AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I won’t tell,” Dean promises. “But understand this . . . I own you now. When we come back to school, you’re mine. My servant. My slave. For as long as I want you.”
Dean cups my chin in his hand, pressing his thumb against my lips. Sealing me to silence.
Then he leaves me there, plunged into dread deeper than any I’ve ever known.
EPILOGUE
ZOE
Chicago
It’s Sabrina Gallo’s birthday.
We celebrate at the Shedd Aquarium, where the dinner tables are arranged around floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking in upon the sharks, rays, and turtles floating around in their underwater world. The pale blue rippling light makes it feel as if we’re all underwater, too, particularly the couples circling dreamily on the dance floor.
I’m glad I’ve met most of Miles’ family separately by this point, because they’re quite the intimidating crowd. The Gallos are all beautiful, with the nut-brown skin, thick dark curls,and surreal gray eyes that I’ve come to know and love on Miles. That, at least, makes me feel a sense of familiarity, though each of them differs enough in their sharp and provoking personalities to keep me on my toes.
No one is more beautiful than Sabrina Gallo herself. I’ve never seen a girl so exotic and breathtaking. She’s entirely in her element receiving her pile of presents from family members, and the kisses and well-wishes of friends.
A continual rotation of boys orbit her, battling for her attention.
“How old is she turning?” I ask Miles.
“Seventeen. One more year until she comes to Kingmakers.”
“I can already see she’ll be popular.”
“She’ll be trouble, more like,” Miles shakes his head. “Sabrina causes more problems than the rest of my cousins put together.”
Even Miles’ uncle Dante has flown in from Paris with his three children and his supermodel wife who I remember from the magazines and billboards of my youth. Dante is so big that he makes Silas Gray seem petite by comparison, and his eldest son Henry is his mirror image, only a little darker-complected, with a slightly gentler face. While Dante is terrifying, Henry has a softness to his deep brown eyes and full lips that has almost as many female eyes turnedin his direction as the flock of males circling Sabrina.
The Griffins have come to the party as well, including the elegant Riona Griffin with her handsome rancher husband and their four redheaded sons. The sons cluster around a table in the corner, playing some sort of card game that evokes plenty of laughter, but also moments of tension where it seems like all four burly country boys might break out into a fistfight that would smash the table and chairs like kindling under their combined mass.
Anna and Leo dance together, Anna looking particularly ethereal as she twirls on the axis of Leo’s hand, a massive manta ray floating directly behind her as if they’re engaged in some kind of cross-speciespas de deux.
Leo’s parents sit at the table closest to the dance floor, feeding bits of cake to Leo’s little sister Natasha who will be celebrating her own first birthday soon. The surprise baby seems to have revitalized his parents. As they laugh and tickle the giggling, frosting-smeared infant, Sebastian and Yelena look barely any older than Leo and Anna.
Miles’ parents are deep in conversation at their own table, their knees close together and their heads almost touching as Aida tells her husband some animated anecdote with much gesturing of hands. Callum Griffin listens to her intently, occasionally chuckling, and always keeping his steel-blue eyes fixed on her face.
I was terrified to meet them. I could hardly breathe when the taxi pulled up to their house. Then Aida came running out onto the lawn, barefoot and wearing a pair of cut off denim shorts, immediately pulled me into the longest, warmest hug of my life. She started peppering me with questions, teasing Miles, and fussing over Cat and me, until I was too distracted to be nervous.
Miles’ father Callum is polite and genteel, but terrifying in his intensity. He has that analytical stare that seems to break you down into pieces, tallying up every bit of you. I only managed to keep my composure because I’d encountered it before in Miles himself.
Also like his son, Callum is incredibly devoted to the people he loves, beginning with his wife, and trickling down through Miles, Caleb, and Noelle. He takes an acute interest in each of his children, even little Noelle, who every night has been adding to her scale model of the Helix Bridge with her father’s help.
Their house is always full of ongoing projects, talk, laughter, and delicious food. Aida brings home delicacies from all over Chicago for us to sample, in case we missed any while sightseeing.
It’s strange how their modern glass prism can feel so cozy and welcoming, while my father’s villa has always seemed more like a rented hotel.
Daniela runs the villa like an austere foreman, while Aida is so warm and irreverent that it’s impossible not to feel at home around her. Like Miles, she has a wicked sense of humor with a kind heart underneath.
In the few weeks we’ve been in Chicago, she’s set up a dozen different activities for Miles and me, often sending Caleb along with Cat to keep her company. Caleb is a little younger than Cat and he can be intense and aggressive, but he’s taken his role as tour guide very seriously, trying to show Cat every inch of the city that he thinks might be of interest to her.
Cat is easy to please. She’s immersed herself in every museum, monument, and historical site. She even agreed to join us on a helicopter tour over the city, though I know she doesn’t love flying on any type of aircraft, least of all one that can fly in between skyscrapers.
Right now she’s dancing with Dario Gallo, Dante’s youngest, who has a slimmer build than his father and brother, and no insignificant skill at spinning Cat around. Cat looks pink-cheeked and breathless, and very pretty in the blue sparkly dress we bought this afternoon on the Magnificent Mile.
I bought a new gown too, jade green and backless, something I never would have dared to wear before. It hugs me like a secondskin, and keeps Miles’ eyes pinned to me constantly, which is all I could want out of a dress.
