“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life,” he growled. “In fact, I should ship you out of the country. Send you somewhere far away from New York. Hong Kong, perhaps. Rome or Greece.”

My mouth dropped open and I squeezed my arms around my chest. “Az, no. Please don’t do this. I can’t move to a foreign country alone. I don’t know the language. Or the culture. Or anything.”

Tears spilled down my face. It had only been a few hours ago that I’d been imagining a future with both him and everyone at Infernal in my life. And now I was being tossed out the door. I knew Az was only doing it to protect me, but it still hurt.

This had been the first time in two years I’d met someone who didn’t believe the worst about me. A lot of someones. I’d found somewhere I finally fit in. A place where I didn’t have to hide. Now, it was being ripped away from me. Because of the King of Hell.

His expression softened, but the determined set of his shoulders didn’t flinch. “Alright, Mia. I’ll find you somewhere in New York, but only on one condition. You have to swear to stay away from me. After the ball, we can never see each other again.”

31

We were prisoners trapped inside a gilded cage. Scowling, I strode from one end of Az’s ebony penthouse to the other while Serena curled up on the sofa reading a book. Hendrix perched on the table where I’d left him a bowl of breadcrumbs. Az was in his bedroom, making phone calls. And two guards—Valac and Bael—stood on the other side of the single door to prevent any unwanted visitors.

Or a hasty escape by yours truly.

My skin bounced like it wanted to jump off my body and run. We’d been told we couldn’t leave unless accompanied. And I hated every minute of it.

Serena sighed and set down her book. She was re-reading A Dance with Dragons for the millionth time. The TV show hadn’t satisfied her thirst for finding out what had happened to Jon Snow, and so she read the series over and over again, waiting for the next book to come out. Once Serena got her mind on something, she never let it go.

“Can you stop pacing?” she asked in a plaintive voice. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I hate being trapped in here.” I stopped and caught the haunted look in her eyes. “How are you doing? You haven’t said much since last night.”

She pressed her lips together, hugging the book to her chest. “I feel like an idiot. Noah was using me the whole time. Why didn’t I see it sooner? Looking back on our relationship, it makes so much sense. He was always so interested in my job…”