Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
A smile forms on his lips, and then he laughs. “Give me one good reason.”
“Because I’ll never stop,” I retort, looking him directly in the eyes. “I will never stop trying to escape this place, and I think you know that.”
His nostrils flare as his stance grows rigid. “What do you want?”
I swallow. “I want to see the other girls.”
His eyes close, and he scoffs. “There’s no way—”
“They’ll behave,” I interject. His face scrunches up in anger over my interruption, so I add, “I promise. We all will. I just want to talk with them.”
“To discuss plans,” he replies.
“No …” I take a step toward him, clutching my own fingers, desperate for a way into his heart. “Just to share our emotions. To talk about what we’ve experienced. To feel … something.” Tears well up in my eyes. “Please. I’m crumbling here. I don’t want to end up like Anna.”
He blinks slowly, his jaw tightening as he taps his foot.
“I only wish to get to know the others. Maybe I’ll learn something from them. Who knows, we might be able to help each other see … our sins?” I say.
His brow rises, and that same familiar smirk spreads on his face. “Well-played …”
“This isn’t a game,” I retort. “At least, not to me.”
“You’re right,” he says, taking in a deep breath as he paces. “It isn’t. And I won’t allow any of it to become one.”
I stay put as he continues to barge through the room, rubbing his forehead as though he’s thinking about it. I hope so.
Suddenly, he stops, his gaze falling onto me.
“Fifteen minutes. That’s it,” he says.
A breath of hope enters my lungs as I tread forward to get closer. “Thank you.”
“I wasn’t finished yet,” he barks, and I quickly take a step back again. “The room will be shut off completely. No exiting until I allow you to.”
I nod. I can agree to those terms.
“You know you will be locked inside with four other girls, right?” he says.
“I’m not afraid,” I say.
“You won’t be alone.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” He takes a step in my direction. And another one. And the next, slowly but surely coming ever closer until he’s right in front of me. I swallow as he tips up my chin while towering over me. “Soren will watch over you. And if you do anything he doesn’t like …”
His finger slides up my chin, across my lip, and dips into my mouth, only to drag my own saliva across my chin again. His eyes bore into mine until my lips begin to quiver, and my skin feels cold to the touch.
“Well, I think you can imagine what he’ll do.”
Chapter 26
Amelia
When the doors to the common room open, I suck in a breath, my dress feeling uncomfortably tight even though I chose the least constrictive one. Four girls stand and sit scattered throughout the room—one on the lounge chair, one near the windows, one checking out the books on the shelf, and one pacing around the couch. But none of them is Anna.
I swallow hard as the doors behind me close. I glance over my shoulder, straight into the dirty dark eyes of Soren, his face still as unmoving as ever.
He glares at me without saying a word, and I return the favor.
Then I turn to face the ladies.
“Hey …” one of them, who wears her blond hair up in a bun, says.
I take in a deep breath and reply, “Hi.”
They all look at me like I’m supposed to know what’s going to happen, as though I’m going to tell them what to do. But I have as few ideas as they have, maybe even less. Who knows how long they’ve each been here. What they’ve been through. If they deserved what they got.
I swallow as my stomach almost turns inside out.
Why did I want to do this again? Is there even any point with Soren watching my every move? I know I agreed to him being here, but maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all.
Still, I’m here, so I might as well give it a try, even if I don’t know these women, and they’re all looking at me like I’m the messiah for organizing this get-together.
The girls all walk away from where they were positioned and flock around me.
“Hey,” the girl with the bun says. “My name is April.”
“Amelia,” I say.
“I’m Jane,” another one with a long brown ponytail, big brown eyes, and a big smile says.
“Olivia,” another girl says as she tucks her long blond hair behind her ears and blinks her bright blue eyes.
“Nice to meet you all, finally,” I say, sighing. Then I look at the girl still standing by the windows. She has only glanced at me once, then looked away again, as though she’s waiting for something … or someone.