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The door opens, and my pulse races when I see Saint’s father. His green eyes search the room as if he’s looking for his son. When he sees I’m alone, his cold stare meets mine. “Your presence is required.”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise at his words. “For-for what?”
“A session,” he responds.
I let out a sigh of annoyance. I thought I was done with those. “Yeah, okay. Just, uh…I need to get dressed.” I stumble, trying to explain that I’m naked and in his son’s bed. It’s not like he doesn’t know we fuck. He saw him take my virginity.
He nods. “She’s expecting you in the basement.” Shutting the door, I frown.
Why the fuck would I need to go to the basement? It would be easier if she just came to me.
Throwing off the covers, I use the restroom and grab a piece of toast that Jessie brought me earlier with my breakfast. I haven’t touched it until now. Might as well eat something. Who knows how long she’ll force me to listen to her annoying voice?
I get dressed, throwing a T-shirt on with a pair of Saint’s sweatpants. It’ll rub the least on my brand. After I put on some socks and tennis shoes and throw my hair up in a messy bun, I leave Saint’s room.
You know that feeling when you stand up too fast and get dizzy? That’s how I feel. I don’t know if it’s because of my lack of food or the fact that Saint gave me a pain pill at three this morning, but either way, I feel weak and tired. I’m going to crawl back into bed after the session.
Making my way down in the elevator, I reach the basement level. It’s quiet down here and always cold. It smells of rotten eggs—demons. The stories of Carnage that I heard when I was little were that they torture until they finally get tired of playing with you and let you rot. The souls stay trapped to haunt the new ones brought in while they await their same fate. Torture at its finest.
“Ashtyn. Hello, dear.” My mother’s therapist walks toward me. The way she’s smiling makes me think that maybe she doesn’t know my mom was killed.
“What are we doing down here?” I ask. Carnage is a massive place with multiple buildings scattered over the land. It’s a maze that one could get lost and never be found in. So why here?
I’ve been told that it was once a college that was started in the late 1800’s that was eventually abandoned. Now that’s just hearsay, considering if you google it, there is absolutely nothing to find on said college. But I’m not surprised. To the world, Carnage doesn’t exist. Therefore, neither would the college that the Lords acquired.
“How are you feeling, Ashtyn?” She ignores my question and asks her own. Her eyes scan over me once as if assessing me and her lips frown.
Did she expect me to be runway ready for her? “I’d rather be in bed.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“We’ll make this quick.” She assures me and turns her back walking back down the hall where she came from.
I follow her slowly, not liking the way she saidweas in I won’t be alone with her. Maybe Saint is with her? He has to be here somewhere, right? The sound of her heels clapping on the concrete floor echoes off the walls as she sways her hips back and forth in her tight pencil skirt. She’s got a silk blouse on that’s tucked into it. Her hair is up and in a tight, perfected bun. I wonder if she comes here often? I know she’s friends with my mother, but I don’t remember her ever being close to my father. So why would she be here at Carnage?
She comes to a stop in front of a room, and I stumble over my feet when I see it’s the observation room. The same one I stood in when I watched the Lord drop off his wife to be sentenced to a long life of torture. Also, the room that their fathers watched me get branded from.
“Come on in, hun. It’s okay.” She smiles at me.
“Why are we here?” I take a step back. “Why are you here?”
She frowns, tilting her head to the side. “I’m here for you, Ashtyn. I know the past few days have been…difficult, and I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.” I go to turn around and head back to Saint’s room, but I stop when I see his dad standing at the opposite end. Swallowing, I try to slow my racing heart and not panic. I don’t know what they’ll do to me without Saint. I should have never left his room. But I didn’t really have a choice either.
“If you’re going to stay here, you’ll have one session a week,” he informs me. “It’s part of Saint’s and my…understanding.”
I don’t know what he means or why my mental health would matter to him. They don’t want you levelheaded here. Maybe that’s the plan, to make me think I’m going insane. The Lords are masters at manipulation. But I don’t want to make Saint mad. He’s the only one really on my side. The one who has taken care of me even if it’s in his own twisted way.It could be much worse.“Yes, sir,” I say, and he nods, turning his back and walking off.
Doing so myself, I turn back and enter the room. The first thing I notice is the two-way mirror. I’m unable to see through it because it looks to be blacked out somehow. Like they’re hiding what’s on the other side of it. The second thing is there is a metal table in the center. A chair on either side facing one another.
“Have a seat, Ashtyn.” She offers me a chair with my back to the glass and sits across from me.
I fold my hands on the cold table and shiver, wishing I had grabbed one of Saint’s hoodies out of his closet before coming down here. “Do you know?” I ask her vaguely, seeing if she needs an explanation.
“I do.” She nods.
A silence lingers in the room at her acknowledging my mother has been killed. She doesn’t even bother with giving me her condolences. Instead, she asks her own question. “Which Spade brother are you the closest with?”
I frown. What kind of question is that? “Why?”
