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“He scares me,” she confesses.
I almost ask her why, because I’m a fucking fool. She witnessed him murder her friend in cold blood. Even if she was a rat, it’s something she’s never seen. He was there in the room when everything happened to her … when they tortured her.
I bring my lips lower, the tip of my nose brushing along hers and speak lowly and carefully so she hears every word. “Do you believe me when I tell you I would kill him if he ever made you feel uncomfortable?”
The thought enters my mind that it would ease so much of her worry if I simply let him go. If I slit his throat and he was eliminated from this complication. But everyone knows he has a deposition. The feds as well as my allies. It wouldn’t be a good look in the least for me to kill three of my own men in a single week while cops are rounding up the others.
The web we’ve weaved is far too tangled.
“Yes,” she answers and gives a short nod, her expression softening slightly. It doesn’t ease my own irritation in the least.
“I told you, no one is going to hurt you.”
“If that were true, though, I could leave … unless this is a test. Unless I’m locked in here for some other reason,” she tells me. Staring me in the eyes, as steady as can be.
“My sweet naïve girl, you say the quiet part out loud too often.”
With that, I kiss her gently and as I do, she trembles in my embrace and I fucking hate myself all over again.
“Take your medicine,” I tell her, wishing she could sleep through all of this.
BRAELYNN
Icould tell that he didn’t want to leave me, and yet he did.
What does that say about him? What does it say about us?
At least he told me he wished he could tell me everything that’s going on but he said it would be better if I didn’t know.
I’m inclined to agree with that.
I’ve spent the last hour wondering if I simply waited in the foyer or the kitchen, if Aria would come. I bet they’re all watching and waiting. The men would leave me alone to see what I’d do. But I don’t want to be left alone. It would almost be better to be locked in here because then the thought of running wouldn’t exist. I’d know I’m not able to.
The sound of construction outside wouldn’t remind me that now is my only chance to run.
I’ve barely eaten anything. I simply haven’t had an appetite. But given the state of my hunger, I have to. My stomach growls as I get out of bed, only to realize I’m still in the same clothes as yesterday. For a moment I consider changing, but I decide to just wash my face and brush my hair and teeth.
Even doing those simple tasks feels like a struggle and for a blip of a moment I’m reminded of what it was like when I was with Travis. When I fell into a horrible depression. As I spit out the water I rinsed my mouth out with, I stare at my reflection. A dull complexion and dark undereye circles stare back at me.
My first instinct is to call the doctor, but for what? I can’t schedule an appointment. I’m fucking trapped here.
Thebeep,beep,beepof some construction vehicle backing up keeps me from breaking down entirely.
Gripping the edge of the sink, I remind myself, all I have to do is obey. It won’t be like this forever. It’s simply a test, isn’t it?
As I walk out, I consider taking my phone. There are unread messages from my mother and there’s no access to social media on it. I leave it there, and head down the quiet hall.
The doors that line it are still shut and I don’t know what’s behind them. I don’t dare look. I don’t dare do anything other than walk to the far end that leads to the foyer. There’s no curiosity anymore. There is only waiting and the silence that’s filled with unwanted thoughts.
I’ll make coffee and maybe that will give me energy. I’ll eat something and then wait in the kitchen. There’s a large window there and the light will do me good. And maybe Aria will come. If she sees me, maybe she’ll have some sympathy for me.
Maybe I won’t be alone with my thoughts and memories that won’t be quiet. My bare feet pad against the cold marble floor. As thebeep,beep,beepgets louder, the irony of it all hits me.
In this place of luxury, I’m a pawn and a prisoner. All because I fell in love with a boy who I thought needed help. Who I wanted to help but didn’t know how.
Maybe in some fucked-up way, I did this to myself. Light filters in through the massive front doors. They’re gorgeous and intricate and I haven’t attempted to open them even thoughDeclan said he’d leave them unlocked. He even gave me the code: 71017.
Vaguely I wonder if he did. I think about waiting here for Aria and asking her to open them. Just to see. I only want to know if he lied to me. If that’s the test.
