For a moment, I’m in a hallway before we go through a door and head downstairs towards a basement. I could fight this guy off if I wanted to, but right now I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I’m trying to cool my temper so I can figure out a fucking plan.
“Where is he taking her?” I ask the guy as we reach thebottom of the stairs and emerge into a converted living space. It’s lavish and luxurious like the rest of the mansion.
The guy drags me to a door, then opens it to reveal a small office with a man sitting behind the desk. Without another word, the guy shoves me towards a seat across from the other man and shuts the door on his way out.
I’ve never seen this guy before. Though we don’t really know any of the staff’s names, I’ve come to recognize faces, and this one is new.
He watches me carefully for a few moments before he speaks. “Why are you here?”
I huff out a laugh. “I don’t know. You tell me. One moment, I was walking with my girlfriend?—”
“Courtney,” the guy supplements.
“Yeah,” I reply, not liking the way he says her name.
Wait. Did I just say girlfriend? Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, what else would I label us?
Okay, not the fucking time.
“And then what happened?” the man asks.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I interject.
He gives me a smile that’s more teeth than anything and leans forward. “I think it’s best if I ask the questions here. Now, what happened next?”
“Then your goons rolled up on us, grabbed us and tossed us into the cart before bringing us here?—”
“What were you two doing outside the boundaries of the house?” he asks with a sharp bite like he’s already lost his patience.
I frown. “Boundaries? I was never told we had specific boundaries to stay in. We’re allowed to go on the beach. We’ve gone to different spots all over the island for dates?—”
“While escorted by a staff member.”
“So?”
He takes a long inhale through his nose before blowing out roughly. “You were not permitted to be out there, and you knew that.”
“No, I didn’t,” I argue.
He opens the laptop beside him and spins it so I can see the screen. It looks like security footage from just outside the house where the trail begins, and when he hits play, Courtney and I appear on the screen.
“Are we allowed to be back here?”Courtney asks, the audio quality uncomfortably good considering how far we were from cameras.
At least, I thought we were.
“Fuck it. They’ll yell at us if we aren’t. It’s not like they aren’t watching our every move 24/7,” I say through the laptop speakers before he stops it.
“So either our equipment is malfunctioning or you’re lying. I suspect the latter,” he says, tenting his fingers together on top of the desk.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand. If you were watching us, and we weren’t supposed to go back there, why didn’t anyone come get us sooner?”
The man’s left eye twitches. Just barely, but it’s enough for me to notice.
“Our staff is monitoring many cameras at one time. Your whereabouts were not immediately alerted to the proper personnel. It’s an issue that has been taken care of. What I want to know is what you two did from this point to when you were collected.”
There’s something unnerving about the way he sayscollected. Like we’re property, pawns that need to be maneuvered. It only adds to the sinking feeling that began in my stomach the instant I felt something hairy brush against my leg; that’s grown with each passing moment.
I choose my words carefully when I realize the advantage Ihold. I’d bet anything that they don’t have cameras beyond the point he showed me. For whatever reason, they didn’t know where we were until it was too late. But if no one was watching that camera, I wonder how they found us as quickly as they did. Fidgeting with the bracelet around my wrist, I tense. My eyes move down to it, and I look at the glowing heart with a whole new understanding.
