Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Your freedom is tied to your punishment …”
I rub my lips together and look away. “Right.”
“All you have to do is confess and forgive.”
Confess and forgive?
I make a tsk sound. As if it’s so easy. Like I can just call out whatever I did and end this. Like I can just forgive him after all this.
“How can I forgive you?” I ask.
“It’s not me who needs forgiving,” he replies, raising his brow at me when I turn my head to face him.
My pupils dilate as the realization of what he means hits me.
“I know you think it’s impossible, but give it time,” he says.
“You want to keep me here in this gilded cage, but you won’t tell me why, and all you wanna do is punish me because I asked?” My lip trembles. “What if I told you a lie? Huh? What if I never meant it? What if I just wanted attention?”
He glares right back at me as though he can see straight through me. And the palm of his hand rises to meet my face, caressing my cheek so softly that it almost makes me turn into putty. “A girl like you doesn’t lie. She only forgets.”
Then he gets up and walks out the door, but not before adding, “Clean yourself and put on a nightgown. My assistant will be watching you, so don’t try anything.”
Someone? Watching me? How?
Then it hits me.
There’s a reason they knew exactly when to come into my room. And why he’s so sure of the fact that I won’t harm him, or that I could escape if I tried.
There are cameras.
Chapter 11
Eli
“How is she doing?”
I sit down in my chair and pick up my glass of whiskey, taking a sip before I answer Tobias’s question.
“Fine,” I reply.
For the situation she’s in, anyway. But I’m not keen on divulging much. A part of me knows it would be beneficial if I did, but I don’t trust him enough to explain every little detail of what went down. I know he’s waiting for me to mess up, but I won’t give him that satisfaction. Not willingly anyway.
“Fine how? Scared? In pain? Completely out of it?”
I clutch my chair and stare at him with intent as he keeps digging for more. “Does it matter? I’m handling it.”
I’m doing this my way. Slow and gentle, so she gets eased into it. With a girl like her, that’s definitely necessary. It’ll be hard but not impossible.
“Well, I need to know how our newest addition is doing,” he says, clutching his hands together and leaning forward. “There’s no way of telling how she’ll react, and we need to be prepared.”
“I don’t need your lecture, Tobias. I know how it works.” I put my glass down again.
His brow rises. “I’m just saying, maybe we should keep tabs.”
“The cameras do their job just fine,” I retort.
“I know that,” he says, looking at me from underneath his lashes. “But are you sure you can control her?” He narrows his eyes at me, and I do the same in response. I know he’s testing me, and I know damn well why. “Because it looks to me as though you can’t control yourself either.”
My fingers dig into the leather seat. “I’m fine. I’ve got this. Don’t worry about it. Keep your eyes on your own job.”
“I just don’t want this to backfire.” He leans forward in his seat. “You know we have a protocol. We don’t pick up the girls. They are brought to us. Bringing them in like this out of the blue is really dangerous. Especially if they can’t even remember—”
I slam my fist onto the elbow rest. “Enough!”
He sits back and cocks his head. “In control, you said? Do you even see your own wrath?”
He’s just pushing me, but I won’t let him test me like this.
I look at the fire instead of his eyes. “You do remember who leads this House, don’t you?” With renewed energy, I gaze at him, determined not to let him poke at my boundaries. “What are you?”
“An advisor,” he says, sighing.
“Exactly. So behave like it.”
“I try,” he says with another sigh. “But you won’t let me.”
“I don’t need you to belittle my choices. I picked her up for a reason. She needs this,” I reply.
“If you say so,” he mutters, turning to gaze at the fire. “But she’s volatile. She will fight this more than any other. And if she manages to escape, this whole place could be exposed.”
“She won’t,” I say. I pick up my whiskey and take another sip. God only knows I need it. “I’ll make sure of that.”
Amelia
When my eyes open, it feels as though minutes have passed, but the sun is already blinding me.
Fuck.
I failed.
My muscles ache and my bones creak as I try to get up from the wooden chair. Oh God, I really shouldn’t have fallen asleep here, out of all places.