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Looking around, I glanced up at the cameras pointed down at me and a small box with a speaker built in.
“Oh… um, yea. I mean, yes. I’m Demi Rao.” My words sounded just as uncertain as I felt.
No other words were exchanged, and at least three minutes had to have passed, but just as I narrowed my eyes and considered leaving, the gates slowly began to open. Unlike most gates, there was no sound—no squeaking or scratching—just the slight shift in the air around the heavy metal cutting through it.
In life there are moments, crossroads, really, in which we stand there and look side-to-side and know one path is the one we need, and the other is the one we want.
The problem is, sometimes the path we need, is the one that hurts us the most. It’s unfair really, how life works against us, and we don’t even realize it’s happening until we’re thrown into situations we are forced to be in. Situations that wrap us up in a wrath like a deadly tornado and then when we’re finally out of it, all we are left with is immense destruction. The worst part of it all is knowing had we listened to our inner sirens, perhaps we could have avoided the storm and its aftermath.
Walking down the smooth pavement, my entire body felt cold, even though it was warm out. I was nervous, I knew. But it wasn’t just because this was my last chance at having a steady income and place to live; it was also because my intuition kept telling me to turn around and leave.
Something was off, the feeling was palpable. Four years ago, when I was taken and held in the small room, I developed a very strong sense of intuition. It was the way I could finally fall asleep without being terrified; it was the way I knew what was coming.
Today, everything felt the way it does before a storm and you’ve left your umbrella at home.
You know something bad is coming and you also know you’re unprepared, but you still go. I stood in front of the enormous stark white doors and before my finger could even meet the small doorbell, a man opened the doors.
“Miss Rao, come in. The Ivorys are waiting for you.” He waved his gloved hand at me with the other tucked behind his back.
Turn around, a whisper grazed my ear, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I had no other choice.
The worst position to be in is a person without choices, because that means others can make decisions for you.
CHAPTER
NINE
“Miss Rao, I’m Bradley. Dr. and Mrs. Ivory are seated in the Orchid Room.” The man in front of me eyed me carefully with his bright green eyes and neatly brushed platinum blond hair.
“Thanks.” I nodded. The Orchid Room? What the hell was that? Who named rooms in their homes?
I picked up my pace as Bradley moved swiftly down a long hallway. My eyes kept darting around in every direction. I didn’t get to absorb it all, but the one thing I noticed was everything I had seen so far were in shades of white—cream, white, ivory, and the lightest beige. It was the strangest house I’d ever seen, though still gorgeous in an off-setting way. Taking a quick right turn down a narrow hall, the walls felt as if they were closing in on me. Both sides were lined with perfectly placed picture frames containing black-and-white images that weren’t clear faces or people, but rather blurred images I couldn’t make out. I slowed down in order to study one.
“What is?—”
“It will be in your best interest to come now,” Bradley fired at me with irritation as he halted in front of a closed door.
“I’m sorry, I just… What is…?” I pointed at the image in front of me. It looked like a person running away, with light hair flying around their face, but I couldn’t be certain.
“Listen, Miss Rao, there are no questions to be asked. Dr. and Mrs. Ivory will ask you what they need to, but beyond that, you mustn’t be a meddlesome nuisance.” He shook his head and widened his eyes at me.
“Okay.” Who was this guy? What was his role here? Some butler who thought we were all in a game of Clue or something?
I had to bite back the smile that was growing on my face. With two hands, Bradley gripped the door handles and slowly opened them.
“After you.” His eyes ran down my entire body in this creepy way that made me really want to gouge his eyes out.
Right as I walked in front of him, he let out this satisfied sigh that made my entire body tense. Asshole.
I squinted as soon as I walked into the room. The sun was beaming brightly through the vast windows directly in front of me. But it was the couple in front of me that made me stumble back slightly.
They stood from the couch they had been seated on and smiled simultaneously. The woman’s eyes drifted to Bradley, who was still hovering too close to me.
“Bradley, you aren’t needed,” the woman said softly with a small nod. He immediately turned away, but something caught my eye and I turned to look at him.
His shoes… They were the same thick-soled white shoes that Jax wore. Completely silent.
“Miss Rao…” The woman’s voice in front of me broke through my thoughts and I slowly turned back and looked at the couple in front of me.
