Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
The district attorney's office in Columbus needed me to help build a case against Nathan. Detective Andi Greene was bold when she gave me her business card that day at the salon, but I know there's a very real chance that she's dead, or, at a minimum, she's gone.
The police have nothing on Nathan, other than the stunt he pulled with Beth.
A shiver runs up my spine, knowing that he's still here in the same town. The fear was easier to handle when I could imagine him hundreds of miles away.
Not for the first time, I consider that meeting Xan at the park was a mistake. Had I done that instead of what I did, Beth would've died, or worse, she would've been sent to one of Nathan's camps. Xan talked about them often, but with Xan's mental state, he always mixed things up. I've tried more times than I can count to get more information out of him, something concrete that could aid police in finally building a strong case against the Adair men, but Xan was more paranoid than his father. That's another thing that could be easily blamed on Nathan's abuse.
Beck doesn't ask for the remote, and as if he was watching the show he selected earlier in the day, he chuckles and seems to enjoy the cartoon I put on to test him.
He doesn't say one foul word about my selection, which honestly is surprising. He isn't sighing in frustration or grumbling, calling me immature, which I fully expected from such a muscular, tattooed guy.
I want to ask him a million questions, but I don't know how those would be received.
I know he has to have something better to do than sit in the room all damn day and babysit me. Maybe he doesn't trust me in here alone, but that can't be the case because he left shortly after dropping me off in here last night. I haven't caught him eyeing different areas of the room to see if I stole or damaged anything.
Honestly, I don't think I want him to leave. His presence in the room is comforting to me.
When he takes the dishes to the kitchen, he lets me know that he's going to be gone for a few minutes. I figured out the first time that he does this so I know it'll be okay for me to get up and use the bathroom.
This morning I was able to grab a shower after locking the door. I knew it was a risk. What person has a lock on their door but no key?
It was a risk I had to take because my skin still itched from Xan's blood that coated it. Just thinking of my skin being marked with it made my stomach turn.
After he leaves the room and closes the door, I rush to flip the lock and run to the bathroom. I take care of my business and wash my hands before splashing water on my face. I've done nothing but sit and lie down all day, but I'm exhausted. The fear of thinking I was going to die yesterday combined with that fear of knowing I will soon have exhausted me. That fatigue has settled inside of me, making me feel like I weigh a million pounds.
As I'm walking back to the closet, the doorknob jiggles, and a screech of terror leaves my lips before I can stop it. I clap my hands over my mouth, my hands trembling uncontrollably.
"I forgot something," Beck says from the other side of the door. "I'll be back in a minute."
I somehow manage to hear his footsteps carry him away from the door, and I know he's providing me with the opportunity to unlock the door for him and to get back into the closet. The grace he's offering terrifies me as much as it makes me wish that I was a different person, meeting this man under different circumstances.
It also wakes up that voice in the back of my head that has constantly reminded me since I got here last night that every favor he's given will have to be repaid. No one does anything for free. There's always an exchange in everything in life and this situation is no different.
I rush to unlock the door and race back to the closet, but I freeze when I lift my hand to pull closed the closet door.
I don't want to be isolated. I never did. It was always an issue of contention when I lived with Nathan and Xan. I wanted friends and to go and do normal things. They couldn't allow it because my access to the outside world would only give me opportunities to betray them. After running away the first time, trying to meet a girl I befriended who was in one of my online homeschool classes, they stopped letting me do online school. It was the final act that isolated me completely aside from the trips to the hair and nail salons. I had to look the part of the business mogul's daughter after all.