Twisted (Never After #4)(98)

Darryn spits, blood dripping on the floor around him. “Don’t make me hurt anyone else.”

Julian ignores him, and I’m barely coherent from the panic that’s splintering apart my insides. He cups my face in his hand, his jaw set and his eyes clear. “Remember what I told you? My love for you is dangerous, amore mio.”

I shake my head against him, pressing my hands farther into Riya’s stomach, my fingers slipping in the blood. “I can’t let this happen. I can’t let— She can’t die.”

“I can’t save you both,” Julian continues. “Go.”

I’m not even able to comprehend what it is that he’s saying or what’s happening or why he’s doing this. “No, Julian, please…”

He looks behind me and nods sharply, his head pushed to the side when Darryn presses the gun harder against his temple. “I’m being very generous with my time here, Julian. I don’t have to kill them, just you.”

And then there are arms wrapping around me from behind, Aidan dragging me back, away from the two people who I love most in the world.

“No!” I scream, fighting against Aidan’s hold. “Don’t do this!”

Julian’s face is solemn as he drops his head, his hand twitching on the ground as it wraps around that metal bar he’s been carrying since he walked in.

“You can’t save them, princess,” Aidan grits out against my flailing body. He grunts, pausing for a moment and jostling me in his hold as he bends down on the floor and grabs something before he drags me outside.

A shot rings out in the air, and I slump against Aidan then, grief creeping through my veins and cooling my blood until everything ices over and I go numb.

My father is dead.

Riya is close to dead.

Julian is dead.

Aidan puts me in the car, and I hiccup through the pain, staring blankly ahead of me as he does. A flash of silver catches my eye, and if I could feel anything at all anymore, maybe I’d care that somehow through it all, Aidan got the lamp. But instead, I just feel numb.





We’re in some small cottage on the edge of Badour, and for the past few hours, Aidan has been trying to get me to eat.

“Princess, you have to eat something.”

A tear drips down the side of my face, and I twist my head away from where he’s holding out a piece of pizza, looking to the side.

“I can’t,” I whisper.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he tosses the pizza down on the end table next to the bed. “Everything will be okay. We’re together now, and we have the lamp. Things will be just fine.”

My chest feels like there’s a black hole spinning in the center, growing larger with every breath I take, sucking everything into its path and leaving behind a blank type of numb that blurs all the harsh edges.

“Sure,” I whisper, staring blankly at the wall.

Julian loved me. And now he’s dead.

And Riya…

How is it that I got here?

All the things I’ve learned in the past few months still end up with me losing everything that matters, so what the fuck is the point?

Aidan stands up, the couch creaking when he moves, and he walks over to grab his phone off the desk in the corner, the lamp sitting in the case next to him like it’s just another piece of furniture.

“Princess.”

I ignore him.

“Princess,” he repeats. “Look at me.”

I don’t. I can’t. Looking at Aidan reminds me of everything I’ve lost, and it makes me sick. He makes me sick.

He sighs, walking over and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m going to make a couple calls. I’ll be back.”

The front door closes behind him, and I sit in silence for a few moments before his words filter through me. A couple calls.

Who the hell would he be calling right now? Doesn’t he care at all that Riya just died? That we went through an insanely traumatic experience, yet he’s prancing around and making calls.

For the first time since I’ve gotten here, something pierces through the dark fog that’s encased me, and I feel angry.

Shooting up from where I was on the bed, I walk over to the front door, cracking it open and heading outside to find him so I can scream at him and ask him who the hell he is, because clearly he isn’t the same boy I grew up with and loved.

I don’t see Aidan, but when I take move forward, his voice filters from around the corner.

“Yeah. She’s broken, Mom. I can’t get her to agree to anything right now.”

I suck in a breath. Is he talking about me?

“Yeah, everything went to plan. Darryn and Ian handled it. It was messy but… I know it’s dangerous, Mom, but I told you everything is fine. We don’t need Darryn or Ian now, and we definitely don’t need Sultans anymore. I’ve got this lamp, and I’m telling you, it’s worth enough. Let me just take care of things here, and I’ll come grab you.”

His words hit me in the chest, and I stumble back a few steps, my insides curdling and withering away like dying leaves fallen from their branches.

We don’t need Sultans anymore.

Rushing back inside the cottage, my heart beating in my throat and my stomach tied in knots, I scramble to grab the lamp, not willing to let yet another person take advantage of me.