Reina
I COULDN’T HAVE asked for a better reunion with Solomon. No, not in a million years could I have asked for this entire thing to have gone any better. I remember thinking about it in my room at Ecole des Roches. I remember thinking about him, dreaming about him, wishing I could be with him and hating my parents for forcing me to move simply for loving someone different than them. My hatred for them was my fuel for seven years, and while I was over there, my mind split in two. On one side was my love for Solomon and everything we’d been through together. The other side was darker, a never-ending fire burning brighter and hotter by the day. It festered inside me, ate away at me, and changed me into something much worse than what I was before I left. So, I plotted and planned for seven years, with nearly this exact ending in mind. Now, it’s here. Nearly all of it has played out the way I wanted it to. Nearly all of it. There’s one thing left.
Solomon and I lay in his massive bed next to each other, wrapped in his blood-red sheets, and I let my eyes linger on the beautiful view of the city shining through the window in front of me. Philly was always a gorgeous place, and I always loved it, but now that I’m with him, it’s ten times better, and it seems to shine even brighter.
I lay my head on Solomon’s chest and rub his skin with the tips of my fingers, tracing the many tattoos permanently placed there. I breathe him in, drowning in the scent of him and feeling every bit of his love as he places a hand on my shoulder and rubs my skin softly. He’s a villain in this world, but with me, he’s perfectly tender, which goes a long way to show me just how much he loves me. I know Solomon would die for me. Even as both of us lay here naked in his loft, if danger swept into this room, he’d get up and snuff it out without hesitation, or he’d die trying. It’s been that way since we met all those years so, and just like my feelings for him, it will never change.
That’s why I waited to tell him the last part of my story. I was gone for a long time, and when you’re locked away in a horrible boarding school, you need something to motivate you. I had Solomon and my parents, but there was also something else. Something sinister that’ll never go away. I thought about it every day, and I still do, even when I’m surrounded by every magnificent thing that Solomon brings into my life. Something worse than the abuse at the school, and harsher than being disowned by my parents.
“Solomon,” I whisper, wondering if I should tell him. I put it off before, but now that his head is clear, it’s time. I feel nervous as his body shifts under the sheets and his breathing changes.
“Yes,” he says in a sleepy whisper. “You good?”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I begin. Anxiety creeps into my limbs and makes them feel heavy as I try to stay calm. “When I was explaining what happened to me when my parents sent me to France, I left something out. Something important that I’ve never told anyone until now.”
“Okay. Why did you feel the need to leave this out when you told me everything else?”
“Because I needed you to focus on the task at hand, which was Dante,” I explain. “I didn’t want to distract you with this because I knew you’d lose focus on what you had going on, and I didn’t want that to happen. One thing at a time, remember?”
Solomon releases a breath that feels like a hot fan on the back of my head, blowing my hair a bit.
“Alright, Reina,” he says. “What is it?”
“I told you that after my parents informed me that they were sending me away, I tried to get on the train to come back to you. I didn’t know what I was gonna do when I found you, but I was determined to get back to Strawberry Mansion so we could be together. Maybe I planned on just staying down there with you forever, I don’t know, but I never made it that far, because as I approached the train station, Charlie found me. He grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me to his car.”
Solomon shifts his body again, and I can feel heat beginning to lift from his skin. He’s already pissed just listening to this part. I remember how much he hated Charlie, so I know how deeply this will cut him. But I have to tell him.
“When he got me back home,” I continue. “My mother was there. She and I had another insane argument over you and people who live in the slums, as she called it. She was furious, and after she finished yelling at me, I ran to my room and cried myself sick. I cried for a long time before I finally fell asleep in my bed. When I woke up, I wasn’t alone. Charlie was there, and he was on top of me.
“I fought with everything I had in me to get in him off, but he was too heavy and strong. There was nothing I could do physically, so I screamed, but he quickly informed me that nobody was home. My parents had left the house to get a break from me and my drama, and they left him to look after me. There was nobody there to hear me scream, and he knew it. By the time I realized what was going on, he already had his pants down and was shoving mine down too. I begged, I pleaded with him to stop, but he was so furious about me rejecting him for you. I could see the jealousy and envy in his eyes, and he’s the kind of person who lashes out when he doesn’t get things his way. He talked horribly about you, called me filthy for wanting to be with a criminal from the ghetto. He said he was going to show me he could be rough like you. There was nothing I could do to stop him, so I did my best to zone out. I went to another place in my head while he . . . he raped me.
“Afterwards, he forced me into the shower and threatened to go to Strawberry Mansion with a bunch of his friends to hurt you if I told anyone. I already knew what would happen to him if he did that, so I told my parents anyway, hoping he would go down there so you could kill him. My parents, though, they didn’t believe me. I told them exactly what happened, and they told me I was making it up to get back at Charlie for telling them about you and me. They actually thought I lied about him raping me so I could get revenge on him, and all Charlie had to do was sit back and deny it. I couldn’t believe it. Their only response was to move up my flight so that I could leave sooner. Before I could plead with them any further, I was already on my way out the door. They pushed me out like I was nothing, and took my rapist in as the son they never had.
“That’s why I’ve been so adamant about coming back here and destroying everything they’ve worked for. It’s bigger than just us, Solomon. Charlie raped me, and every single one of them has to pay. Do you understand? Every single one of them.”
Solomon is silent. I hear his breathing picking up, but he’s not moving. Something in me expected him to jump up and run out the door, doing his best to hunt Charlie down with no clue where he is, but he’s calm, as if he’s keeping everything he’s feeling locked away in his head. I know he’s the ultimate manipulator, and he’s much smarter than anyone realizes, so whatever is to come is going to be deep. I’ve just armed a ticking time bomb in the middle of Philadelphia.
“Where is he?” Solomon finally asks.
“I don’t know for sure,” I answer. “I just know he’s with them, and they have their compound somewhere else now. Their business is guarded and they bought a new house, so I don’t even know where they live anymore—Charlie either. All I know is that they’re still in Philly. The main hub of their business is still here, and they’d never leave that behind, so they’re still here. We just have to find them.”
Instead of lashing out, Solomon lets out another deep breath and wraps both of his arms around me. He pulls me in close to him, squeezing my body and making me feel so safe—exactly what I’ve always loved about him, and precisely what I need right now.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Reina,” Solomon says in a hushed tone. “I should’ve been there. I should’ve been there to protect you.”
“There was nothing you could’ve done, Solomon,” I tell him as tears fill my eyes.
“Maybe not then,” he replies. “But there’s something I can do now. There’s something we will do. Together. Alistair Wilde, Betty Wilde, and Charlie whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is—they’re all dead. All of them! And what is theirs, will become ours.”
“It won’t be easy, Solomon. No one has ever tried to take down an empire like Wilde Inc.”
“Of course not,” Solomon says with sheer, unshakeable confidence. “No one’s ever tried because there has never been anyone like me before. I’m gonna burn all of it down, and Charlie will watch it turn to ash before I set his life ablaze too.”
THE END