Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
“He had to make a point.”
As my hand shoots up to my chest, I accidentally squeak out a curse word.
Alek smiles, oddly amused by my unladylike nature. Usually, a response like that would have seen me whipped three times with a horse crop. “If he were to take disrespect from bottom dwellers, he wouldn’t have the respect of those we need to stay alive.”
“I understand.” I skirt by him before remembering he caught me at my worse. “I’m sorry. I should not know the words I spoke, much less speak them out loud.”
“Shit is not a swear word, P—” He stops, angles his head to the side, then arches a dark brow. “What is your name?”
“Um…” Is this a trick question? “Everyone calls me Pаб.”
“I know everyone calls you Pаб, but that isn’t your name. What is your real name?”
His question shouldn’t concern me as much as it does, but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t on the verge of peeing my pants.
Madame Victoria said Katie Bryne no longer exists.
That she is dead, and any attempt to bring her out will end the Bryne existence for eternity.
I snap my eyes to Alek’s murky blue pair when he murmurs, “They worked you over good, didn’t they?” Although he is technically summarizing more than asking a question, I bob my chin. “Then shouldn’t you know better than to ignore me when I ask a question?”
There’s no malice in his tone, no anger, but I still jump on command like a dog performing tricks for a treat. “Um… Kat-Katie. My name is Katie.”
I flinch from the slightest movement, and it frustrates Alek more than it entertains him. “No man here will touch you, Katie. You’re safe on this ship.” The stern work of his jaw doesn’t give me any indication that he will issue the same guarantee when we reach our destination. As he lifts my chin to peer at my neck, he murmurs, “Ghost just has a hard time… expressing himself.”
Ha! He had no issues yesterday displaying how much he loathes me.
Needing to get my focus off my annoyance, I ask, “Where are we going?”
Alek licks his lips, alerting me to how plump they are. Most of the men I’ve met the past eight years have thin, snively lips, but he doesn’t. They’re as large as his smile when he asks, “Ghost didn’t tell you?”
I shake my head before recalling Ghost’s lips are just as plump, but his scars often deter your eyes away from his mouth. “No.”
“Then he must not want you to know.” He continues down the hall like he didn’t leave our conversation in limbo. “Enjoy the sun, Katie. Although, you may need a coat. It is a little windy today.”
I watch him disappear into a room several spots down from mine before continuing my voyage. I’m not exactly sure where I’m going. It’s one maze of corridors after another, but eventually, I find an unlocked door that leads to a deck gleaming in the sunshine.
This is ludicrous of me to say, but I swear the instant the sun hits my cheeks and soaks up the wetness my eyes can’t seem to live without the past twelve hours, the last eight years seem nowhere near as bad as they once did.
I’m alive.
That is way more than most of the women taken hostage with me.
My cheeks are as red as my hair by the time my name is called several hours later.
Not my real name.
My captive name.
Pаб.
When I turn my head in the direction of the voice, I am confronted by the man who sat across from me last night at dinner. Not Ghost. The man at Ghost’s left.
“Come.” He opens the door I exited a couple of hours ago before nudging his head inside. “Brunch is served.”
As I stand, I wipe the sweat his reply caused my hands onto my nightgown. I’m usually responsible for making brunch, and I’m not eager to find out the repercussions of forgetting my obligations.
“Food and shelter are not free!” Madame Victoria regularly yelled while swinging her broom through the air. “You are to work for everything you are given. Even scraps.”
I’m still shuddering at the reminder of her ways when I’m guided into the same dining room we ate in last night. The table is brimming with an assortment of foods, and I didn’t prepare a single dish.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur under my breath when Ghost’s eyes lock with mine across the room. “The sun… it was—” I stop before I dig my hole even deeper. Greed is not a commodity I am allowed to hoard, not even when it corresponds with my happiness. “It won’t happen again.”
I don’t wait for Ghost to dip his chin. The knowledge that I broke the rules won’t change anything. I’ll still be in trouble.