Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I search every corner, and nothing is left untouched. I have to find something, anything, to get out of here. Maybe there’s a crack, a broken bar, a small stone missing from the walls. Who knows. All I know is that I should’ve done this sooner.
“What are you doing?” he suddenly asks.
“Trying to find a way out of here,” I respond.
“There isn’t any. I’ve tried,” he replies.
I pause and glance at him over my shoulder. “What if you’re lying?”
“I don’t lie,” he retorts.
“Well, you did,” I scoff, rolling my eyes.
“When?” he growls, his voice darker than before.
But I can’t tell him when because then I have to blush again, and I hate that. I hate that he continuously makes me blush because I’ve never felt my face flush this many times in my life.
“When you said you didn’t want to take my body as payment,” I say.
I can’t even look at him when I say it.
“I wanted you.” Without hesitation. Zero. And it makes me pause. “But he was watching.”
I glance at him over my shoulder. “What do you mean?”
He taps his neck. “The collar.”
I gasp. “It contains a camera?”
He nods.
Good god, what kind of psychotic man do you have to be to put not only a collar around someone else’s neck but to also track them and put a camera in it as well? Just to keep track of everything he does?
I sigh. “No wonder you call him owner. You have to do what he tells you, or he punishes you. And there’s no way to hide. No lying. He can see everything you do.” After a while, I finally gather the courage to step closer to him, and I point at my face right where his scars are. “Did Lex give those to you?”
Beast nods, but his face darkens, and he looks away. “A price to pay for my failure.”
“Your owner is a cruel man,” I say. “You must know that, right?”
He gets up from the floor, adjusting his towel as it loosened up from his stature alone. “What I know or feel doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” I reply, clutching the bars. “They shouldn’t treat you like this.” When I turn to look at him, he just stands there, arms folded, leaning against the wall. “Why did you stop fighting?”
He points at his neck. “The collar.”
“Does it hurt when it’s on?”
He nods. “Electricity.”
My pupils dilate. “Oh wow. They actually electrocute you? Constantly?”
He shakes his head. “My owner has a button.”
I didn’t know it went that far, but the savagery of Lex really knows no bounds.
“No wonder you never rebel,” I say, turning to face him. “Is that why you brought me to him instead of letting me go?”
He nods.
It’s silent for a moment, but my brain keeps churning. That collar was the whole reason he almost choked me, brought me to that hotel, kept me like a captive, and dragged me back here. He didn’t have a choice, even if he wanted to.
He’s as much a prisoner to this place as I am.
And maybe, just maybe, keeping him on my side isn’t merely a matter of survival. It could mean my only ticket to freedom.
Suddenly, the door at the top of the stairs opens again. Neither of us moves a muscle as we stare at each other. At that moment, it feels almost as if I understand him, if only just a little. But that small inch of mutual understanding is enough to fuel a spark of rebellion in my heart.
The steps that pounce down the stairs are slow and heavy, and when I turn to look, a chill runs down my spine.
Lex is smiling in such a devilish manner that I’m not sure I can stop myself from heaving.
“You two … I heard from the guards upstairs you were having fun,” he says. “Is that true?”
Fun?
The word alone makes bile rise in my throat.
“I-I don’t know wha—”
“Nonsense, girl.” He steps closer, not close enough for me to reach him through the bars but close enough for him to show me who’s in control. “I trust my guards. They know what they heard.”
My entire face begins to glow.
“See?” he muses, smiling even harder until it suddenly disappears. “I didn’t give you permission, Beast,” he spits at the man in the cell with me.
Raymond comes down the steps too now, carefully assessing the situation while Lex moves to the door.
“You, with me,” he tells me as he opens it up. “You, stay,” he growls at Beast.
But Beast merely snarls at him, grinding his teeth.
Lex beckons me to come. “Come here. Now.”
I shake my head. “No.”
Suddenly, he pulls out a stun gun. “You want me to use this on you?” he growls, pointing it dangerously close to me. “Because I will.”
Beast pushes himself off the wall, broadening his shoulders.
CLICK!
The sound of the safety being pulled off a gun doesn’t go unnoticed. Both Beast and I freeze, my pulse quickening as Raymond points his gun at Beast’s head.