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The dragon shifter paused, as if he was steeling himself from giving me too much bad news at once.
“There’s blood on the floor of the bedroom.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Whose? How much?”
“Drops,” Draven replied. “And we can’t be sure whose without tests.”
“Run the damn tests and find them!” I howled. “I am on my way!”
Rachel was on my heels as I raced out the door.
“Ash! Ash, wait!” my assistant yelled after me, but I didn’t slow down. I had waited too long, wasted too much time, and now Briar was in danger—or worse.
I had to find Briar and take care of Barney Madison like I should have from the start. That bastard had a reckoning coming that he wasn’t soon going to forget.
Chapter30
Briar
Disoriented again, I tried to raise my head, but my arms were dead weights.
“Don’t try to move,” my father hissed. “You’re tied down now, and I can’t have you hurting the child.”
Whimpering, I pried my eyes open to look at him in disbelief, my surroundings completely unfamiliar.
“Where are we, Father?” I tried to ask, but there was a gag in my mouth.
My last memories hit me like a ton of bricks, and I knew what I’d done to earn my place on this dirty cot in an unfamiliar basement.
And yet it was oddly familiar, too. Why did I know it? I was sure I’d never been in it before, but it reminded me of something…
“All you had to do was be a good girl for a little while longer, Briar, but no, you had to come after me with that lamp, didn’t you?”
I shook my head, eyes wide and apologetic.
I’m sorry!I begged him silently.I wasn’t thinking straight.
“Now you’ll have to wait out your pregnancy down here, all alone, without the luxuries you could have had at home.”
I started to cough against the gag, my throat dry, and Father lunged forward from his metal chair where he watched me, panic coloring his porcine eyes.
“Stop it!” he hissed. “You’re making too much noise.”
I continued to struggle against my bindings, a panic growing inside me as I realized I could no longer rub my belly. Thrusting my head back and forth, my coughs carried on until he was forced to remove my gag and push a glass of water into my face. I didn’t want to drink it, lest it was laced with something, but my throat was so dry, I couldn’t ignore it.
“Take it, Briar,” he growled. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Sputtering between hacks, I swallowed, half of it dribbling down my chin as tears swirled in my eyes. It was all rushing back now, the way I’d come at him with the lamp, unable to bide my time any longer, and how easily he had overpowered me. I had no fight left in me, my muscles weakened.
Why hadn’t I waited at least another day to make my move? I hadn’t been strong enough yet. My actions were foolish, ill-timed, and now, I wasn’t even at home anymore.
“Father, where am I?” I moaned.
“You’re where we’ll remain for the next few months.”
“It’s too damp down here, Father. It’s not good for the baby!” I protested weakly, knowing that anything I said now would be fully ignored after what I’d done. He wasn’t going to listen to me, trust me. I’d played my hand too fast, and now, I was done.
