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“She’s dead,” he snaps. Then he blinks and shakes his head, tucking the chain into his pocket. “I’ll get you a new one, love. Would you like that? Something prettier.”
A beautiful collar.
“But this? The fucking woman should have taken it. I’ll have her beaten for this.” He starts to pace, still muttering. “I don’t want anything to remind you of that degenerate. He’s fucked you, hasn’t he?” His sharp bark of laughter chills my blood. “Of course he has. It’s okay. I forgive you. You survived and you’re back now. You’re safe. No one else will ever have you.”
As his eyes glow a poisonous brown, all doubt is stripped away.Thisis the man I know.
Dread solidifies in my stomach, and nothing is clearer: If I stay in this cage, I’ll never leave it again.
There is only one way out. It’s the same dilemma I faced when assaulted by Nicolai, and the tactic I used then is my weapon now.
Rebellion.
“Let me go.”
He stiffens, frowning in confusion. “What did you say?”
I swallow, sensing the danger building in his narrow frame. His fingers flex, already reddening from his previous strike. “Just let me go,” I whisper, cradling my throbbing jaw. “I can’t live like this. Just let me go…”
“Go?” Uncertainty disrupts his rage. He almost resembles the boy he was what seems like a lifetime ago, mulling over the best way to get his point across to my ignorant brain. “Back to him?”
“Anywhere,” I rasp. “I can’t live like this anymore—”
“He’s brainwashed you.” He shakes his head, his expression crestfallen. “My sweet Elle—”
“No!” I meet his gaze, imploring him to listen. “I’m not brainwashed. I’m not broken. And he may be a degenerate, but at least… He knows what he is. And his name is Mischa—”
Bam!A monstrous crash resonates through the wall. From the other room.
“Fuck.” Robert flushes red and I’m instantly forgotten. “That dumb bitch.”
Whirling on his heel, he throws the door open and storms into the hall. I hear the click of another door opening nearby. The room beside mine?
“I’m sorry,” a woman pleads a second later, but her voice is higher than Briar’s could ever be. Plaintive. “It just fell. I’ll clean it up—”
A sharp thwack muffles her cry.
“Can you not serve one goddamn purpose?” Robert hisses. I can picture him towering above a cowering figure as he wipes his stinging hand on the front of his suit. “You’ve ruined everything. Maybe I should sell you now? What else are you good for?”
The woman mumbles something unintelligible and another slap cuts her off.
“Enough,” Robert bellows. “We’ll return to the manor tonight and I will hire your replacement—”
“Please,” the woman begs. “Not…not in front of him.”
Him. Another man?
No. Those cries weren’t hers I realize. They were too soft. Too high-pitched.
“Hewill learn,” Robert snarls. “You see this woman? She is replaceable.”
As he rages, I finally notice that the door to my room is open.
I could run. Iam, staggering to my feet, lunging toward the doorway.
But I’m too late.
Robert appears before me, his expression flickering as he takes in my breathless stance paces from freedom.
