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When I woke up the next morning, I put on my running shorts and shoes to run in the park. I walked down the stairs to the second landing, and she must have been listening for the sound of my steps because she came out of her bedroom. She was in the clothes Miranda had picked out based on my description of her, wearing a simple floral dress. Her hair was done, she wore makeup once again, and she looked like a different person once she was back to a normal life.
I ignored the way she stared at me and headed to the door toward the elevator.
“Where are you going?” She followed after me.
“A run.”
“Can I come?”
I turned back around. “The only reason I brought you here is so the guards won’t tear you to pieces. Don’t get in my way. Don’t bother me. I want you to pretend you don’t exist, alright? There’s a TV, a kitchen, books in the library. Don’t speak to me again.” I headed back to the elevator.
“You saved me just to lock me up in here?” she asked in disappointment.
I turned back to her, immediately furious. “Would you rather I have left you there?”
Her eyes shifted back and forth, slightly afraid of my anger. “Don’t mistake my question as a lack of gratitude. I just want to go outside. Please let me go outside. I promise I won’t run.”
“You’ve been outside every day for six weeks.”
“Not the same and you know it. I can keep up with you.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Let me try.”
My hands moved to my hips, and I stepped closer to her, my bare chest already starting to sweat from the anger. “I want to come and go as I please. I don’t want to be interrupted. If you annoy me too much, I might just leave you there next time.” I turned around and hit the button on the elevator.
“Magnus…you can trust me.”
I stared at the doors and waited.
“If I make a promise, I keep it.”
I listened to the mechanism as the elevator was pulled to my level.
“I would never compromise you—”
“You already did compromise me. You already betrayed my trust.” I stepped into the elevator and turned around to look at her. “And once that happens, you can never get it back.” I hit the button, and the doors started to close.
She stood there the entire time, her eyes filled with emotion. “I saved your life… That has to count for something.”
The doors closed, and I started to move to the ground floor. “How many times have I saved yours?”
She stayed out of my way after that.
I set the alarm every time I left so I would know the second she tried to run. I thought about bringing men over to watch the elevator so she couldn’t try, but I didn’t like having anyone in my homes besides Miranda and myself. If Raven ran for it, there was no doubt I would find her.
But would I find her before Fender found out?
That was the problem.
I got dressed, grabbed my keys and wallet, and headed downstairs to depart.
She came out of her bedroom, wearing pajama shorts and a spaghetti strap top. It revealed a lot of skin, showing how toned her legs were from working every day at the camp, her flat and strong stomach just beneath the hem of the top. Her bathroom was full of various beauty supplies because if I had to bring Raven here every time I returned to Paris, I wanted to make sure she didn’t ask me for anything. Her hair was in soft curls down her body, the first time I’d seen it done that way. There was no denying her beauty, and sometimes, that magnetic pull I felt for her drew me in.
But I severed it.
“Where are you going?” Her nipples hardened through the thin fabric of her top, like she was cold or scared.
I didn’t look directly, but I could see it in my peripheral. “Work.”
“Work where?”
Just like that, she ignited my fury. “There’s obviously a misunderstanding here if you think you have any right to ask me anything.”
Her blue eyes shifted back and forth as she looked into my face, her eyelashes thick from the makeup, the bright color even more vibrant in this lighting. “I’m not being nosy. I just…” She dropped her chin for a second. “Look, I know you’re angry with me and you don’t trust me, but…if this is going to be a long-term thing, we should talk to each other—”
“Why?”
“Because we can’t just—”
“Yes, we can. The only reason I brought you here is to save your ass—literally. Make no mistake, you’re still a prisoner. You’re just a prisoner here instead of there. Change of location, that’s all it is.” I turned to walk to the elevator.
“Are you doing anything dangerous?”
