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“Sure you don’t.”
I have another fleeting moment of hesitation as I slide the key into the lock. Lisette is part of the coven, I trust she won’t harm Scarlet. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other reasons I could come to regret this. Still, I unlock the door and meet her gaze.
“One. Hour.”
Chapter Five
Scarlet
What a Strange Woman
My tears have stopped and all I have left to cling to is my outrage. How dare he? How dare they? Sold like cattle at a damn auction. What the fuck? But none of that matters. The fact is, I am alone, just like I have always been.
There is no knight in shining armor coming to save me. No lover to search for me and rescue me from this place. It’s just me. Scarlet. The only one who gives a shit and the only person that is willing to do anything for me.
My anger starts to recede as I continue to breathe deeply. I know this tactic works because I have been using it for years. Every time someone looks down on me or assumes they know more about me than they actually do, a few deep breaths can usually calm me down.
It doesn’t work when Kyson is in the room, though, and I have no way of explaining it. For some strange reason, that man has the ability to push my buttons on levels no other person ever has before. I want nothing more than to jump him, screw his brains out, and then strangle him in his sleep.
Strange, I know, but it is what it is.
I feel my waning anger bubble up in me the moment the lock turns in the door. This is fucking ridiculous and I will be giving Kyson a piece of my mind this time. He needs to release me. He can’t keep me captive here even if what he said is true. He may have paid my parents so he could get me here but he doesn’t own me. All I need to do is keep my mouth and anger in check, and we can work out an arrangement that gets me out of this bloody room. I’ll pay back whatever he gave my parents, I just want to get out of here.
But it isn’t Kyson who enters the room. Instead, a petite woman with poofy brown hair smiles gently as she holds her hands out at her sides. I watch her carefully trying to figure out what she could want.
“Hi, Scarlet,” she says in a melodious voice. “I asked Kyson if I could spend some time with you. Would that be okay?”
She talks to me like I am a wounded animal that may attack at any moment. She probably isn’t wrong. I frown at the idea that perhaps I am the one in the wrong. Am I being irrational? Can that be?
“Who are you?” I ask, my throat dry from my previous crying gag.
“My name is Lisette but everyone calls me Lily.” She takes a step into the room, although she still seems tentative. “I live in the compound with my mate, Luther.”
“Mate?”
“That isn’t important right now.” Lily smiles. “I just wanted to meet you. Show you that not everyone here is a broody asshat.”
I laugh at her description of Kyson because that is exactly what I would call him. I move my legs and make space for her to join me on the couch. Perhaps she will know a way out of here or even be willing to help me escape.
“I know this is hard for you,” Lily says and I can hear the sympathy coating her words. “But as soon as you let Kyson in and he explains everything, things will be clearer. Simpler even.”
“You do know that you sound crazy, right?” I ask, completely flabbergasted by this woman. “I’ve been kidnapped and held against my will and you want me to…” I throw my hands up in exasperation. I don’t even know how to finish that sentence.
There go my chances of convincing her to help me. She is clearly just as crazy as Kyson. The last bit of hope I have falls to the dark tiles beneath my feet and shatters. My options are running low and even I can see my current behavior isn’t getting me anywhere. Eventually, I will have to either give in and listen to what the crazy people around me are saying, or I will simply wither away and die in this room.
I sigh loudly before facing Lily once more. “How am I supposed to just accept what is happening to me? Would you be able to?”
She snorts loudly. “Hell no. I spent the better part of a month locked in this room when I first came here.”
I stare at her in shock. “Then why would you say I need to let Kyson in?”
“Because I’ve been here for over thirty years. Giving Luther a minute to speak where I wasn’t shrieking like a banshee or trying to bash his head in with any object I could find was the best decision of my life.”
Disbelief coats every word that leaves my mouth. “Thirty years?” How the hell does she expect me to believe that? She looks like she couldn’t be that much older than me and I’m only twenty-five.
“There are some questions I can’t answer right now but I can promise you three things. One, you can trust Kyson. He only wants the best for you. Two, once you learn the truth, your life will never be the same again. Three, the moment he lets you out of this room, I will be waiting with a big-ass cocktail in hand.”
She doesn’t say anything else before she leans over to hug me. The hug lasts longer than I am used to but I don’t mind. Lily may be a little crazy but I have a feeling she may be the only friend I have now.
