Michael nodded. “Yeah. We wrote her note together in my handwriting. She wanted you to know that she didn’t leave you on purpose, and she knew that you would know it wasn’t her note. But the words in it were hers. They were a message to you.”

“But you killed her!” I started to sob so hard that I choked on my cries.

I hated him. I hated him so much for killing my mother. I hit my hands against his chest and screamed how much I hated him, and he sat there and let me. Then after a while, he grabbed my wrists and put his face to mine. I glared into his glassy eyes that were filling with tears as he looked at me.

“Yes, I did. And I am so deeply sorry. I know you hate me for it, and a part of you always will. I hate myself for it too. But I had no other choice. I saved your mother in the only way that I knew how: by giving her the quickest and most painless death I could. And she knew that by doing that—that by us doing that—she could save her daughter from what they would have done to you if your mother had stayed alive.”

I cried so hard that I thought I would drown in my own tears. “I want you to leave.”

I sobbed profusely as I buried my head against his chest.

“No, you don’t,” he said softly before he let go of my wrists and held me. “If I could have left you, Lisette, I would have already done it. Do you have any idea how much I hate myself for what I’ve done, and how much I hate you for being a constant reminder of it every single day of my life? You have caused me so much anguish. You’ve turned my life upside-down and tangled my emotions into a hopeless knot when all I have tried to do was hate you and stay away from you. I have struggled against myself and lost because no matter what I do, I can’t get away from you.”

I looked up at him and wiped my face with my sleeve.

“You can hate me; you should hate me,” he said. “But I will love you anyway.”

He leaned forward to kiss me, and I wasn’t going to stop him. But then, he suddenly froze.

“Get inside,” he said.

I could tell by the tone of his voice that we were in trouble. He jumped down from the roof and caught me as I followed behind him. We ran into the house, and he dead-bolted the door shut.

Julian and Adam were just waking up. however.

“Hey, we were wondering where you went,” Adam said groggily.

As soon as he caught the look on Michael’s face, though, he set down his cup.

“They’re here,” Michael said.

“How many are there?” Adam asked.

Michael shook his head. “I’m not sure, maybe a half dozen Lineage guys. Mostly students. I didn’t see any guards.”

Julian grabbed my hand and led me to his bedroom closet. “Stay in here and stay quiet,” he said. “Don’t be worried, we’re pretty good at hiding out in closets, remember?” he teased, hoping that it would make me feel better.

But, it didn’t.

“Pretty sure we got caught the last time,” I reminded him.

He closed the door and went out into the living room with the other guys.

After a few minutes, I heard the sound of the front door being busted in. Then it was followed by the sounds of fighting. I didn’t want to stay hidden, I wanted to go out and help. But I knew that if I did, the guys would be more focused on protecting me and less focused on fighting.

So, I stayed put.

It seemed like forever until the sounds of the fighting started to lessen, and then there was no sound at all. I waited to see if there would be footsteps searching the house, but there was no noise. When the guys didn’t come back to get me, I feared the worst. Slowly and quietly, I got out of the closet and walked along the hallway toward the living room.

There were bodies of men strewn all over the floor, at least four, maybe five or six. Some had kitchen knives still stuck in their chests, and others just looked like they’d gotten the shit beat out of them. No one seemed to be moving. I walked around quickly until I saw Julian first, then Adam and Michael lying near each other. They were all breathing, thank god, and Julian was the first one to open his eyes.

I hugged him, and my eyes welled with tears.

He groaned as he sat up and then got to his feet.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’ll live.” He looked around the room. “How are the other two?”

Adam grunted. “I’m alive, but not really awake.”

Michael only groaned, though. No words came forth from his lips.

“I’m going to take care of all these bodies,” Julian said as he waved his hand around the apartment toward the Lineage men that had come to kill us. “You take care of Adam and Michael.”

“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.

Julian scoffed. “I’m going to drag them all outside, kill the ones that aren’t already dead, and bury them in a big hole so that no one finds them.”

I literally almost threw-up when I heard what he said.

Then, Julian’s eyes met mine in a dark, hazy gaze I’d never seen before on his face. “You aren’t the only one with a dark side, Lisette.”

I was pretty sure Julian was trying to bring a bit of humor to the morbid situation, but it was way too real and disturbing to be funny, especially with that look in his eyes. I tried not to watch as he started dragging the bodies out the front door. It was a good thing that his apartment was so far toward the edge of the campus, or else it would be difficult to explain the fucked up situation happening.

I sat on the floor between Michael and Adam until they both woke up. Then I helped Adam on to the couch, and Michael back into Julian’s bed since he was beaten up the worst. Adam got by with a dislocated shoulder that I had to push back in for him, and a bunch of cuts and bruises. I found some alcohol and peroxide under Julian’s sink, along with some gauze and bandages, and cleaned up his wounds as best as I could. Then I brought him some water and leaned him back against the couch to rest.

Michael didn’t fare quite as well. He for sure had a few broken ribs, and there was a cut in his hand that went nearly down to the bone. He might have had a bit of a concussion as well because he kept drifting in and out of consciousness while I was trying to tend his injuries.

“The aquarium was nice,” Michael mumbled in one of his semi-lucid moments.

“Yes,” I said, trying to get him to just be still and rest. “It was.”

He snickered. “I meant the rooftop part.”

I clicked my tongue. “I know what you meant.”

“Not the part where I tried to throw you off the roof, though,” he laughed a little but stopped as soon as the movement of jarring his ribs caused him intense pain.

“Yeah, that part wasn’t so fun,” I agreed. “Now be still, I’m trying to take care of you, and you’re not making it easy.”

“You know what was easy?” he asked.

“What?”

He smiled, as if he were reliving his best dream. “When I made love to you. Making love to you was the easiest, natural, wonderful thing that I have ever done in my whole life. I want to make love to you every single day.”

I smiled at his words and how they warmed my heart.