Sebastian My knuckles are aching. On both hands. And I have a small cut under my right eye from where one of the bastards thought he’d get cute with me. He might’ve gotten in one punch, but he was the one limping away after the fight. I am headed back to my office, thinking maybe I should try to get some work done when I hear my father call my name.I look around and see him standing near his office door. He has a scowl on his face. I have to hide a smirk. I guess he’s heard what I’ve been up to. I am certain he’s made, and he’ll give me one of his lectures, but I’m not in the mood. I am feeling rebellious at the moment. Still, when he says, “Can you come in here for a moment?” I do as he asks. It’ll do me no good to be a rebel if I forget to tell the boss man that I’m rebe

Aria Sebastian’s room is clean. Like… immaculately clean. I don’t know who has been cleaning it while I was locked up, but whoever it was knows what they are doing. It’s probably cleaner than it is when I am cleaning it every day. So, there really isn’t much for me to do. I know he’s done this on purpose. He wants me to rest, but he knows that I will insist on coming to his room to do my job because that’s what I’m meant to do.There is a large pizza on the table when I walk in. It’s my favorite kind. Pepperoni with green peppers. He knows this because we had it once a few nights before I went to the city. It’s still warm. I’m starving after having only eaten bread and water for four days, plus the little bit of meat that Mrs. Kurts snuck to me. So I dig into the pizza and

 Aria I am planning to bide my time, to let days go by, even weeks, without me doing anything at all suspicious. I want to go downstairs and comb through offices, but I don’t. Instead, I go back to my regular job, cleaning Sebastian’s room, and only going downstairs for meals if I have to. When I do, I get snickers from the other girls but ignore them. Mim tells a couple of them where they can go, and I try not to laugh.A few days after the conversation I had with Mim, where I sort of forgive her, I’m cleaning Sebastian’s bathroom, thinking about how she’s been awfully nice to me recently. I look down at my mom’s ring and wonder why Mim was so interested in it. Maybe she was just being polite.It’s easy for me to get lost in thoughts of M

A couple of days after the situation with Mim, I am in Sebastian’s room, finishing up my cleaning for the day when he comes into the room with a huge smile on his face. I turn and stare at him, not sure what’s going on. “Hi,” I say, though there is definitely a question in my tone.“Hi,” he replies, grinning at me as he approaches. “I have something for you.”My eyebrows arch as I try to figure out what it might be. He is good about bringing me things--a favorite meal, a new pair of earrings, a flower he found outside that was the perfect shade of red to match my hair…. But his hands are empty this time, so I have to ask, “What’s that?”He digs into his pocket and pulls out a small plastic bag. “Guess what Grip was able to track down?&rdq

Sebastian   The rogues are getting braver, and I don’t like that. They get closer and closer to the house every time they invade these days. And they don’t care about cameras or anything else that can’t catch them and rip their throats out. Somehow, it seems like they know which direction we are headed and when we will be going that way. We are always able to catch up to them, cut them off, and send them scrambling back out of our territory, but we can never quite catch them. The fact that they have yet to make it to the house is not a deterrent to them; they just keep trying, not after night. It is frustrating, and I would spend all night, every night, out on patrol if it wasn’t for the fact that I want to be with Aria. After my shift is over, I return to the house, to my room, hoping she’s in my bed, but she’s not. I need to see her, s