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He nods. “I know. I heard you the first time.”
“Well?”
Now, he’s the one leaning back, eyeing me with something akin to amusement. “Are you still hallucinating? At what point did you suddenly gain the ability to tell me what to do?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “When I gave birth tomy child.”
“Alright, fair.” He nods and pulls out his phone. “So where was all this authority for the last five years?”
My fever dream comes back to me. We had a similar discussion then. Was it a premonition of this one that’s about to happen? “What are you talking about?”
He starts tapping his thumb on his phone, staring at his screen as he talks. “You’re acting like giving birth to Willow officially gave you authority over her well-being and safety. Which—yeah, it did. So why the fuck did you force her to stay in a dangerous house with a dangerous man?”
My stomach turns. I hate déjà vu. “For your information, it’s not as easy as you make it sound.”
“Try me.”
I sigh and slump against the headboard. Anything to put some distance between us. “Other women… they can leave. Go to shelters. Change their names. I don’t have that luxury.”
His brow lifting is the only response I get. He’s still staring at his phone, probably texting someone to ready my firing squad.
“My exandmy father are both on the police force. And not just some beat cops or desk workers, but lead detectives. Men of power. Men with resources at their fingertips. They know every shelter from Las Vegas to Reno. Change of name forms are readily accessible by their exact department in case murder investigations need it. And worse—they know how to make things look like an accident.” I tilt my head to one side. “Kinda like you, actually. Isn’t that what you do? Make things look like an accident?”
Demyen snorts out a laugh and glances at me. “Depends on who’s receiving the message.”
I’m just going to ignore that. The image of him sending one of my severed fingers to my father is not doing any favors for my roiling stomach. “So yeah. That’s why I couldn’t just get up and leave any time I wanted. Not until…” I look away.
“So your plan was to buy your way out of Vegas and go… where?”
I shrug. “Anywhere. Anywhere they’d never think to look for me. Mexico came to mind. Maybe keep traveling south to Brazil. Hide in the rainforest with the monkeys.” It sounds ridiculous, but it was one of the many options I’d dreamed up betweenthe slot machine and the cashier’s desk. I smile a little when Willow’s awestruck face appears in my mind. “Willow loves monkeys.”
Demyen holds my gaze for the longest moment, not saying a word. It’s a tragedy that a man so dangerous and deadly can have such beautiful, stormy eyes. Even his lashes are long and dark.
If he wasn’t my prison warden, I’d let him see how much “better” he could make me feel.
He glances away, back to his phone. Then holds it up to me.
It’s a camera feed from what looks like a lavish outdoor courtyard. A marble fountain pours intricate, sparkling patterns of water in the middle of an Olympic-sized pool…
… and Willow is playing hopscotch by the garden.
I suck in a sharp gasp and grab his phone. Demyen’s grip tightens, but he doesn’t pull it away from me. I all but climb on his lap just so I can get a better look at my baby girl.
“Willow?” Tears sting my eyes. My throat tightens. “Is she okay?”
Demyen rolls his eyes. “No. We made her walk on a cactus, hence the hopping.” He gently eases his phone from my fingers and turns the screen off. “My God, woman. Did you not see the army of dolls lining the courtyard? If anyone needs to be worried about an attack, it’s me.”
I stare at him like he’s grown a horn in the middle of his head. “Wha…Why?”
“Why what?”
“Whythat.” I gesture to his phone.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “The kid’s not my problem.You’remy problem. And you’re my prisoner. She’s just my guest.”
“Can I?—”
“No.” He slides off the bed and turns to stare at me. He’s all business again. Any trace of kindness gone like it never existed to begin with. “Now, Clara Everett, here’s the big question: are you going to do exactly what I say, when I say it, no questions asked?”
