Chapter 7: Bait

The study door opens. I'm still standing in the coffee. Damien sees my face and every scrap of color leaves his. "Ava—" I turn and I run. He catches me on the stairs, of course he does, one arm banding around my waist, and I fight him — I hit him, hard, with a closed fist, and he takes it. Doesn't block, doesn't flinch. Takes it. "Let me go." "You didn't hear the whole—" "'She never knows I used her.'" My voice cracks down the middle. "Which part am I missing, Damien? The punctuation?" He...