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“It’s not what you think!” Maisie manages to free herself and quickly covers the injuries.
“Then exactly what is it?” I place myself protectively between my sister and the two killers in the room.
“Scarlet’s been teaching me to fight.”
Gideon turns to his female lackey. “Is that what we’re doing now, Scar? Teaching our captives how to fight back?”
“I was just teaching her self-defense. It’s not like she can use any of it against me.”
He pinches her chin and turns her face so that he can get a better view of that slash across her cheek. “Was this in self-defense? I can’t recall another time when someone has been able to get close to your face.”
She slaps his hand away. “Sometimes you have to let someone think they’re winning.”
“You let me win?” Maisie’s tone is full of disappointment.
“There shouldn’t have been a fight to win in the first place,” I say.
“Enough with the chitchat. You can catch up later.” Gideon goes to sit on one of the plush ivory couches in the living room and we follow. “As you can see, Maisel is doing fine. She even got some martial arts lessons out of it.”
“It’s freaking Maisie!” My little sister turns beet red. “Maisie, dammit.”
He ignores her. Motioning for me to sit beside him, he says, “It’s time for you to tell me where the fuck Clive Maxton is.”
“First, swear that you will let us go. That once we step out those doors, you will not seek us out. And our debts will be paid to anyone searching for us. It’s what you promised.”
“And I never go back on my word. I swear it.”
I bite my lower lip, still feeling that damned hesitation to hurt Arran. My beautiful Arran, who owned me in so many ways, and still… I still want him.
My lips part and both Gideon and Scarlet sit forward, their attention captured. “He’s beneath Maxton House. Underground.”
His blue gaze narrows. “Impossible. There is no underground.”
“There is,” I assure him. “Apparently, Arran is a lot smarter than you think.”
The glare he gives me is hot enough to singe the hair right off my head. “You’ll stay here until I can confirm it’s true. If you’re lying—”
“I’m not.”
He leans into me. “If you’re lying, I’ll kill you. But not before I torture and kill your little sister while you watch. That will be fun, won’t it, Scar?”
Maisie gasps and looks pleadingly at Scarlet. “You’d do that?”
Scarlet doesn’t reply to either of them. Instead, she points a harsh finger at me. “You better not be lying.”
“I’m not.”
Gideon stares at her so intensely, it speaks volumes. He wasn’t expecting that. I’d bet almost anything she’s always the obedient guard dog. But not today. However, he doesn’t address it.
To me, he says, “Stay here. I’ll be back in a few.”
He locks himself in one of the rooms, leaving the three of us to wait for him. Maisie comes to sit next to me on the sofa, and I wrap my arms around her again, so happy she’s safe. “I’ve been so worried about you. All I could do was hope that I’d see you again.”
“How was that man you were sent to? Was he cruel?” she asks.
I want to tell her that, yes, he was very cruel at the beginning. At the end too. But the in-between was filled with something else entirely. Lust, pleasure like I’ve never experienced before. Then there were the small moments where we became something undefined. Like bonded enemies, hating each other yet wanting to live inside the other’s skin.
But that’s too much to say, especially to a fifteen-year-old girl. Instead, I smile and pat her shoulder. “I was treated well.” Over her head, I spy Scarlet watching us curiously. “And her? How was she to you?”
