Anya's POV

I couldn’t believe this was happening on my engagement night! Everything was going as planned until a few minutes ago. Somehow, Clarissa had found a way to make this night about her.

The girl always knew how to destroy my life with her tricks. She wasn’t as innocent as everyone wanted to believe. She was anything but innocent—a manipulative, evil presence.

Just when I was getting things to go my way, she ruined them for me. I should have seen this coming. I should have been prepared.

I wanted to see the pain on her face when Damon announced our engagement in front of everyone. Yet, the girl chose to be a coward and ran before anything could happen.

“What’s happening?” Dante asked as he joined my side.

He wasn’t here earlier. When did he arrive?

“I thought you weren’t attending the party?” I asked him, pretending to care.

He stiffened, “I didn’t want to, but I thought I should at least be there for you and Damon. It may not be a happy occasion for me, but it is one for both of you.”

I nodded, “thank you, Dante. I’m happy you came, but right now, everything is a mess, and I’m losing my mind!”

He frowned, “where is Damon?”

I bit my lip in frustration. “He left,” I mumbled angrily.

His eyes narrowed, “he left you? Alone? On your engagement night?”

“Don’t let her manipulate you,” Griffin said behind us. “Clarissa is missing. We’re all looking for her, including Damon.”

I narrowed my eyes; Griffin was constantly pushing my buttons. I disliked him just as much as I hated Clarissa.

Why was he even listening to our conversation? It had nothing to do with him.

“Clarissa is missing?” He asked Griffin. “Where was the last place you saw her?”

“She was supposed to be in her room,” he explained. “But it turns out she isn’t even at home. Damon went to look for her, but we have no idea where he went either. He disappeared just like she did.”

“Maybe she’s in the woods,” Dante suggested. “She did that the last time we couldn’t find her.”

“Would she take a risk like that after what happened recently?” Griffin asked. “I don’t want to believe she’d do something like that.”

“Oh, trust me,” I said. “She is capable of doing something that stupid. I’m sure all of you are worrying for no reason. She will be back soon. I’m more worried about Damon. What would all of these people think if he didn’t return soon? It would look like he left me!”

“That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world now, would it?” Griffin asked me.

“There’s no time for this,” Dante growled. “The sooner we find Damon and Clarissa, the sooner everything can move forward.”

He was right. As much as I wanted to forget about Clarissa tonight, they had to find her for this engagement to happen. If I wanted it to happen tonight, I’d have no choice but to help them find her.

The forest was probably a good place to start searching for her. If she wasn’t here and if no vehicles were missing, then she had to have left on foot. We needed to speak to the guards.

“We should search the woods,” I told Dante. “We can go together. Everyone else could wait here and keep looking for her.”

I wanted time alone with Dante. I still wanted him under my control. Even though I was marrying Damon, I wanted Dante to be under my spell. I loved having both of them do anything for me.

Unlike Damon, Dante still listened to every word that I spoke to him. He always did everything I asked him to do for me. I didn’t want to lose that.

“Let’s go,” Dante said, and I quickly left.

It was better than staying here and having everyone feel sorry for me. I knew what they were all thinking. They thought that Damon was having second thoughts about the entire thing. They didn’t realize that this was all because of that stupid girl.

Her family refused to tell the guests what was happening; they protected her like they always did. Everyone always had to clean up after Clarissa’s mess. She did things without thinking, and everyone else was left to pick up the pieces for her.

Just as we were leaving, I spotted someone I shouldn’t have. I froze. Dante noticed that I’d stopped, and he immediately walked over to me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Willow.

What was she doing here? Why was my sister here? Did she follow me here?

As far as I knew, she never left our home. I’ve always told her to stay there, that it was unsafe to leave the house.

Then why the hell was she here? And how long had she been disobeying me?

Her eyes fell on me, and her face brightened when she saw me.

Oh no.

“Anya?” Dante tried once more to speak to me.

“Anya!” Willow shouted my name.

Oh no.

No.

No.

No.

Dante couldn’t know that she was my sister. His gaze moved from me to her, and my heart froze at what I saw next. No. It can’t be.

I watched as Willow’s eyes widened the moment her eyes fell on Dante. Her mouth formed a small ‘o’, and her cheeks turned red.

She likes him.

My sister likes Dante.

This is not good. She’d just met him. She hadn’t even spoken a word to him.

I had to get her out of here before she did something stupid.

I was so focused on her that I hadn’t realized that Dante was frozen beside me as he gazed at her.

Please tell me this is a nightmare. Please tell me that I will wake up, and this will all be just a fucking dream.

“How does she know your name?” he asked me. “Who is she? I’ve never seen her around before.”

“She’s a friend I invited to the party,” I lied.

“She isn’t dressed for an engagement party,” Dante pointed out as he looked at her jeans.

I pressed my lips tightly together. “She isn’t rich like you, Dante. This is all that she could afford.”

“I—”

Before he could say anything else, I cut him off, “I need to tell her what’s happening. Can you wait for me?”

He initially looked hesitant to leave us, but he eventually listened to me like he usually did.

I grabbed Willow’s arm when he left and pulled her as far away from the house as possible. I needed to ensure that no one was looking at us.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded from her. “You shouldn’t be here!”

She looked down at her feet as I scolded her, “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I told you before that it gets lonely now that mother isn’t home with us. I miss her. And when you aren’t home, I have no one to speak to. It’s hard, sister. I just wanted to spend some time with you, to meet your friends. I have none.”

I sighed and lifted my hands into the air, “I told you it’s dangerous. I told you that when it was safe, I would introduce you to everyone.”

“That’s partly why I came also,” she informed me. “I saw a strange man snooping around the house earlier. He ran when he realized that someone was still at home.”

I stopped moving at her words. Someone was at our house while she was home alone? Who could that be?

If the person ran when they realized someone was home, it only meant they were an enemy, someone trying to gather information on me. This wasn’t good. Not good at all.

“Are you upset with me?” Willow asked unhappily.

“Of course not,” I assured her. “I’m proud of you for finding me and being brave. You did the right thing by coming to find me after you saw that man. I need you to give me a description of him when we get home. I need to find out who he was and why he was there.”

She nodded and looked behind me. “Is there a party inside?”

“Yes, but you can’t stay here,” I told her. “I’ll have someone come and pick you up. You will be safe with them. Trust me.”

She nodded, “will it be that man you were just with earlier?”

My back stiffened at her question, “no. It will not be him. I have somewhere that I need to be with him right now.”

She looked disappointed by my words, which bothered me more than it should. I knew it was likely just a crush; it was understandable since Dante was a good-looking man. However, I didn’t like the idea of my sister liking him, even if it was just a harmless crush.

“If anyone asks who you are, tell them that you’re my friend. Okay?”

She frowned. “But I’m your sister.”

I nodded, “I know, but these people don’t need to know that.”

Her forehead creased, “are you ashamed of me? Is it because of the way I’m dressed? I don’t have on a pretty dress like you do.”

“Of course not, Willow,” I told her. “I could never be ashamed of you. One day you will understand why I asked you to do this for me. But please, I don’t have time to explain this to you.”

She sighed, “I guess I can do that. I don’t like to lie, but if you ask me to, I will.”

I smiled, “thank you, Willow. I’ll wait with you until my friend shows up to pick you up.”

If only they could get here quickly before Dante returned. It could get worse if Griffin or the others came here and saw her.

They wouldn’t be as understanding as Dante was. I’m sure they wouldn’t believe a word I said.

AaaI had to get Willow out of this place as quickly as possible.