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Oh, charming. He needs me as a power play against my father. A pawn in a game I’ve never been allowed access to.
“As for your safety, you will be staying at the Rhivers mansion for the time being,” he states calmly, as if he hasn’t just announced something he knows will piss me off.
“Fuck no,” I spit. He’s got to be joking. There’s no way I’m going to live in his place. No way!
“Theodora, your father knows many of the men within these walls and whilst no breach with him has ever happened before, I cannot take the risk that he won’t get a hold of you in here. At my home, I can keep you under surveillance at all times. Safe and sound.”
“No.” I know this prison is a shit hole, but I have Puck as my safety net.
“If Kennedy is planning a business deal behind my back that encourages the selling of women, even if it is you or whoever else, then I won’t let it slide. I run and oversee the Three Districts and I won’t stand for it. I need you alive and safe for now whether I like it or not and that’s final.”
King turns his back on me and leaves me on the floor, still fucking handcuffed to this stupid chair. I try to gather my thoughts to make sense of everything that’s been revealed in the past ten minutes.
My father was going to sell me to someone. King wants me to live at his house in case the prison gets infiltrated. Not because he cares, but because he wants me safe in his possession as leverage. I admitted to why I killed Carlo and he didn’t even care. And now I have to go and live in his house.
Away from Puck.
I know I should be relieved, minus the recent revelations about my dad, but I’m scared. This prison is all I know now. Being with Puck is all I know now. I’ve never had a friend like him and I don’t think I can go a day without him.
King played a back-and-forth game with me, then dropped me for months, and now he wants me to live with him, but as his goddamn prisoner still.
The door opens but instead of King, Dax strolls in. His eyes rake over my position, my head resting on my elevated arm.
“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters seeing my hand attached to the chair. “He couldn’t even uncuff you before he left, huh?” He scoffs, his words more of a statement than a question.
Dax pulls out a set of keys before unlocking my hand from the cuff.
“Thank you,” I whisper as Dax sits down next to me on the dirty floor, not caring about dirtying up his expensive suit.
“Is it all true?” I ask, knowing Dax will speak to me like an actual human.
“It’s what we assume,” he says tactfully.
“I don’t want to live there,” I say, knowing it won’t make any difference.
Dax looks at me, confusion knitting his brows together.
“You’d rather stay here?”
“Yes,” I reply but feel like I need to explain my case. “Dax, I can’t live there. I can’t be near him like that. I hate him.”
Dax laughs softly but lets me continue.
“I can’t leave Puck. I won’t. He’s literally all I have now. I can’t be a prisoner in his home. I did that in my own home for years. At least here, there’s still an extent of freedom away from him. If I go with you, I’m just his property,” I whisper, my defences dropping. I hate how weak I’ve become.
Dax nods, then after sitting in silence with me for a minute, he stands and leaves the room. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, so I just sit and wait. It feels like hours waiting by myself, but it must only be minutes before Puck walks through the door, his gaze sweeping over mine before holding his arms out and letting me run into them. Puck holds me tightly, letting my tears soak through his jumpsuit.
This is becoming a regular occurrence?I need to get a hold of myself.
“They’re taking me away,” I cry quietly into his chest and Puck leans backwards slightly so he can look at me. “He wants me to live at the Rhivers mansion. He says he needs to guarantee my safety because my father is after me.”
His brows furrow in confusion and I make a mental note to explain it properly if I ever get the chance.
“T, that’s a good thing. You’re getting out of here,” he says reassuringly, rubbing his large hands up and down my arms to comfort me.
“Puck, I can’t leave without you.”
He laughs, the deep rumbles vibrating right through me as he holds me. “You’re actually getting out of this fucking prison and you’re worrying about me?”
