Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,145

his arms around mine from behind and locking his hold against my chest.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled.

Aydin opened the front door, looking at Emory before he dipped down, picked up her bag of food, and handed it to her.

She paused, her gaze shifting between him and me as I struggled. “You’re letting me leave?” she asked. “After all of this?”

I threw Taylor off, shoving him and hearing him tumble against the candelabras.

I shot forward.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Aydin told her. “But you can.”

She looked over at me, and I stopped, gauging my choices. If she ran, Alex was right. We’d just be delayed, trying to find her and make sure she didn’t wind up dead, and I wasn’t even sure why I cared anymore.

Goddamn them. Michael and Kai and Damon and all of them. If they weren’t coming, I wouldn’t be so pressed for time right now. I wasn’t ready to leave yet.

Of course, they just needed to swoop in and save me.

Emmy stared at me—maybe waiting to see if I stopped her, or hoping I would—and I didn’t want this confrontation with Aydin. Not yet.

Because she wasn’t leaving, even if I had to fight them all and suffer every bone in my body breaking.

Something crossed her eyes, and she looked like she did that morning in the movie theater so long ago. Like she wanted to melt into my arms.

Like she didn’t really want to go, because she wanted to stay with me.

But before I could take her hand, slam the door, and figure out how I was going to fight Aydin and Taylor for both of these women, he leaned into her ear and appeared to whisper something as she held my eyes.

She listened as his jaw moved, and three seconds stretched into ten, and then finally…she dropped her gaze as if processing and nodded to him.

He closed the door, removed her jacket, hanging it up, and took the food bag from her before flashing me a look bearing the ghost of a smile.

I straightened.

Walking past me, he left the room, Taylor following, and I stood there glaring as Emory remained silent.

She was running from me. She fought Alex in order to leave.

And now she was staying?

Because he had more control over her than I did.

“Get your shit,” I told Alex, my gaze never leaving Em. “You’re bunking with me.”

“Will—”

“Now!” I barked as Alex protested.

Fuck it. She could grab her stuff anytime. Taking her hand, I pulled her up the stairs, leaving Emory in the foyer as I disappeared down the hallway, through the last door, and up the stairs to the third floor.

Emory was safe. She was under his protection now.

I slammed my hand into a wall as we traipsed down the hallway.

“Look, I don’t know what the hell is going on,” Alex said, pulling her hand out of mine, “but when we leave, she’s coming with us. You can sort your shit out back in civilization. When I run, you and her are both coming.”

I locked my door and turned on the lights, debating about grabbing my laptop and having my contact intercept Michael and the crew and stop them. But they needed to come now in order to take Emory and Alex to safety.

“When are they arriving?” I asked.

“Any day now.”

I pulled on a shirt and walked over to the window, closing the curtains.

“You want to go home, don’t you?” Alex asked.

I shot her a look.

“Will…”

I paced the room, feeling like I was about to jump out of my skin.

“Your parents…” she said, her voice softening. “The way you always talked about them. They love you. Given everything, they adore you.” She approached me. “Why are you still here? Would they really have kept you away so long? It doesn’t make any sense.”

I should tell her. I just wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to fail, and I needed to do this on my own. I’d put in too much time and work.

I had to go home ten times the man. I needed to see this through.

She took my chin and tipped it toward her, stopping me. “Damon, Winter, Michael, Rika, Misha, Kai, Banks…” she said their names as if I’d forgotten them. “You belong home. Don’t you want to leave?”

Of course, I did.

Why would she think I didn’t want to leave?

• • •

Kai and Banks.

Winter and Damon.

Michael…

I knew what I needed to do when I came here, but Alex’s words kept drifting through my head—especially now. Especially when faced with the decision