easy,” I hiss. “You broke her in no time.” I snap my fingers. “Like that.”
“And you think yours isn’t?” he retorts.
My nostrils flare. “I know she isn’t. Now get out of my way.”
I march past him, determined not to let his anger over me busting in on their affairs with Amelia ruin everything we’ve worked so hard for. Fighting isn’t part of our agreement. And these boys know we’re in this together.
“Maybe I should have my way with her then,” he says.
I pause, right in the door opening.
One. Two. Three.
Fuck.
No amount of counting numbers in my head will quench this thirst for blood.
I march right back at him and get right up in his face. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Why not? If she’s so difficult, maybe it’ll finally break her, and then we can get it over with.”
“She is mine. Mine, you hear me?” I growl.
“Sounds like you have a problem dealing with your own sins, not hers.”
“She is a fragile thing. If you challenge her too hard, she will break beyond repair,” I say through gritted teeth. “So unless you want to go against protocol and actually risk losing one of our guests, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”
We’re bumping chests now, and if lightning could strike between our gazes, this whole place would’ve burned down by now. The fire burning inside me is ready to burst into a crescendo. The only thing holding me back is our history together.
“The rules were put in place for a reason,” he hisses.
“And I was the one to inherit them. You think you can do a better job than me?” I growl back.
“Stop.”
We both look up.
It’s the first time Soren’s spoken up in ages. Neither of us takes his words lightly, even when there are so few of them.
Soren steps closer. “Do not forget your sins,” he says, eyes boring into mine.
I gulp. He’s right. We’re succumbing to the very thing we swore to fight.
I sigh and lower my eyes, nodding as I take a step back. “Look at us. Look at what this is doing to us.”
Tobias places a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t like fighting with you. We are all brothers in this House. We should be in this together. Us against the sinners. Even when we sin, we do it together.” He points at his wound. “You should never have taken her. More than anyone else, you should know that it’s just not worth it.”
I shrug off his hand. “She is.”
His judgmental gaze feels like daggers in my back. “You’re not thinking clearly. You can’t even let us help.”
“I need to do this on my own,” I say.
“Why? What’s so important about her?”
A pang of guilt festers in my heart, but I lock it away deep inside my chest.
I shake my head and look away, refusing to answer.
“Fine. So be it.” He scoffs. “You want to do it all by yourself? Have at it. But don’t come running to me when you fail. When you lose everything that matters to you. This House. This Family,” he growls, but it sounds more like a cry in pain. “She’ll ruin you.”
“She won’t,” I say, balling my fist. “Not until I’ve ruined her first.”
“Sir!” A guard suddenly comes storming in from the hallway.
“Yes?” I turn around.
The man leans against the doorjamb, one hand resting on his knee as he breathes heavily.
“What is it?” I say. “Spill it.”
“Two girls …” he mutters between breaths. “They’re gone.”
“What?!” I shout, and I march toward him and grab him by the collar. “What do you mean gone?”
“Their doors were opened,” he replies.
Tobias comes forward too. “How?”
“I don’t know,” the guard replies. “I was just taking a leak, and then suddenly, they were opened. I checked. The girls are nowhere to be seen.”
Rage fills me up to the point of boiling over, and I roar out loud and shove the man aside. “Get out of my way.”
I storm outside and run up the stairs, skipping several steps. Even though my back hurts like hell, I ignore the pain in favor of getting there as soon as possible. Soren is right behind me while Tobias limps up the stairs, still in pain from the metal device buried in his thigh for quite some time.
I rush through the hallway and stop in front of Anna’s door. It’s wide open, but there’s no one to be seen. I take a few steps forward and gaze into Amelia’s room through her open door. Drawers are opened wide, and the mirror