Total pages in book: 266
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
“Find out you’re a fraud?” he questions.
I can’t speak. My tongue is heavy all of a sudden. The consequences of him knowing what I’ve been hiding is horrific. I might as well die because my life means nothing now. No purpose. It’s over. The Lords promised me this wouldn’t happen. That as long as I did my job, they’d protect me. Now I’m as good as dead.
He goes on. “It’s very unfortunate for you, I may add. But not for me.”
I know where this leads. This is what the Lords do. They find something they can use against you. “What do you want?” I whisper, my stomach sinking at the possibilities.
“You,” he answers simply.
“No.” I shake my head. He doesn’t even need to elaborate. The answer is no.
“Well, see, now that is also unfortunate for you.”
“You going to kill me?” I laugh nervously. I’ve seen people plead for their life when they knew they had nothing to bargain. I never understood it until now. I’d rather die in a fiery car crash than by Haidyn’s hands. Lords pride themselves when it comes to torturing someone. I don’t want to be his next victim.
I go on when he doesn’t answer. “Bury me at Carnage? Put me in a cell? I have a life,” I yell, pointing at my fake name and fake age. “Friends. People will know that I’m missing.” It’ll be on news outlets. Today, women who go missing are seen everywhere, thanks to the reach that social media has. Most women in my world go missing and Lords are paid off, but they’ve had me establish a life outside of them. Wesley alone would make a big fuss if I just up and vanished.
“There are break-ins all the time.” He pushes the glass bowl on my kitchen counter onto the floor, and the apples and bananas in it roll across the tile when the glass breaks into a million pieces, making me jump. “Say like last Tuesday. After you left the gym, someone could have followed you home.” He grabs my purse off the island, unzips it, and removes my wallet. He pulls out my credit cards and ID and puts them in his pocket. I can’t see if they’re my fake or real ones from where I sit, though. “Monday, someone could have seen you enter your gate code.” He picks up a picture off the wall and drops it, shattering it as well. “Or after you left the vet…how is Muffin by the way? Is she feeling better?” He’s been following me. Watching me. I never suspected anything since my mind has been elsewhere. I should have been paying attention, but I’m not even sure I would have noticed. “And then your morning runs…you’re not very observant when you wear your earbuds. Anyone can take advantage of that.”
I jump from my chair, taking a step back. “What do you want? Me to go to Carnage with you so you can lock me in the basement and torture me? Rape me?” I’m trying to act like it’s impossible, but my mind says he has it all figured out. At any time, he’s got a plan to make sure I’m wiped from this world. No one will know where I am. And when I’m not found after days, weeks, and months, they’ll just give up. No one is dragged into Carnage and then allowed to walk out. Plus, no one willingly visits Carnage either. Like I did. So no one will think to look for me there. The Lords will give up and move on to someone else. I’ll be a lost cause. They’ll assign him another therapist to get whatever they want from him while he slowly tortures me to death.
And that makes me wonder…if the news puts Charlotte on TV, will the Lords shut it down because Charlotte will lead them to Annabelle. People will see that I’m missing, but it will also show the world that I’m two very different people.
He gives me a cruel smile that makes my already racing heart skip a beat. Reaching out, he cups my chin and runs his thumb over my trembling lips. The small act paralyzes me where I stand. “I won’t have to rape you, doll face. You will crawl to me and beg me to fuck your mouth all on your own.”
My breath hitches, and I feel my insides tighten at the thought. Because I’ve dreamed about him. Giving him what he wants—my body. And imagined what he could do to it if given the chance. But I won’t let him see that. Because he wants to make me a prisoner. “Fuck you, Haidyn.”
He grabs the back of my neck and shoves me down into my seat. “Either you willingly give yourself to me or I kill you right now. What’s it going to be?” He picks up the bloody knife and holds it to my neck. I lift my chin, my eyes downcast as the blood rushes in my ears. The tip pushes into my skin, and I suck in a deep breath, trying to make space, but it just pushes harder as it punctures my skin.