Page 29

I ran through the foyer and straight through the massive front doors. The gates were open because a car had entered the property, and I slipped through before they could close behind it.

The hill was steep, and gravel tore into the bottoms of my bare feet, but I kept going. My lungs burned, my head pounded, and my legs were already getting weak. None of it mattered because for the first time since I landed in France, I was going somewhere because I chose to.

I made it halfway down the hill before my vision started blurring.

My body wasn’t what it used to be.

A cramp tore through my stomach, and ringing filled my ears. I tried to keep moving, but a black Aston Martin came creeping beside me before I could make it much farther.

The tinted window lowered.

“Get in,” Ares said.

“I’d rather die.”

“You might if you don’t get your crazy ass in this car.”

I kept walking until my knees almost gave out underneath me. I caught myself, but of course he saw it.

“Get in the car, Azaria. You are wearing down my patience.”

“I don’t give a fuck about your patience.”

“Clearly.”

I wanted to keep arguing, but I was too dizzy to waste what little energy I had left. I yanked open the passenger door and dropped into the seat without looking at him.

Ares pulled off without saying anything.

That somehow pissed me off too.

He didn’t lecture me about running, remind me that he told me so, or ask what the hell I thought I was doing. He drove us back up the hill while I sat there angry, hungry, sick, and embarrassed that I hadn’t made it farther.

When we reached the estate, security moved around us as if nothing had happened. Ares got out first, walked around the car, and opened my door.

He reached for me.

“I don’t need help.”

“You can barely stand.”

“I said I don’t need help.”

I pushed his hand away and climbed out on my own. The ground moved under my feet, but I forced myself upright before he could touch me again.

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

I wanted to curse him out some more. I wanted to tell him I would never belong to him because some old men signed papers and decided I did. I wanted him to know that getting me inside his house didn’t mean he had won anything.

My vision went dark before I could say any of it.

I felt myself falling, then Ares caught me before I hit the ground.

“Azaria.”

Something in his voice sounded different that time, but I was too far gone to figure out what it was.