Dead Love: A Dark Stalker Romance by Audrey Rush

Author:Audrey Rush [Rush, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-20T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Kora

I made up an excuse to be by myself; I was feeling fine, but I needed sleep. A few hours later, Vincent burst through the door. His footsteps sounded different from usual, like he could barely pick up his feet. The metal stairs rattled with his gait.

Before I could open my mouth, he said, “If anyone asked you about us, would you tell them the truth?”

I titled my head. “I always tell the truth.”

“So what happened that first night?” he asked, then grabbed my shoulders, staring into my eyes. “With the fire. From your eyes.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he kept going: “I saved you from that fire, Kora. If I hadn’t taken you from that room, you would have died.”

I studied Vincent’s face, the bleary eyes, the hard creases around his mouth, the tension in his brow. He let go of me, then rubbed the back of his neck.

But I deserved to know the truth.

“Did you start the fire that burned down my house, Vincent?” I asked. His eyes met mine, and the flames burned inside of him. I raised my voice: “Did you?”

“It was never your house.”

I pinched my lips shut and he glared down at me. I stared into those dark irises, seeing the vastness that ran deep within him, that he had filled for so long with his compulsive need for destruction. With his hatred.

“You burned down our house,” I said. His jaw ticked. And I knew, then, that it was the truth. “But you’re right. I would have died in that fire if it wasn’t for you.”

“No one died,” he said, his tone stern. I didn’t kill your mother. But somehow, I had this feeling that if she had died in the process, he wouldn’t have cared.

He went to the stairs, then stopped and turned toward me before ascending. “I’ve done so much for you,” he said, his voice a low growl. “They would have let you grow and die in that house. No matter how fucked up this world may seem, that isn’t any way to live.”

I let out a slow, even breath. “I know.” But that didn’t change the fact that he had ripped me from my life.

His steps pounded up the metal staircase like thunder.

“Vincent,” I shouted. At the top of the stairs, he turned toward me. “Could I stay with you at the funeral home tomorrow?” I asked. “I’ll stay in the office. I just—” What was my excuse? “—I just need a break from here.”

He stared down at me, then slammed the door shut without a word.

My heart raced for several minutes after he left. I had to calm myself down. Everything would happen tomorrow, and for now, all I had to do was make it through the night.

So why was I restless?

In the morning, I couldn’t eat the yogurt he had gotten for me. I had no appetite. Then, in Quiet Meadows, Catie opened her mouth to speak to us, but Vincent lifted a hand, and she stayed silent.

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