A sickening feeling settled on me. "I do know about him, Elliot. I know all about you, and your family of serial killers."

"Ana—"

"Are we done with our tour? Or are there more exclusive places to see...?"

When I didn’t get a response, I walked past him, but his words stopped me.

"I’m sorry... about your sister."

I froze in my tracks, my face morphing into disbelief as I faced him. "S-Sorry?"

He hesitated before he said. "For what it’s worth, those rumors about her weren’t true."

"Then how about you explain to me... why?" I stepped closer to him. "Why did he do it?"

I grew irritated when he just stood there like a statue and looked at me, not attempting to tell me anything.

I nodded slowly, trying to mask the emotions surging within me. "Take your sorry and shove it up your butthole."

I left, not suspending my steps until I could no longer feel his eyes on me. The world spun for a bit, and I braced my hand against the wall for balance, trying to regulate my breathing.

I still wasn’t out of it yet, and the whole thing had drained the energy from my body.

Taking a deep breath, I resumed walking. "Let’s get back, Boba."

I don’t even know where the fuck I was. I walked for minutes until I was on my third turn in the hallway when I saw an open door.

I looked behind me and then back to it in hopes someone was around. There was no one.

Sighing, I headed towards it and walked into a library.

"Whoa..." I murmured.

The library stretched high with dark wooden shelves lined with books, the sunlight streaming through from the floor-to-ceiling windows. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The view was breathtaking, reminding me of those Victorian-style pictures I used to save on Pinterest while looking for my next obsession.

I let Boba roam free, knowing he was already getting cranky in my arms.

I explored the library, eyeing the shelves holding quite an amount of books. I mean, who reads all these?

I took one off the shelves, flipping through the pages before placing it back. I kept doing this as I surfed for something I might find interesting.

So far, I have seen classic literature, history books, and rare old editions I have never heard about. Must be inherited family collections.

Nothing stuck with the usual romance books I indulge myself with every once in a while. But I stopped reading them ever since Annabeth, who used to gift them for my birthday. I never took one look at those books ever again.

I remembered giggling and kicking my feet into the air when, after a hundred pages, the two main leads finally kissed, and I’d picture Jacob and me as those characters.

God, I was so love-sick. My entire life practically revolved around him, in my waking thoughts and sleeping moments. The biggest childhood crush that morphed into true love as I once called it.

I pushed the book back in place, a feeling swallowing me whole. How can I just forget someone I have known my entire life? It was like asking me to forget my full name was Anastasia.

"Stupid..." I murmured.

Here I was mulling over Jacob when he had already forgotten the fact that I existed.

CREEEAK!

The bizarre sound resonated through the space, and I gasped, whipping my head.

What was that?

I was still for a solid one minute, and suddenly everything was so quiet... not even the birds I had heard chirping earlier.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. That was probably just the wind, right? This house might be brimming with money, but it was still old. It could be a faulty window, just like that day my heart nearly leaped out of my chest with that thud.

I cleared my throat, going back to surf through books like the internet when an eerie screech of wheels against the floor shattered the silence, sharp enough to make my heart jolt.

I clenched the book tightly as every hair on my body rose. Mechanically, I turned my head to the end of the aisle where the sound came through the loudest.

That is not a fucking window.

I backed away, holding the shelf for balance so that I wouldn’t fall off from how heavily my heart was racing.

Dead silence came next, almost as if I had hallucinated the whole thing. It better be!

"B-Boba!" I called, already hastening my steps out of the aisle.

The heavy feeling of not being alone after emerging was so much that I swore I would turn and see someone.

"B-Boba... time to leave.." I searched for him while being overly cautious.

Where did he go? I saw him around here somewhere.

SCREEECH!

I jumped, screaming as my back knocked against one of the shelves, a few books falling.

"Shoot!" I cursed, crouching to pick them up.

I’m probably chickening out over nothing!

With shaky hands, I arranged the books, certainly not in the order I found them.

"What are you doing here?"

Startled, I turned sharply toward Dante.

"Y-You..." I stammered.

What the fuck? Was he the one scaring the shit out of me?

"Answer the fucking question..." he growled, eyes blazing with rage as if I had committed an offense.

Well, sorry, my entire existence is an offense already.

"Just having a little tour with Elliot."

"Then he should know better than to let you in here."

I frowned. I knew he didn’t like me, but he was way off right now.

"The door was open."

"Get out." He gritted. "Now."

I caught Boba casually strolling behind, pausing to look in our direction.

"I was just leaving."

I scurried past him and scooped Boba up in my arms. As I left, I threw a look over my shoulder. Dante had his concentration elsewhere—focused on someone beyond my sight. The shadow stretching across the floor was proof enough.

It gotta be Luca.

I bumped into a wall.

"Whoa! Watch where you’re going..."

The sound of an amused voice drew my eyes upward, and I went still.

Wait...

If Luca was standing right in front of me right now... then who the hell was Dante with?