Page 105 of Locked in Wonderland

The audience nodded along. Some even looked at me with pity.

I briefly calculated my chances of getting close enough to throttle him before someone intervened.

Not good.

I settled for glaring instead.

Unfortunately, it only made him smile more, as if the ability to mess with me fed something dark and depraved within him. How had I ever thought I loved this man?

The lawyer was talking again, and I did my best to focus on what he was saying.

“...is it true that the defendant entered your building without authorization?”

Victor nodded. “It is. He barged in while I was entertaining friends, causing them considerable distress.”

Friends?

Was that what he was calling the two women performing for him?

And just like that, I was done. The lies were infuriating enough, but the Nico-shaped hole in the entire case was impossible to ignore.

I cut across Victor’s testimony. “Nico took me there. Or are we pretending he doesn’t exist? He was at the nightclub. And the casino. And the supper club. And he was definitely at the auction because I didn’t buy myself.”

I counted the occasions off on my fingers. “Wherever I went, he was there. Yet somehow his name hasn’t come up once. Why is that? He took me to Victor’s apartment. He smashed the watch. Not me.”

“I think,” Queenie said, raising her voice over mine, “we’ve reached the limit of our tolerance for insubordination. It was amusing at first, but it’s lost its appeal.”

I laughed. “Why? Because I mentioned Nico? Where is he? Why don’t we hear what he has to say? Maybe someone should explain why his apartment no longer has a front door. Someone should call him. Someone should—”

I’d vaguely registered the door to the dock opening. I regretted not paying more attention when powerful arms wrapped around me from behind. They pinned my arms to my sides while another pair of hands forced something large and solid into my mouth.

Nico’s throwaway comment about me ending up tied to a bed with a ball gag in came flooding back as I desperately tried to spit out the cold silicone invading my mouth.

It was a battle I had no chance of winning. The two men were bigger, stronger, and clearly eager to carry out Queenie’s orders. A strap tightened behind my head and something clicked shut. A padlock.

Then they left.

I panicked when I couldn’t breathe.

A heartbeat later, I remembered I could breathe through my nose.

The ball stretched my jaw wide enough that the muscles already ached, and it had only been in for a couple of minutes.

How long would they leave it there?

An hour? Longer?

I’d been warned. I should’ve listened. Especially when nothing I’d said had changed a damn thing.

Swallowing became awkward. Drool leaked around the edges of the gag despite my best efforts to stop it. Nobody wanted to sit in public drooling like a dog.

The thought brought my gaze back to Kellan’s captive. He was watching me. His eyes weren’t as empty now. There was recognition there.

Sympathy.

Or maybe resignation.

As though I’d finally joined him.