Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66503 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
There is nothing I fear more than the darkness in solitude. Nothing … except a door opening up at the top of the stairs.
A sliver of light streams through the crack.
I lean up to see with my mouth hanging open as though I’m catching the final drop of water from an empty hose with my tongue. But when Lex himself comes down the stairs, I push back and crawl into a tiny little corner.
“Hello, little monster,” he muses, walking closer to the cage. “Enjoying your time-out?”
I don’t respond. I have nothing to say that he hasn’t already heard.
More guards pour down from the stairs, each one looking even more menacing than the one before. And something about the way they’re looking at me makes my skin crawl.
Lex stares at me. “Are you going to come quietly?” His guards pull out their stun guns. “Or do we have to bring you by force?”
I swallow the lump in my throat and get up from the cold hard concrete floor. With my teeth clenched, I make my way to the door and wait until one of his guards has opened it.
“Good girl,” Lex says through gritted teeth, and he flicks his fingers at his guards. “Take her upstairs.”
Two guards grab me by the arms and haul me up the stairs. I don’t fight, but I don’t help them either. I’m terrified to get zapped, but at the same time, I refuse to make their jobs easy for them. This is my way of protesting. My only way of showing Lex what kind of a piece of shit he truly is.
They shove open the door, and the light blinds me so much I look away with narrowed eyes. But from the tiny slits, I still spot my father standing in the hallway, just looking at me with his hands in his pockets, as though it does nothing to him.
And it wrecks me. Completely and utterly wrecks me.
A father is supposed to protect his daughter from harm. And now he actively participates in it.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall for him.
The guard shoves me toward the stairs. “Up.”
I do what he says but keep my eyes on my father for as long as possible, sending him the worst possible daggers with glares alone. I want him to know he did this. He is making me suffer. He deserves every ounce of guilt.
“Left door,” Lex barks as he follows us up the stairs.
We go into the same room as before, the one with all the lavish furniture, the leather lounge, the thick red curtains, and the piano. His wife’s room.
The guard shoves me inside and walks away, slamming the door shut.
I gulp down the lump in my throat.
On the bed is a woman in a thin, silvery-looking nightgown. She leans back on the bed, gazing at me with an interesting look on her face.
Sweat drops prick at my neck. “Who … Who are you?”
The woman looks at me with dead-fish eyes.
“Introduce yourself,” Lex barks at the woman.
“Hello, dear. Don’t think we’ve met before, have we?” the woman responds with a tentative smile. “I’m Anne. Lex’s wife.”
So she’s back from her business trip. And she’s not at all bothered by her husband taking hostages? Trying to murder people? Using me?
Or is he forcing her to accept his debauchery?
“You’re not going to say hello?” she asks.
I just stare at her, blinking rapidly.
What is going on?
Why am I even here?
Suddenly the door opens up again and the guard steps inside … clutching my father’s arm. “Get in.”
My father and I glare at each other for a moment, and then it dawns on me.
My father bargained for his life with me … but how?
The guard pushes him down on a chair in the back of the room near the door and then ties his hands together behind it so he can’t move.
Something is thrown on the floor in front of me.
A piece of fabric. If you can call it that. Because it’s more holes than clothing.
Along with two gloves.
“Put that on,” Lex commands. “Gloves too.”
I gaze at the woman, but all she does is stare back nervously. Like she’s afraid what might happen if I don’t do what he says.
Slowly, the panic begins to rise.
I step backward until I bump into my father. When I glance over my shoulder, he says, “Aurora, put it on.”
I shake my head. “What? You’re in on this?”
Lex snorts. “I thought I wanted his head, but this … this is so much better than any amount of blood he could ever give me.” He points at the outfit on the floor, a glimmer sparkling in his eyes. “Now put it on … and maybe, just maybe … I’ll let you both live.”
I shake my head, but the more I do, the darker his face becomes. So I glance at his wife, who should be reeling by now, but all she does is watch with a broad smile on her face like she’s enthusiastic at the outcome.