Page 201 of Her Wicked Plan

He eyes me carefully, ideas churning around in his dull mind. “I want your mouth around my cock.”

The bile keeps rising. I might have to make a pit stop at the bathroom before meeting with Leo to release the horrible feeling in my stomach. “Okay. I’ll change. You stay here, and when I get back, I’ll do whatever you want.”

His grip loosens on my arm, and I take a cautious step away from him. He allows me to head towards the door only; his footsteps follow. Shoving the door open, I glance over my shoulder as he stands there and holds it open. “Make it quick.”

I nod, my lips forming a straight line. Walking towards the bathroom, I steal another peek over my shoulder. He watches for a second longer before shutting the door and returning to my room. I release a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in.

Bypassing the bathroom, I make my way down the empty halls. The silence is loud. Its quietness bounces off the walls and rams into my ear, making friends with my roaring heartbeat. I keep my steps light, peering around corners before I advance.

No one was in sight except for the man standing by the lobby door—the handsome angel who had been sent here to set me free. He told me the reason he gave me the nickname little angel. He should have called me a little devil because that’s what I am.

An angel sent Leo to rescue me, while the devil sent me to wreak havoc.

It’s a war against good versus evil. Always. In the end, only one can win.

CHAPTER 51

Leo

She approaches me, clothes tucked into her chest. She was extremely quiet, so I hadn’t heard her coming. I’ve been standing here for only five minutes, keeping watch of the lobby. Edith is nowhere to be seen.

Typically, no one is in the lobby past bedtime hours except for the rare nights Edith is out here stealing sips from her flask. Tonight, she is tucked warmly into her bed, oblivious to what is happening.

“You ready?” I ask Veronica once she is standing before me.

She nods. “We need to hurry, though. The guard is waiting for me in my room.”

When Veronica reaches for the door handle, I grab her arm and stop her. “Why is he waiting in your room?”

She sighs. “I made an excuse to use the bathroom, and he wanted something in return. I told him to sit tight while I use the bathroom, and then I’d do whatever he wanted.” My brows furrow with anger as I look past her, which causes her head to snap in the direction she came. “Leo, we don’t have time to discuss this or to run off and fight the man.”

I look down at her. She’s right. If we are leaving, we need to do it now. She opens the door, slipping out of my grasp. I follow, both of us halting at the front door. She steps aside for me to enter the code.

I push the door open, my head poking out to make sure the coast is clear. When I believe it is, I open it fully and take her hand.

The air is warm tonight. It hits our skin as I lead us towards the driveway.

“Leo, we can’t go that way,” Veronica whispers and tugs at my arm. “We’d be out in the open, and if we continue to run on the road, someone could spot us.”

“Shit, you’re right.” I run my hand through my hair, internally panicking because this isn’t planned out.

I should have taken the time to come up with a plan myself, maybe waited a couple of days after I returned before we left. But then again, it would have given me time to talk myself out of running.

“I don’t know another way out.”

This was all so sudden. The decision I made while staring at my mother's grave. As I begged for forgiveness. I hadn’t had time to scope out and escape routes.

“I do.” Her hand laces with mine as she pulls me towards the bench.

The one I sat on when Scarlet and I came out here. When I believed her to be a kind woman, the many nights I slipped from my bedroom to sit out in the dark of night after my mom told us she was sick. I’d breathe in the fresh air, clearing my mind and imagining a life where she didn’t get cancer.

We rush past the unoccupied bench, around the edge of the lake, and begin weaving in and out of the line of trees surrounding the lake's edge. We remain quiet, even with our steps, and we don’t dare speak until we are deeper into the woods, out of earshot from the facility—the massive lake at our back and large trees surrounding us.

The moon hides behind the leaves hanging from the branches, making it hard to see where we are running.

Veronica runs fast ahead of me, dodging trees and jumping over fallen branches. If it weren’t for her, I would have tripped by now.

How long have we been running?