Page 52 of Taint My Soul

“Alright, sir.” He smiles and walks away.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

MASON

They’ve been waiting here for over twenty minutes now, and I’m running late because Neo showed up uninvited. I mean, after what happened yesterday at the elevator, being so close to him, offering him care. I was so stupid to believe that he’d, for once, stop seeing vulnerability as something to be ashamed of.

I shut the curtains and turn away from the blind, facing Neo. He sits on the black leather couch in the living room. “He needs something more. Do better.” Neo explains, posture carefree as he glances at me.

“I’m going to Genesis today. If I find something useful, I’ll send it over to him.” I grab my duffel bag from the floor and swing it over my shoulder.

“I’ll pass on the information.”

“Good. Lock the door on your way out.” I tell him and head out.

The elevator opens into the lobby, and I stride across the tiled floor, meeting Bernard outside. He stands beside the black Range Rover, waiting for me. As I approach, he takes my duffel bag and puts it in the trunk.

“Thank you.” I open the door and step inside the car. My chest expands as Saint’s cologne assaults my senses. He has his eyes glued to the newspaper, acting as if I’m not next to him. I don’t care. I’m going to keep myself busy scrolling through social media throughout this journey.

Bernard gets into the car and inserts the key into the ignition. The engine rumbles to life, and he presses on the gas, peeling off the driveway. As the car zooms down the street, I look out the window. Neo stands by the curtains, his dark gaze directed at me. A hot, gnawing breath escapes me as I lean against the seat.

Even though I pay him no attention. My thoughts dread our proximity.

It doesn’t mean anything.

Yet the memory of the elevator haunts my mind.

I remind myself that I’m doing this for my freedom.

That once this is over, I’m leaving this godforsaken city, moving far away to live the rest of my life in solitude. But as the highway stretches long and misty, the tension escalates into something almost unbearable. I lean forward to Bernard and ask. “Please, can you turn on the radio?”

“Sure.”

“No.” Saint interrupts us without even looking up from the newspaper.

“Don’t worry, Bernard.” I fall back against the seat and look out through the mirror. A gateway signboard stands out on the edge of the road as the car zooms out of Kingston City. The place Vincent planted me to become his puppet. Leaving it behind fills my heart with a smudge of freedom. Maybe I can escape. Maybe I can run and never look back.

But I don’t entertain that idea at all. If Vincent found me in the small town I used to live in, if he ripped me away from my corporate job and forced me to work for him, he’d fucking find me anywhere in this country.

There was no point in running.

After a while, the landscape shifts to rolling hills and pine forest thinning into the heart of the city, which swallows us into its magnificence. Bernard drives us through the city to the mountains. Tires bite the gravel as the car ascends the rocky hill. At the end of the drive, a two-story private house appears, made of glass and steel. Bernard parks around the fountain and turns off the engine.

“We are here, sir.” Bernard says.

“Thank you, Bernard. Please bring our bags upstairs.”

“Of course, sir.” He nods.

We both get out of the car, and he strolls toward the entrance. I wait behind to take my bag from Bernard, then we enter the living room together.

“Come on.” Bernard says, and I follow him up the stairs. We appear in the hallway with two bedrooms. A smaller door separates the two bedrooms. My guess? It’s the bathroom. Bernard drops Saint’s bags in his room. He reappears in the hallway and takes me to the room at the end. “You’ll stay here.”

“What about you?”

“There’s a guest room downstairs.”

“Alright. Good night.” I smile and step into the room, shutting the door behind me. An exhausting sigh escapes my lips as I turn around and take in space before me. There’s a queen-sized bed on the right, neatly arranged with a flower-patterned light blue bedsheet, and an empty white chest of drawers. I take my clothes out of my bag and fold them into the dresser. I settle down on the bed and take off my shoes, replacing them with flip-flops. I leave the bedroom to find the bathroom.