When The Devil Wants

Chapter Fifteen

(Eleanor's POV)

I froze with my fingers still curled around the cold doorknob.

Lucian’s voice came from right behind me, low and sharper than I had ever heard it.

“What do you think you are doing?”

The question wasn’t angry. It sounded like warning and panic mixed together.

I turned around slowly because my heart was beating too hard in my chest.

He was standing in the hallway with his phone still in his hand, and his eyes were locked on mine.

“I heard something,” I said, and my voice came out smaller than I wanted.

“It sounded like scratching. Like someone was on the other side.”

Lucian stepped between me and the door in one quick movement.

His body was blocking it completely now, like he thought I might try again.

“Listen to me very carefully,” he said, and his jaw was tight.

“No matter what you hear from behind that door, you do not open it. Do you understand me?”

I nodded, but the truth was I didn’t understand anything at all.

The scratching had stopped the second he spoke, and the silence felt heavier than the noise.

He studied my face for a long moment like he was trying to decide if I would obey.

Then he pulled his phone up again and made a call without looking away from me.

“Send two people up here,” he said into the phone.

“They’re to take care of Ms. Vale. Stay with her until I say otherwise.”

He hung up before I could ask what that meant.

“Come downstairs,” he told me. “You need to eat. You need to rest.”

I followed him because my legs didn’t feel steady enough to argue.

The house was too quiet as we walked, and every shadow in the corners seemed to watch us.

Within minutes, two women appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

Both wore simple black uniforms, and both kept their eyes down like they had been trained to do that.

“This is Mara and Elise,” Lucian said, gesturing toward them.

“They will take care of you while I’m handling things.”

Mara was older, with kind eyes and soft hands.

Elise was younger, maybe my age, and the moment she looked up at me I felt it.

A cold trickle ran down my spine and settled at the base of my neck.

She wasn’t looking at me like a servant looks at a guest.

She was looking at me like she already knew things she shouldn’t know.

Her gaze lingered on my face for one second too long before she dropped it again.

Lucian didn’t seem to notice.

He gave them instructions in a low voice and then turned back to me.

“Go with them,” he said. “Clean up. Eat something. I’ll be back soon.”

I wanted to ask him what was behind the door, but his expression told me not to.

So I nodded and let Mara take my arm gently.

Elise walked behind us, and I could feel her eyes on the back of my head the entire time.

They led me to a guest room on the other side of the hall.

It was warm and clean, with a bath already running and towels folded neatly on a chair.

“You can rest here, ma’am,” Mara said softly.

“We’ll wait outside until you’re ready.”

I thanked her and closed the door behind me.

The moment I was alone, I sank onto the edge of the tub and let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

The water was hot and it burned a little against my skin.

I tried to wash the hospital and the fear and Marcus’s name off of me, but none of it came off.

When I stepped out, my body felt lighter but my mind felt heavier.

I wrapped myself in the robe they left and opened the door to tell them I was done.

The hallway was empty.

I could hear voices downstairs though, quiet and muffled like they were trying not to be heard.

I should have gone back to the room and waited like Lucian said.

But something about Elise’s look kept pulling at me, and I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

I moved down the hall in bare feet, careful not to make a sound.

The voices got clearer as I reached the top of the stairs.

One of them was Elise.

The other voice was too low to recognize, but it sounded like it was on a phone.

“I’ve seen her now,” Elise was saying.

Her tone was different from before. It wasn’t polite. It wasn’t careful.

There was a pause, and then she said the words that froze me in place.

“Yes, ma. I’ve confirmed it. She is the one.”

My stomach dropped and the wall felt cold against my back.

I pressed myself closer to it, trying to make myself smaller, trying to hear more.

“Should we move forward with the plan?” Elise asked next.

The other voice answered, but it was too quiet for me to catch the words.

I realized I was holding my breath.

My hands were shaking and I had to grip the railing to keep from falling.

Footsteps started moving toward the stairs.

I didn’t think. I just turned and ran back to the guest room as quietly as I could.

I closed the door and leaned against it, my chest rising and falling too fast.

She is the one. The words kept repeating in my head until I felt sick.

A soft knock came a moment later.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?” It was Mara’s voice, gentle and concerned.

I forced my breathing to slow before I answered.

“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you.”

The door opened and Mara came in with a tray of food.

Elise was right behind her, and this time when Elise looked at me, she smiled.

It was a small, polite smile.

But I remembered the way her voice had sounded on the phone, and the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Eat something,” Mara said, setting the tray down.

“You look like you haven’t had a proper meal in days.”

I sat at the small table and picked up the fork because I didn’t know what else to do.

Every bite felt like it was stuck in my throat.

Elise stood by the window the whole time, watching the trees outside.

But I could feel her watching me in the reflection of the glass.

When I was done, I set the fork down with a shaking hand.

“Thank you,” I said to Mara. “I think I’d like to rest now.”

Mara nodded and started to clear the plates.

Elise didn’t move. She just kept looking out the window like she was waiting for something.

The moment they left and closed the door, I locked it.

Then I sat on the bed and pulled my knees to my chest, trying to figure out what I had just heard.

She is the one.

The one for what?

Downstairs, a car door slammed.

And somewhere in this house, Lucian was still pretending I was safe.