Series: Lee Savino
Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
I look at my reflection in the mirror, but I hardly recognize the young woman looking back at me. I’ve been locked in a tower for ten years now. Most of the time, I still feel like the grieving fourteen-year-old who first came here. The girl who’d rather curl up in her room and hide than interact with the world.
Carajo, I made it so easy for him.
“It’s going to be all right,” Ellie murmurs although it most certainly will not be.
I try to swallow and nod. “Sure.”
Whatever awaits me tomorrow, I find it impossible to believe it will be any better than what I have here. I won’t just be changing one jailer for another. I’ll be bred.
At least Thom has never had an interest in me sexually. I work for him–he keeps Wren safe and out of it. That’s our agreement.
I glance at the picture of Wren stuck in the border of the mirror. I have photos of her everywhere to remind me why I must persevere. She’s safe, for now. She’s at a Catholic boarding school in Connecticut. One that doesn’t allow cell phones or internet unless strictly supervised. It’s the modern-day version of a medieval convent. I’m allowed a video call with her on Sundays unless my trades haven’t been as profitable as Thom wants, in which case my sister is told I’m working late, and I’m locked in my room for the weekend.
The market took a dump Friday, but I managed to meet my quotas. I should be allowed a call with her tomorrow unless my new husband takes me before then.
Until this morning, he was a faceless replica of Thom.
Now, though, I find myself picturing the Viking from the beach.
A man who could probably snap my neck with one squeeze of those giant ham-hands. What if Thom sells me to him? What if he wanted…more than my stock trades?
Heat rolls down my inner thighs. What if he’s rough?
A trembling starts in my legs. It’s fear, not arousal. Definitely not arousal.
“A little more lip gloss.” Ellie grabs a tube and swipes the wand of clear plumping gloss across my lips, even though I thought they were already quite moist. She surveys her work once more. “Perfect.”
I don’t enlist Ellie’s help. I tried once, years ago, and she grew terrified. Tears streaked her face, and she begged me not to speak of it again.
“I can’t help you,” she’d whispered.
I figured Thom had some leverage over her, too. Something to keep her in line, same as he keeps me in line. So to spare her–my only “friend” here now that Wren is gone–I don’t make a fuss.
I glance at the clock. “I still have fifteen minutes. I’m going to read.” I crawl up on my four-poster with no consideration of whether I wrinkle my virgin business woman outfit.
Ellie opens her mouth to argue, but I’ve already picked up The Spymaster’s Lady, the Joanna Bourne romance I’m reading for the seventh time. She closes her mouth again. “Of course. I’ll see you later.” She slips out the door.
Usually on weekends, I spend as much time outside as I can, since my weekdays are spent in a work dungeon with only blue light from the monitors. Today I had no desire to rub elbows with my suitors, though. Suitors is probably not an apt term, even if I am living a fairytale nightmare. My would-be owners? Jailors?
Anyway, after my morning ride, I spent the rest of the day voluntarily locked in my chambers, reading. Escapism is the best I can hope for.
Escapism and…
I’m not hoping for the Viking to be the winner. I definitely don’t want a man like that.
Okay, maybe I do. He’s the least like my foster father of all of them, at least in appearance. He took that giant, muscled body into the cold ocean this morning for fun. And he defended me last night.
But he’s still a horrible human engaging in human trafficking and forced labor. Of course, he might not understand the extent of Thom’s control over me. Maybe he thinks I’m willing. That I profit from the deal, too.
A light tap sounds on my door, and I tense before it opens, knowing who will be there.
I’m already swinging my legs off the bed to stand when Thom walks in.
“Ah. Darling.” He spreads his arms in my direction. “You look magnificent.”
“Not your darling,” I say through clenched teeth.
He drops the fatherly pretense. “Remember what we talked about,” he warns. “I didn’t care for your lifeless act last night.” He cups my chin, and I wrench back, out of his grasp.
“I did everything you asked of me,” I seethe.
He nods. “You did. And you’d better continue to do so, or Wren will suffer the consequences.”
Hot tears spear my eyes. “Leave her out of this. That’s all I ever ask of you.”