Kingdom Come (17 page)

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I glared. “What, can you read my mind now?”

A hint of a smirk tugged at his lips. “We’ve been seeing into one another’s mind for some time now.” I remained silent so he could explain just what the heck he was talking about. He sighed, placed his hands behind his back, and paced in front of me. “Your visions have become more vivid over the recent weeks, even months, probably. You’ve been dreaming of things—you might consider them to be terrible things, though I’m inclined to disagree. Am I right so far?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, but said nothing.

Lips pursed, he nodded once and ceased his pacing. “It’s not a coincidence, Ca—Kerrigan.” My glare intensified. “You’ve seen the things I’ve seen, dreamt the things I’ve dreamt. How do you think I knew where to send my men today? I only wish I’d had a clearer image before now. I could have brought you here sooner, and you wouldn’t have had to suffer so extensively. Believe it or not, I never wanted you to experience such travesty. I wanted you here safe, with me.”

“My visions . . . they’ve been few and far between these days,” I admitted. “I honestly can’t remember the last time I had one.”

“A tired mind will do that.”

“So, are you the one who’s been dreaming of my death?” I laughed dryly. “Is that why I’ve had visions of myself plummeting to the gates of Hell? Because if so, then thank you. Thank you for turning me into a certifiable nutcase for the past couple of months.”

His shook his head. “I—what? Your
death
? What are you talking about?”

My mouth snapped shut. “Nothing.” The terrifying look he gave me could have leveled the tallest building. “It’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”
Especially if you’re going to keep looking at me like that.

“It’s not ‘nothing,’” he said. “It’s not good. Not at all.”

“Well, what does it mean, then?”

“I’m not sure. But I’ll need to figure it out, and quickly.” He stared at me for a beat longer before turning to the door beside us. His hand rested on the handle and, with one more glance over his shoulder, pushed the door open to reveal a room that rivaled anything I could have imagined.

I stepped inside ahead of him, marveling at the large four-post bed sitting in the center of the room. It was covered in what looked to be the thickest comforter in the history of comforters, and I could only imagine how soft that thing might be. To the right, a doorway led to a brightly-lit bathroom.
Guess they don’t have to worry about electricity around here.
On the far side, there were two doors with golden French handles. Curtains covered the doors’ glass, but they were fairly sheer and didn’t seem to provide much privacy.  

“Don’t get any ideas,” Bennett said, stepping beside me. “Those doors lead to a balcony, which you’re welcome to use, of course.” He moved in front of me, staring straight into my eyes. “But if I even suspect your mind is tilting toward becoming some sort of hero, or if I get a hint of unwillingness to comply with my rules, then I’ll put you under constant surveillance without batting an eye. Do I make myself clear?”

“Why not just do that anyway?” I asked. I took a step closer, so close I could feel his breath on my skin. Just the fact he was breathing, and so many people had
died
because of him . . . I hated him. I hated him with every fiber of my being. And I wanted nothing more than for him to pay for what he’d done. But how? “The cameras, I mean. Why not just put them in here if you don’t trust me? Because it’s obvious you don’t.”

“I’m not one to trust freely, sister. Long ago, our uncle taught me that the only person in this world that I can trust is myself, and he’s proved to be right.” He regarded me for a moment. “However, the more tightly you hold onto something, the more it’ll try to break away. And the good Lord knows we can’t have you breaking away, now can we?”

“Where’s Ethan?” I asked. “Where did they take him? When can I see him?”

He shook his head. “No, no, sister. That’s not how things work around here. You’ll see him if you need a lesson in compliance. We’ll take good care of him in the meantime.”

“I hate you,” I whispered.

He patted my cheek, and I smacked his hand away. He only smiled while backing toward the door, gesturing to the room. “Please, do make yourself at home. Dinner will be in an hour—”

“I’m not hungry.” I crossed my arms over my stomach, which growled at the mere mention of food. “And even if I was, I have no desire to eat with
you
.” 

Bennett snorted. “People across the house can hear your stomach grumbling right now. One hour.” He scrunched his nose, making a show of waving his hand in front of his face. “And feel free to take advantage of the shower. I won’t have you smelling up the dining room. You’ll find any clothes you need in the closet, though you’re looking a tad scrawny. Come downstairs and get some meat on those bones, little sister.”

And then he was gone. I walked over to the door and slammed it closed, then locked it. Of course the guy had a key, but at least the lock would keep him from barging right in. I turned and looked at the room once again, growing more bitter with each passing second.

He’d expected me to come. We planned this freakin’ covert ops mission to get here and “end” all this, and the whole time he had a room ready and waiting for me. Not only that, but he said we’d been seeing into each other’s minds? Did that mean we were having the same visions? How was that even possible? My brain was too tired to think anymore.

I headed toward the bed, which was practically calling my name. It looked so inviting, so comfortable. Maybe I could just
sit
on it for a few minutes. Just sitting wouldn’t be giving in to this fantasy world. Not really. I had an hour at my disposal to take a much-needed breather.

I sat on the edge of the mattress, and my body sighed in relief. I was right. The blanket
was
super-soft.
Damn it.
Despite the voice inside that insisted I not fall for whatever Bennett was planning, I scooted back and rested against the pillows. I allowed my eyes to flutter closed as my aching muscles relaxed. My breathing steadied, and right when sleep began to overtake me, I forced my eyelids open. I couldn’t let myself sleep here. Not right now. I had to figure out what was going on, and where they’d taken Ethan. How could I allow myself to be comfortable when he was in a “holding cell,” whatever that meant?

I needed to either find a way out of here for us, or find a way to stop Bennett, once and for all. But in order to do any of that, I needed answers. And there was only one place to start. So, reluctantly, I rolled off the bed and opened the closet. He wanted me at dinner? Fine. He wanted to pretend like we were one big happy family? So be it. But he had a whole lot of explaining to do first.

When I opened my bedroom door exactly one hour later, I wasn’t surprised to see a guard waiting for me outside. What did surprise me was the identity of the guard.

Nate locked eyes with me the second the door swung open. His blank face was void of any emotion whatsoever, which was even more frightening than seeing him angry—it meant he was capable of anything. Instead of allowing that to rattle me, I held my head high and stepped into the hallway.

“Here to escort me to dinner, Guardsman?” I asked.

He ignored the question and started down the dimly-lit hall. I stared at the back of his head, wondering how working for the enemy could possibly be worth it. Bennett didn’t give a crap about anyone but himself. How in the world could Nate look past that? Danny’s words played through my mind, about how Nate never felt any loyalty toward any of us. He’d obviously been right.

I followed him through the hallway, silently grateful that he knew the way. This place needed a map. Whoever designed this mansion had secrecy in mind for sure. I bet it, just like the Andreas family, was full of secrets.

The smell of food hit me once we reached the stairwell, and my stomach growled for the hundredth time. As much as I despised the thought of being in the same room as Bennett, I was starving to the point of desperation. I gripped onto the railing as I trailed Nate down the stairs at a steady pace. When we reached the bottom step, he came to an abrupt stop and whirled around to face me. The face that had been emotionless just moments before was now full of something I’d thought foreign to Nate—sympathy.

“Don’t try to backtalk him,” he said quietly, his dark eyes wide. “Don’t be sarcastic. Don’t do
anything
that’ll piss him off. Got it?”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, keeping my own voice low as possible. “I thought you hated me.”

“I never hated you.” He cast a worried glance over his shoulder before looking back to me. “But even if I did, no one deserves the punishment he hands out for insubordination. It’s not pretty.” He stared at me for a beat longer, and when I nodded, he continued on to the dining room. I closed my eyes and took a few cleansing breaths, attempting to relax.

No such luck.

He paused at the door of the dining room and raised an eyebrow at me, and I took that as my cue to get a move on. If these “punishments” scared
Nate
of all people, I didn’t want to find out about them. Laughter poured out of the dining area, along with the sounds of glasses clinking and forks scraping against plates. Anxiety filled me at the realization that I was late, but I pushed the feeling away. Bennett didn’t own me. He had no right to even order me here, let alone be angry about my being five minutes behind his schedule.

Once I walked into the room, all laughter ceased, and the anxiety rushed back full-force. All eyes were on me, and I froze in the doorway, too scared to so much as breathe. Bennett sat at the head of an enormous table, surrounded by at least a dozen guardsmen. Danny sat between two of them, and when my gaze landed on him, he diverted his own to the table.
Coward
.

Bennett cleared his throat loudly, startling me. “Kerrigan,” he said in that too-smooth-to-be-natural voice of his. “Come. Have a seat.” He gestured to the only empty seat at the table—the one to his right.

My pulse reverberated in my ears, and I felt more than a little dizzy as I made my way to the chair. By some sort of grace, I made it to the seat without passing out. One of the guards jumped up and pulled the chair out for me, but when I turned my head to thank him, he looked away.

I didn’t like this. I didn’t like it at all.

I stared down at the plate before me, which was covered with a huge slice of ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, and a roll. Steam poured off of the food, bringing the scent to my nose. My stomach gurgled loudly, and Bennett laughed.

“Eat, everyone!” he exclaimed. As everyone around us resumed their conversations, Bennett nodded to my plate. “That includes you. Eat.”

As hungry as I was, his ordering me to eat reduced my desire to do just that. I couldn’t refuse it, though. There was just no way. I picked up my fork and dug in, shoveling one bite after another into my mouth. I didn’t even notice how the food tasted. It could have been cat food, for all I cared.

“A little underdressed for the occasion, aren’t you?” he murmured. I paused, holding the next bite at my lips. “Out of all the clothes stocked in your closet, you chose
that
? There’s Burberry in there, for crying out loud.”

I glared at him and placed the bite in my mouth, chewing slowly while holding his equally-annoyed gaze. Compared to him, yeah, I was a bit underdressed in yoga pants and a soft long-sleeved shirt. But heck, it didn’t help that he looked like he just stepped out of a GQ ad. At least I wasn’t wearing the same clothes I’d worn for, oh,
two weeks.
I thought that was a success in itself. I was about to tell him just that when I remembered Nate’s warning and stopped.

“Sorry,” I said with a fake smile. “I’ll try to conform to your standards tomorrow.”

“Not just my standards,” he replied, returning to his meal. “You’re representing our family, and right now you’re doing it poorly. It’s disgraceful. Didn’t those adoptive parents of yours teach you how to dress for dinner? I hope you at least washed your hands.”

I narrowed my eyes, but said nothing.
Remember what Nate said, remember what Nate said . . .

Bennett looked back to me and smiled. “So, how are you enjoying the house? It’s lovely, isn’t it?”

I shrugged, placing my fork back on the table. My appetite was gone, thanks to a certain dinner companion. “It’s okay. I’ve seen worse.”

He snorted and laughed along with a couple other guards, who must have been listening to our conversation. “Yes, I’m sure you have. I’ve seen pictures of your little shack in Pennsylvania. Shame you had to grow up that way, when you could have been here. How does it feel, knowing now what you’ve been missing out on?”

I gaped at him with equal parts shock and rage. “You unimaginable bastard.” I pushed away from the table, nearly knocking my chair over in the process. “How
dare
you?”

He gave me an “oh please” look before setting his own fork down. “Come on, Kerrigan. You know it’s the truth.”

“I’ll have you know that, in that
shack
, I was loved by the most adoring, amazing parents. I have a feeling you know nothing
about love. How could you, when you’ve got people penned up outside your mansion? They came to you for safety, and you’re keeping them out there like cattle!”

“They’re safe,” he said with a placating smile. “Did you see any ice upon your arrival? Fire? Storm-ravaged surroundings? They’re perfectly fine.”

“It’s still
freezing
out there, you ass. You’re sick. And why are you excluded from that, anyway? Did you conjure up some magic bubble with your super-secret family tricks? Or did you just make a deal with the devil?”

He burst into laughter, even though everyone else in the room sat in stunned silence. “That’s a good one. That’s nice. At least someone in
our
family has got a sense of humor.” His face sobered. His ability to do that, to shift at the drop of a hat, scared the crap out of me. “Haven’t you heard, sister? I make the rules. I can do whatever the hell I want. So, if I declare that our estate is excluded from the goings-on of the outside world, then so shall it be.”