms wrapped around each other, as they slowly drifted to sleep.
Twenty-Three
NITA WOKE UP in the late afternoon when her alarm went off. Kovit moaned beside her, and she sighed softly, unwilling to move from her position curled against his warm body.
He gave her a sleepy look. “Is it time to get up now?”
“You can rest a little longer. I’m going shower and get ready before we go back to the hotel.”
He nodded drowsily and nestled back into the pillow.
She rolled off the bed and stretched, her muscles stiff. She scooped up her phone and checked for messages.
There was one, from her mother.
Nita swallowed, then clicked it open.
You should come home now. Your little monster will be dead soon, it read, followed by a link to Kovit’s DUL listing.
Nita deleted the email, her hands shaking. She’d wondered before if her mother was responsible for Kovit’s name going up faster, if she’d pulled strings and manipulated connections. The more she thought about it, the more sure she was. But whether it was her mother or not, her mother now knew exactly what Kovit looked like.
And she had the whole world on her side, wanting to kill him.
Nita logged out of email and forced herself to move on to more productive lines of thought. There was nothing she could do about her mother right now.
The Washington Post reporter Nita had contacted had posted the article, clearly not wanting to miss the scoop on INHUP’s misconduct. It included the photos of Kovit and his sister that Nita had sent, but it also included multiple short video clips. Some were from local Toronto news channels, some from Instagram feeds, which had obviously been found by scrolling the promotion hashtag. Kovit and Patchaya were caught on camera chatting happily in the