AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lincoln wasn’t coming. No one was. They would never think to look for me here. I’d never been to Scotland in my life. I’d never even been out of New York. My dad traveled the world but refused to let me go with him. He said it was for the best, said there were monsters out there.
I guess he was right. I was sitting right beside one of them. But this man didn’t look like a monster. He looked like a god.
The rest of the ride went on in silence. My dad had named me Lyric because he said from the moment I was born, all of his words were for me. Maybe that was why words had always come so freely to me. I’d always said what I felt. I was a lot like my dad in that way. There was something bittersweet about the fact that a girl who was named after words no longer had anything to say.
We drove for another hour, maybe two. I lost track of time. It didn’t matter anymore, anyway. Time was a punishment now. I used to wish for more of it. Now I wished I actually had overdosed on Lincoln’s coke.
The car turned down a long, narrow road, or maybe a driveway. I wasn’t sure. Trees lined both sides, and every few feet there were tall metal posts with gas lanterns hanging off of them. The driver’s side window slid down as we reached a large wrought-iron gate. The driver typed something onto what looked like a tablet nestled in the side of a cobblestone pillar, and the gate began to open. A few moments later we pulled up to what could only be described as a palace. Calling this place a house was an insult. Even calling it a mansion was an understatement.So much for putting a dent in his checkbook.
It was dark out, but the outside lighting and amber glow from the windows highlighted the outlines of round turrets and staggered towers. It looked like the kind of place that held a lifetime of dark secrets. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would become one of them.
My mind conjured up images of damp, dank dungeons, chains attached to stone walls, and meals of bread and water.
Part of me wondered what this place would look like when the sun came out. Part of me wanted to burn it to the ground.
Grey extended his hand to help me out of the car.
I ignored him. There was only one hand I wanted, and it was covered in tattoos and attached to a man who would rather get a papercut on his balls than wear a tailored suit.
The second I was out of the car, he grabbed my wrist and led me around the corner and through a side door. We entered a room with walls lined in cabinets and shelves from the floor to the ceiling. It had to be a pantry because it opened into the kitchen. This room was a chef’s dream, with industrial appliances and tall white cabinets trimmed in gold hardware. The countertops were solid black granite, and the floors were a white tile with gray swirls. Grey walked over to the only set of cabinets with glass doors and grabbed two crystal tumblers.
He set the tumblers on the counter. “Thirsty?” he asked as he grabbed a solid black bottle and twisted the cap.
I narrowed my eyes at him.You buy me, bring me to your home half-naked and covered in blood, and you’re worried if I’m thirsty?
He placed one of the glasses back in the cabinet. “Okay. Not thirsty,” he said, then turned his back to me and filled his glass half-full of whatever was in the black bottle.
Every cell in my body was screaming, clawing out of my skin. I wanted to run, to hit something, to rip my goddamn hair out. How in the fuck was he so calm? Did they just buy and sell people every day in his world?
I was reminding myself to inhale deeply and exhale slowly when a woman with silvery-blonde hair walked into the kitchen. Her brown eyes held nothing but kindness, and her smile was welcoming. The navy blue dress she wore hugged her petite, round figure but not in an unflattering way. She had a button nose and dimples—Mrs. Fucking Potts in the flesh. I halfway expected a toddler named Chip to come bouncing into the room behind her.
Grey turned to face us, leaning one hip against the counter. “Mrs. McTavish, could you show Miss Matthews to her room?” His voice was calm and serene, deep and velvety with a hint of an accent. He held my gaze with the confidence of a man who feared nothing. Then he brought the glass to his lips and drank back the honey-colored liquid.
The woman’s smile broadened at his words. “Of course, sir.” She looked at me. “This way, love.” Her accent didn’t match his. Hers was unmistakably Scottish while his was… something else. Upper-crust English. Or something.
I followed her through room after room of elegance and opulence, then up a wide staircase, along the landing, and to a large wooden door.
She turned the knob and pushed it open. “I hope it’s to your liking,” she said with a grin that made her eyes sparkle. She was excited. There was no way she knew who I was or how I got here. She’d have been mortified if she did.Right?
The walls were a soft golden yellow and the floors a plush beige carpet. The bed on the far wall was covered in white and royal blue bedding with a canopy of silk curtains framing the headboard. On the other side of the room, there was a sitting area with two cream-colored chairs and a loveseat in front of a fireplace. A crystal chandelier hung in the center, and a large window overlooked what was sure to be a gorgeous view. Although, I wouldn’t know that for sure until morning.
In another moment, I’d have been breathless. In another life, I would have felt like a princess and never wanted to leave. But right now, it might as well have been cinder block walls and prison bars.
Mrs. McTavish looked up at me, hopeful.
I grabbed her bicep, ready to shatter her hope, to send it crashing to the ground right next to mine. “Do you know who I am?” My voice was shaky. “Do you know why I’m here?” Her smile dropped when I squeezed her arm. Shehadto know. Surely, she had to know.
She cleared her throat, pulled her arm away with a gentle tug, then walked past me into the room.
I hurried behind her as she made her way through a set of double doors and into a bathroom. “Please. I’m not supposed to be here. There’s someone I need to talk to. I need to let him know I’m okay.”I was not okay.My entire world had been flipped upside down.
She bent over to turn the faucet on the clawfoot tub, completely ignoring me. She plugged the drain and poured something that immediately filled the bathroom with the scent of lavender into the water. When she turned back around her gaze flew over my shoulder.
My heart plummeted when I heard Grey’s voice behind me.
“I’ll take it from here, Mrs. McTavish. Thank you.” Power and control dripped from his every word. No wonder the woman simply nodded, then scurried out of the room.
He closed the distance between us, forcing me to move backward until I was trapped between him and the bathroom counter. He was so close that every time I breathed in, the sweet-scented liquor he’d been drinking filled my lungs. “She won’t help you.” He leaned in, letting his lips graze the shell of my ear. “The only one who can save you is me.”
That was funny considering he was the one I needed saving from.
His hand moved to my chest, then under the edge of the silk robe, inching the fabric to the side. There were words—lots of them—at the tip of my tongue. But my mouth dried up, and my lips parted in silence. His touch sent a shiver up my spine and burned my skin at the same time, like something forbidden but mysterious.
“We need to get that cleaned up,” he said, trailing a fingertip along the cut, starting at my collarbone but stopping just above my breast. His gaze lingered there for a second. Like he contemplated going farther but decided against it.
I swallowed. “Wedon’t need to do anything.” I let out a heavy breath. “I can do it myself.”
One corner of his mouth tilted in a smirk. “Fine. Clean yourself up then meet me downstairs in the library.” He dropped his hand. “It shouldn’t be hard to find. It’s the room with all the books.”
He walked out of the room, clicking the door shut behind him. Finally, I was alone. Alone, afraid, and desperate for an escape. I’d seen a lot in my seventeen years of life, and I’d overcome it all. But notthis. I had a bad feeling I would never survive this.
