The Annihilator (Dark Verse #5)(25)

He took her back to the warm bedroom inside, closing the glass doors. She took the time to look around and take in everything. It was the largest bedroom she had ever seen—everything within it big and classy. From where she stood near the deck doors, the biggest bed, made of black wood with the same colored headboard and side tables was on the right.
Leading the way, he pointed to the wide dark doors opposite the deck doors. “This is a walk-in closet.”
He slid the door open, and Lyla stared in awe at the spacious room, lined on both sides with clothes. The right side had all masculine attire, rows of shirts and suits and jackets, all in blacks and grays and whites. The left was feminine, rows of dresses, tops, tees, in mostly whites and blacks, with an occasional color thrown in.
A sharp stab of something pierced through her chest at the sight.
Someone lived with him, shared a closet with him, and yet he stood there holding her hand. She scrunched her eyes close. She had no right to feel anything. That was how things worked in their world. He could have a gazillion women on call and still take her, and she couldn’t deny him.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling—
“We can add more color to your side if you like.”
—wait what?
She pressed brakes on her rampant thoughts and took in the wardrobe again. That was for her? What the hell?
Oblivious to her thoughts, or maybe not, he let go of her hand and walked to the large mirror opposite the entrance.
“Come.”
Curious, she walked to him, realizing her feet were bare and the carpet under her toes was soft. Coming to a stop at his side, she was startled when he pulled her into his back by her hips, looking at their reflections. She looked so much smaller compared to him, the top of her head coming barely to his chin, her frame slender where his was wide. He wasn’t overly muscled but muscled enough to be both strong and sleek.
“Tell me what you see.”
Frowning at the odd request, because she could clearly see their reflections, she shook her head. Her hair, almost shoulder length now, was sticking out around her face. Her eyes were exhausted and her shoulders drooped. He, on the other hand, looked sharp, dangerous, lethal, the shirtless torso and black sweatpants not taking away from his aura, exactly as he had always looked.
“What do you see?” he prodded again.
Lyla saw herself blink in the reflection. “You behind me.”
She startled as he leaned in, his reflection joining hers closer, his face beside hers. “Exactly. I’m always behind you, even when you cannot see.”
Her throat closed up, the black hole she had escaped into ever-present inside her, reminding her of the months leading up to the moment she had decided to give up. Just because he had somehow decided to come back and found her didn’t absolve him of anything. He had betrayed her, and that wasn’t something she could let go of.
Gritting her teeth, seeing her bright green eyes flashing in the reflection, she addressed him. “Were you behind me when they were raping my body?”
His grip on her hips tightened. His face remained neutral. “Yes.”
A bitter laugh burst out of her. “That’s even worse. Because that means you did nothing to stop it. And that means you don’t care.” Her eyes locked with his. “So you can take your fancy house and fancy clothes and fancy views, and get the fuck away from me. I don’t need anything from you, not anymore.”
His eyes blazed for a split second before she shrugged his grip off, and he let her.
Exiting the closet space, she blindly headed toward the door she assumed led outside the room, needing to get away from him, to distract herself, to do absolutely anything but deal with him. She just didn’t have the energy anymore.
Pulling open the black door, she walked out onto a small cavernous landing, a couple of low steps leading up into a massive, and she meant massive, open space. The first thing she noticed was the high ceiling, normal ceiling and not rock-cut like on the deck. Was this not a part of the mountain?
She entered the huge open space, a sense of wonder filling her at the multiple windows and natural light filling in.
She had never seen anything like this in her life, never thought she would see something like this.
From where she stood on top of the bedroom landing, she could see a short corridor going to her right, to what looked like another bedroom of sorts from her vantage. Ignoring that, she took a few steps into the open space, turning around on the spot to take it all in. A large open kitchen to her right, separated from the main living room by tall island counters and a dining table for six people. To her left corner, a seating area with black couches and wooden table on the left corner, right by a set of windows, in front of the biggest television screen.
She stared at the screen, unable to remember the last time she’d seen a movie. There had been a small TV in the common room at the complex, but she had barely ventured down to watch it. Mostly, the girls had fought between themselves to decide on one thing, and Lyla had never been confrontational. She simply sat back and bit her tongue, going with the flow, keeping her head down, surviving. That was how she’d understood survival worked best—go unnoticed, go safe.
‘How’d that work out for you?’ a voice taunted in her head.
Taking in a shaky breath, she looked to the other corner of the room, toward another corridor going somewhere. On slow steps, she went to investigate, crossing the length of the space and admiring the view outside the windows. She just didn’t understand how this portion of the house looked normal but the deck had been under the mountain. How was it built exactly?