“Why did he pick me?” Does he really need to ask?

“Because of Lizzy. It’s ironic, really. That you’d turn out the way you did.” I mean this as a compliment, and I can tell he’s not sure if it is.

“Because of her. He wanted to get to her through me.”

“Right.”

He takes a second to process that.

“So what’s real, Saige? Is any of this real? Or did you make it all up just to get me?” Now we’re in very complicated territory. I know Dad is going to be a little upset with me for telling Sylas this part, but I’m going to anyway.

“What do you think is real?” I ask him.

“At this point, I have no idea. I’m thinking that I’ve never been played like this before and I should have seen it coming.” He probably should have, given what he does with his time.

“Some of it was real. I mean, my father does own a clothing company and he has done some… not so legal things in his past. But he doesn’t do that anymore. He’s different. The only reason he makes deals with bad people is to flush those people out. To gather evidence on them. I think you can understand that.” He does exactly the same thing. They’re so much alike, in so many ways.

“And what’s your role?” he asks, his eyes locked on my face. I couldn’t escape him now even if I wanted to.

“It was my job to get you here. To get you to trust us. Ideally, you would have fallen completely in love with me and then you wouldn’t be able to say no when Dad asked about Lizzy. It’s… it’s not as simple as you want to make it, Sylas. There were a lot of reasons.”

At first, I was just supposed to get close to him. That was before we took that walk and he fucked me up against the wall of the alley. That was most definitely not supposed to happen. Sex was never in the equation. Until it was. And then I couldn’t stop. I was addicted to him. I told myself I was just doing a very thorough job, but it was so much more than that. And what started as helping my dad and wanting to get to know my sister turned into something else. And now here we are and I have no idea how this story is going to end.

“Lizzy. That’s all he wants,” he says, licking his lips. I want to kiss him, but it’s definitely not a good idea. Especially not when Dad can walk in at any moment.

“Well. Lizzy and… you.” Once Dad had seen what Sylas (plus his team of bros) was capable of, he wanted them. All of them.

“Me?”

“Yes. You. And the rest of your team. Do you have a name for yourselves? I mean, you’ve definitely got the whole Robin Hood thing going on,” I say with a smirk. He drops his anger for a moment and rolls his eyes.

“It’s not that kind of thing.”

“Sure, okay.”

We both lapse into silence for a moment.

“He wants me to work for him. Doing what?”

Now that’s something Dad will have to answer.

I get up from the bed. I can’t stand being this close to him right now without being able to touch him.

“You’re going to have to talk to Dad about that one.”

He shakes his head and rubs his temples. He’s definitely on information overload.

“I need to get the fuck out of here. I’m not coming back. I’m not listening to any more lies from you, or your father. I don’t want a job, I just want to be left alone and I swear, if you contact me again…” he doesn’t finish, and I know he’s angry enough to make threats against my life. I don’t think he’d hurt me, but I honestly don’t know for sure. I may have fucked him, but I’ve barely scratched the surface of Sylas Carter.

I hold up my hand to stop him as he heads for the door.

“Just wait. Don’t make any decisions now. Listen to what he has to say.” He crosses the space between us and grabs my arms.

“The game is over, Saige. Stop playing. You’re not going to seduce me. Ever again.” His fingers bite into my arms and I know they’re going to leave bruises. I don’t really care. At least he’s touching me.

“I’m not asking you to fuck me. You never have to do that again. I know you were just using me, Sylas. We were using each other. It was all part of the game,” I say. I can’t tell him how I really feel. That when I told him I loved him, it wasn’t part of the game. That was never supposed to be part of it.

“Don’t go. Don’t drive to California,” I say, my voice feeble. I’m not being very convincing at all.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” he says through clenched teeth. “You don’t get to fuck with my life.” It’s too late. I already have. Just as he’s fucked with mine. We couldn’t get clear of each other even if we wanted to.

“Just think about it. Please.”

He just stares at me for a moment and I think he’s going to kiss me. I wait for it, poised and ready. But then his eyes shut and he gathers himself.

He takes a breath and steps away from me.

“Fine. I’ll think about it. Now can I take my sister and go? Her routine is very important and I need to get her back to the Center.” I just nod and he’s gone from the room.

Three

“Lizzy, time to go,” he says as I robotically follow him down the stairs. She bounces to the bottom of the stairs and pouts when she hears him.

“Can I stay here? The man said that I could have cake and play with Saige and watch movies.” She claps her hands together and I can feel Sylas’ frustration.

He really wants to get away from us and it’s not going very well. Sylas steels himself and takes her arm. Gently, but firm.

“That does sound like fun, but I think we should go back to the Center, don’t you?” He gives her a smile and strokes her hair back over her shoulder.

“But I want to stay here,” she says.

“I know you do, but I think we need to go back. I know I promised we’d go to California, but I think we’re going to stay here. Won’t that be nice to stay here? You won’t have to leave your friends or the nice nurses. Won’t that be great?” Sylas speaks slowly and carefully, but Lizzy still isn’t convinced.

She looks into his eyes for what feels like forever and then she sighs.

“I guess.” We can all feel her disappointment, but no one intervenes. Not even Dad.

“It’ll be okay, I promise,” Sylas says, putting his arm around her and leading her toward the door. Even if he tries to head to California, it’s not going to happen. Sylas has his little team, but so does Dad.

“She could stay here, if she wants,” Dad says as a last ditch effort.

Sylas turns his glare toward Dad.

“No. She can’t. She needs to go back where she belongs,” he says.

Dad shakes his head, but sighs.

“I just want to get to know her,” he says. I move toward Dad. I know how much he’s aching right now. I can feel it too. I’ve barely had any time with her and now they’re leaving. They could stay here. Mom is off at some spa or something for the next few weeks, so we wouldn’t even need to worry about hiding them. Martha keeps her mouth shut. We pay her generously to do so.

Lizzy looks at Sylas with the kind of expression that someone would wear if they were begging for a pony. His anger drops as he looks at her.

“We’ll talk about it. Right now I need to get her back.” Dad and I both nod as we follow them toward the door. Sylas stops and pivots on his heel.

“Can I have my phone back?” he says. His car is here in the driveway. One of Dad’s henchmen went and got it.

“We’ll talk more soon,” Dad says as he hands over both Sylas’ regular phone and the burner.

“Sure,” Sylas says, and it’s not convincing at all. Dad leans close to Sylas and says something so Lizzy can’t hear. I’m sure he’s telling Sylas that if he tries to leave, it won’t go very well. Sylas nods and Dad pulls back.

“It was nice to see you, Lizzy,” Dad says. “Can I have a hug?” Lizzy would probably give everyone and anyone a hug, and complies.

Then it’s my turn as Lizzy yanks me into her arms.