Chapter 173 TAKE MY HAND
AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW.
His eyes sharpened.
“No,” he corrected quietly. “I gave you an out.”
I laughed, the sound broken and hysterical. “An out? My father is going to hear about this. Morgan will make sure of it. And when he does...”
“I know exactly what he’ll do,” Kai interrupted.
He straightened, the lazy posture gone now. Whatever mask he’d been wearing earlier slipped just enough for me to see something darker underneath. "I’m offering you an alliance, Aurora," he said. "My engagement to Morgana was a collar. My father’s collar. I wanted it off, and you needed a way to hurt the girl who’s been treating you like a footstool for years."
“No, I did not. I do not care about Morgan, or whatever she does.” It was a lie….a fucking lie, but he did not need to know that.
“So seeing her with that boyfriend did nothing to you?” he stepped closer, letting me take a step back to run from him. “Watching his hand on her, the way he touched her, hearing the words he spoke about you. How long do you think this has gone on for?
How long has he insulted you, degraded you, pretended to care about you, all while being her dog?” My leg hit the table, and my heart stilled. He realized it, and with a smirk, he ate the space between us, trapping his lean body against mine so I felt every part of him.
“You want me to believe that seeing that did nothing to you? Watching Morgan treat you like you are less than human… everything she has done to you, planned to do to you, even just by standing… does seeing her be the rich, pampered daughter, wearing designer clothes, labels that cost more than your rent, all while you are bullied because your shoes have holes in them;
It really does not matter to you?” he was the devil.
The words he spoke were the truth. I loathed Morgan already, but seeing her with Tobi, the one person I thought was mine alone….it ruined me, shattering the last shred of resolve or strength inside me.
There was nothing I would not give to see her eat dust. To feel a shudder of pain I’d suffered all my life…but even though I wanted, no….needed to see her pay, I knew the reality of things.
"I can't afford revenge, Kai!" I screamed, the tears finally spilling over. "Revenge is for people with nothing to lose. I have everything to lose! My mother’s surgery is in two weeks. If my father thinks I’ve ruined his political merger, he’ll pull the plug. He’ll let her die just to punish me."
"Then let him," Kai drawled.
I gasped, ready to slap him, but he caught my wrist mid-air. His grip was a vice, the contact of his skin against mine, and the sparks travelling up my arm….it rendered my knees weak.
"Let him pull the plug on his account," Kai hissed, leaning down until his forehead brushed mine. "Because by tonight, her bills won't be in your father’s name. They’ll be in mine."
I froze in disbelief. "What?"
"I have my own trust, Aurora. A legacy multi-dollar pack from my grandfather that not even my father can touch. I’ll pay for the surgery. I’ll move her to a private wing where your father’s security can't even get past the lobby. I’ll give her the best doctors in the country."
"In exchange for what?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"A fake engagement," Kai said, a slow, wicked smirk unfolding on his painfully handsome face… the same look I’d seen on Lucien's a thousand times. "My father’s contract has a nullification clause. If I’m truly in love and already committed to another woman of status, which you are, as a De la Vista, the merger is void. I get my freedom. You get your mother’s life. And together, we make Morgana and Armando watch as we burn their perfect world to the ground."
"You want me to be your tool," I whispered, echoing the very fear I felt.
"I want you to be my co-conspirator," Kai corrected, his thumb brushing my pulse point. "You want to see Morgana crawl? You want to see Toby realize he traded a diamond for a piece of glass? This is how we do it."
I looked into those dark, stormy eyes. I remembered the expired yogurt……I remembered the years of silence……I remember everything as if it happened a minute ago.
"You were one of them," I reminded him. "You watched them bully me. You watched her pour that yogurt on me, and you said nothing…..you did nothing."
Kai’s expression shifted, a flicker of something dark and unreadable passing through his gaze, the secret trauma the Horsemen guarded with their lives. It was another rumor about them, that they each suffered something that kept them so bonded as if they were truly brothers by blood. No one knew what it was, but we saw how much they fought for each other.
No one messed with one without incurring the wrath of all of them……I’d seen it happen once before.
"I don't do mercy, Aurora," he whispered, his voice rough as he leaned in, his lips merely inches from mine. "And I don't do apologies. But I do win. You want your mother to live? You want to walk through these halls as a Mercer instead of a scholarship rat? Then give me your hand."
I looked at his outstretched hand with a gulp. I knew what it meant, what it was….it was an invitation to the dark side. A place I could not make it back from…..I looked into his eyes, those stone-cold orbs inviting me in. For some reason, they appeared dead. Not one bit of emotion settled in them, and although it terrified me, I could not help but think of everything my mother and I suffered at the hands of Morgan and her mother. Then Tobi’s betrayal capped it all off.
In the blink of an eye, I told myself, ‘What’s the worst that could go wrong, Aurora?’ I reached out and took his hand.
Kai’s grin at this was sharp, and immediate… yet again, my heart stopped because of him. He pulled me into his arms, his hands snaking around my waist again today. This time, it felt more….intimate, his mouth brushing slowly against my ear.
"Welcome to the Horsemen's circle, little moon," he murmured. "Try not to fall in love. It’s a long way down."