Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Then again, I was a stranger. Why did my opinions matter?
I was no one to them and was being treated as such.
I cleared my throat, hoping to remind them that I might not use my voice currently, but I most certainly used my ears.
Tess spun to look at me, her hand flying wildly—gesturing as if I’d saved her from a tangent and reminded her of the point. “Her! I’m talking about her.”
Q directed blistering eyes on me. “What about her? She’s safe. Why didn’t you dress her in something her old master hasn’t destroyed?” His gaze dropped to my torn bodice and the flash of skin beneath. “For God’s sake, woman. Have you forgotten the protocol when a new guest arrives?”
I wanted to stab him. I wanted to shoot him. Let me drug and kill him and see how he likes it.
Tess snorted. “Bah! Nothing about this is following protocol, Q. And it’s all your fault.”
“My fault?” He stiffened like a scorpion about to strike.
“Yes, yours!” Tess was unfazed by the sheer power rolling off him. “Tell me what happened last night.”
His eyebrow rose. He shot me a quick glance. “Nothing you need concern yourself with.”
“Everything I need to concern myself with because it turns out you shot someone.”
He laughed again. “Come now, esclave, that can’t be what this is about. I shoot all the cunts who possess—”
“And I thank you for that. The slaves thank you for that. The world thanks you. Shit, even the police thank you.”
“So what’s the problem, mon amour?”
Tess’s gaze immediately lost its blue spitfire, warming at the mention of being his love. “The problem is, maître, you shot an innocent man.”
“What are you talking about?” He crossed his arms.
“I’m saying you didn’t listen. Didn’t see. Didn’t believe what she was telling you.” Her shoulders slouched as the crackle of their argument faded. “Tell me what happened last night with...” Sighing, she looked at me. “I’m sorry. I never did get your name.”
Tess might’ve frustrated me in the library, but she’d proven to be on my side. She’d gone to battle against her own family for me. She deserved at least something to call me by even if it wasn’t my true address. In reality, my slave name was my real identity anyway. “Pimlico.”
“Right, of course. Pimlico.” She repeated it as if she’d known all along and embraced me as a soul sister.
Returning her attention to her husband, she asked, “Did Pimlico tell you she loved the man you shot last night?”
Q froze. “What?”
“Answer the question, yes or no.”
He scowled. “You know how many have professed the same thing, Tess. If they’ve been captive for long enough, tormented long enough, they all snap in the end. It’s human nature to fold and fit into the current existence if constant fighting and refusal haven’t worked.”
Tess paced in front of him, reminding me how Elder couldn’t stand still when venting his temper. Q, on the other hand, remained deathly calculating and unmovable.
“And what did the man say? Before you shot him?” Tess threw me an apologetic glance as if she could atone for her lover hurting mine.
Q replied carefully, “He said she was his and not to touch her.”
“That’s a lie,” I hissed.
Both of them locked eyes on me before I could slap a hand over my mouth. I hadn’t meant to intervene, but I couldn’t let the truth stay untold.
Silence fell, begging me to fill it. I swallowed and spoke loud and clear with my chin held high and my heart singing with loyalty. “He said he loved me, too. That you were making a huge mistake.”
“Huge fucking mistake, I believe were his words of choice,” Q muttered. “But once again, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. They all say that when I come to take away their property.”
“I wasn’t his property.” I bristled. “I meant something to him.”
“And you think property means nothing to men like him?” Q looked at me as if I knew nothing of the world and needed teaching, fast. “That he didn’t value you or even love you in some twisted way? Of course, he did. You were worth everything to him because with you he could be free. He could embrace the creature he truly was and no longer hide. He could hurt you behind closed doors—take you however he damn well wanted—and no one would know. He could be the monster he forever denied himself.” His voice cracked as if he spoke from aching experience.
Shaking his head, he spat, “Enough. I don’t have the patience for this.” Glowering at his wife, he added, “You were the one who wanted to be in charge of rehabilitation, Tess. You agreed that you’d help heal their minds while I saved their bodies. Don’t drag me into one of your therapy sessions—”
Tess screeched under her breath as if she couldn’t stand his obtuseness. I honestly didn’t know how she had the patience to deal with him—let alone marry him. “You don’t get it. Normally, you’re right. Normally, you would’ve done the right thing. But this time…instead of listening, truly listening…you painted everyone with the same brush. You only saw an abused slave professing her love for a man who repeated her sentiments—same as before but not the same, Q. This time, it wasn’t a lie. This time it was real and instead of seeing that…you destroyed it.”