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“I’m pretty sure he decidedyouweren’t worth it. Austin wanted my inheritance more than he wanted to give you that ring.”
“I told you,” Sienna hisses. “He only wants it for West Point.”
And Maddoc originally wanted it for the Reapers. When he thought Chloe was the heiress, he was going to use her exactly the way Austin is planning to use me. The difference is that Maddoc changed his mind. He decided not to go through with it even before he knew the money was actually mine, because he cared… aboutme.
And even once I signed all the paperwork, he was going to let me go.
He put me ahead of his gang and ahead of his own self-interest. That, more than anything else, changed the way I saw him. It helped me believe that what’s been growing between us is actually something real.
“Selfish people always come up with an excuse to act the way they do,” I murmur, not even all that focused on her as I think back on all the men who’ve screwed me over in the past.
And the three who never would.
“What do you know?” Sienna lashes out, snapping my attention back to the here and now.
“I know that men like that will tell you whatever they’re doing is necessary,” I answer her honestly, “even when it hurts you. They’ll justify that it’s for the best, but what they really mean is that it’s best for them.”
Sienna’s face hardens. She thinks I’m trying to hurt her, but I’m just telling her the truth. I have no idea why she decided to betray Maddoc, or if she actually has the feelings for Austin that she claims to. I just know that the way Austin’s treating her isn’t love… and even if she believes it actually is, is that really what shewants? A man who’d marry a woman he doesn’t give a shit about just for money, rather than do what’s right for the woman he’s supposed to love?
“You just don’t understand him,” Sienna sneers, reminding me that I actually don’t give a shit what she feels or why she feels it. “This isn’t your world, and you’re either stupid or naive if you think you know anything about what men like Austin and Maddoc actually care about. Once all your money is in Austin’s hands, things will be different. He’ll finally be able to do whatever he wants. He’ll be able tohavewhoever he wants, and trust me, it won’t be you.” She smirks again, backing toward the door without taking her eyes off me. “He won’t have any use foryouat all. At that point, you’ll just be a liability.”
My gut twists. She obviously just came in here to try to make herself feel better by tearing me down, but I’ve got plenty of practice letting shit like that roll off my back. The only people whose opinions matter to me aren’t in this room, so she shouldn’t have been able to get under my skin.
But as she stomps out and leaves me on my own again, I can’t deny that she did.
Not with her jealousy… but with the reminder that Austin only has one use for me.
“Shit,” I whisper, my heart pounding and my hands getting sweaty.
I wipe them on my pants, but my knees betray me, giving out and depositing my ass on the edge of the narrow bed.
I’d give up a lot to keep the people who matter to me safe. Hell, I already did. But… I don’t want to die. And the way Sienna was talking, it sounds a hell of a lot like once Austin doesn’t need me anymore, he plans on getting rid of me.
Permanently.
5
RILEY
I feel blessedlynumb inside as I pick at the overcooked piece of meat these assholes gave me for dinner, trying not to let myself compare it to the memory of all the delicious meals Logan has cooked for me.
Or, hell, maybe this mystery meat is supposed to be breakfast?
I’ve got no fucking way to tell since they haven’t let me out of this windowless room other than to pee a couple of times every day, and even though I’ve been trying to track time here based on when they feed me, it’s not like I trust that they’re doing it on any kind of regular schedule.
Still, I think I’ve probably been West Point’s prisoner for a week or two by now, and every day—or at least, every time I wake up from my longest sleep—I try not to get my hopes up that the Reapers will come rescue me.
“Oh god,” I whisper, the shield of all that numbness cracking for a moment and letting my actual emotions through. I cover my mouth to hold in the pained noise that tries to escape, because even though I’m alone, I refuse to be weak here.
All I need to remember is that the men not coming for me is agoodthing. I shouldn’t even want them to since I did this to protect the three of them and my sister. If they suddenly burst in here just to try to save me, here where they’d be even more overpowered than we were in that alley, then what I’ve done for them would be worthless.
But, more importantly, it doesn’t even matter.
No one comes. I’m left alone with nothing but my thoughts and the occasional plate of food that always tastes like cardboard soaked in ass. And time keeps ticking downward toward a feeling of doom.
“But I’m still here. I’m still alive,” I whisper to myself, needing to hold onto that.
I make myself take another bite of the food they’ve given me. I still have no plan other than survival, but I know that if I get an opportunity to do something more than that, I’m going to need my strength. And that’s all this food is. It’s not pleasure, it’s barely sustenance. But it’s the only fuel I’ve got for the dwindling spark of hope inside me that somehow, some way, I’ll find a way to make this motherfucker pay for what he’s putting me through.
