AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Though I was nothing like him. He didn’t seem to have any feelings. I had a temper.
After half an hour, he reemerged with the tray, the plate on it empty. He looked at me and nodded, seemingly unaware that I was boiling on the inside.
“You should’ve taken a break, Mason. Now you’ll have to wait until dinner.”
“I heard something,” I said. I did my best to keep my voice steady. “Do you have a woman in there? A woman who’s crying?”
His shoulders tensed, but that was the only reaction he showed.
“That’s none of your business,” he said.
“Is she in there by choice? Because if not, I don’t think I can do this job, Dr. Lockwood. If it means hurting someone...”
“Please. You hurt people all the time.”
“To protect my clients, yes.”
“This job is no different from the others you did,” he said.
“If you’re holding a woman against her will and you hired me to make sure she doesn’t escape, it’s different. This is not the kind of job I do.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t sit well with me. It’s against my principles.”
He laughed. “Principles. You have those.” His face turned serious, which took me aback. It was uncanny how he could switch from one expression to another. “All right. What if I told you this woman is dangerous?” He pointed at the door. “What if I told you she hurt someone I care deeply about? Someone I love.”
My eyes widened. “I would ask if it’s true.”
“Why would I lie to you, Mason?”
So many reasons. I didn’t know a lot about Dr. Vincent Lockwood, but I could read people well enough to know this one wasn’t to be trusted.
“I hired you to do a job,” he said. “Not ask questions, not question my methods. It doesn’t matter who’s in there. All that matters is that you guard this door. No one goes in besides me.”
Interesting. He wasn’t afraid that the woman might escape. He was afraid someone might... come save her?
“So, is she dangerous?” I asked. “Who did she hurt?”
“My mother,” he said.
Well, that shut me up fast. I nodded, and he didn’t say another word, just turned on his heel and left, like I’d offended him.
I hung my head and closed my eyes, trying to make sense of what he’d just told me. Aside from him and the housekeeper, I hadn’t seen anyone else in the house. Oh, and the gardener. Was his mother alive, or was she dead? Was Dr. Lockwood messing with my head?
I believed he was. The answers he gave me were always clipped and meant to confuse. It was up to me to read between the lines, which was not something I was great at. I was good with physical things. But emotions, mental challenges, intellectual stuff... I was trying to better myself through reading, but I wasn’t nearly there. I felt like I needed a course in psychology to understand my client.
I looked at the door. There was a woman in there. In a room with no windows and no light. I’d just seen that Dr. Lockwood turned on a light bulb when he went in and turned it off when he walked out. Had she really done what he was accusing her of? Was she human, like him? Because if she was, I didn’t know if I could do this for another day, let alone long term. What plans did he have for her? Obviously, it wasn’t all about revenge.
I was going to have to do this my way and get the answers I needed. I had to be smart.
Chapter Six
Maya
I didn’t know how long it had been, but it had become unbearable. During the day, my captor left me gagged and tied to the chair. He released me when he came in to feed me, and then he only removed the gag after I assured him with nods and gestures that I wouldn’t scream. I had to play nice, otherwise he would stop feeding me. I was certain he was capable of it. At night, he allowed me on the mattress, but he cuffed my hands in such a way that I couldn’t remove the duct tape from my mouth. I was so uncomfortable all the time that I was shocked my body could still function somewhat normally.
Because of the bodyguard that he’d posted at the door, now I had to use the bucket when my captor was in the room with me. It was so mortifying that I could only do it if I really had to go, and I mentally checked out first. He had the decency to keep his back turned, at least.
