Chapter Twenty-Nine

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I STOOD OVER HER.

She hadn’t woken when I’d carried her from Euphoria. She didn’t open her eyes when I placed her gently on the bed and removed the sensors from her fingers, eyes, and ears. Calvin had followed me, there of his own accord and not at my request.

He stood in the shadows, his judgement once again thick. He never took his gaze off me, seeing every tattered breath, every heavy stumble. His scorn poured acid onto my bleeding, open wounds.

But he wasn’t the only one who judged me.

Another pair of eyes bored into me. Black and brilliant, belonging to a tiny parrot that’d chosen this girl over anyone.

Skittles roosted in the villa’s rafters, staring down at me while I stared down at Eleanor. The glow of green feathers and fluffy white chest reeked of innocence and faith. Faith that Eleanor would love her in return. Belief that nothing would come between them now she’d chosen her mate.

Regardless of species or sex, Skittles was Eleanor’s to the day that tiny parrot died.

I hated that.

I didn’t know how to cope with that.

Eleanor had been in my life only fleetingly, yet she’d upheaved it in the most painful of ways. She’d smashed through my convictions. She’d wriggled her way into my devotions. She’d stolen my goddamn parrot.

As well as my motherfucking heart.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, warding off the headache brewing, knowing it was too late. The pressure had been building since Eleanor rowed away from my prison. Compounding with agony as her disappearance showed me just how far I was prepared to go.

I did my best to do what I’d always done and segment myself off from such weakness. Affection for me only came with pain. Every time I’d fallen for a stray or given my heart to something that needed me, I’d ended up losing a piece of myself when they left. And those pieces shattered into dagger-sharp shards when I found out their fate in my parents’ lab.

Love had made me blind. Weak. Oblivious.

I would never become so again.

And because of that, I’d reached an ending that only had two options.

Keep her.

Or...

Get rid of her.

Eleanor held more power over me than anyone. More than my brother. My board. My company. In two weeks, she’d changed me, reverted me, dis-evolved me into the kid I’d left in my past.

She had the power to make me fall head over fucking heels for her, and then, it would be all over.

I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions if anyone tried to harm her.

I wouldn’t be controllable if she ever tried to leave me.

I would kill to keep her and kill to protect her.

I would kill her...eventually.

All the things I’d ever loved had perished.

Dropping my hand, I sighed heavily.

I couldn’t keep doing this.

She was mine. I’d paid good money for her servitude. Yet she was costing me far more than I was prepared to pay.

Regardless of her value, she couldn’t stay.

I wanted her gone.

Before it was too late.