Page 21 of Locked in Wonderland

“Who’s the manager?” I asked.

More silence.

I let out a sigh and gave up fighting. More walking followed. More turns. This place was a maze, and an empty one at that, considering we didn’t pass a single soul. Eventually, we reached another door. Zeke opened it, and a slight shove from Zane sent me stumbling across the threshold. By the time I caught myself, the door had already slammed shut behind me.

The room appeared to function as an office, though an excessively luxurious one. Nearly half the space served as a sitting area, complete with towering bookshelves and an enormous black leather chair.

What stood out most, however, was the desk. Or rather, that nobody sat behind it. There was no one in the room at all.

I swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. “Where’s the manager?”

“We didn’t bring you to see the manager,” Zane said.

“We didn’t,” Zeke agreed.

“Then why drag me all the way back here?” Were they seriously going to kill me over one drink? Anywhere else, the thought would’ve been ridiculous. Here, though? Omar had already made it painfully clear that normal rules didn’t apply in Wonderland. I’d seen enough evidence of that already. People tattooed against their will. Human art installations that didn’t appear entirely voluntary. A man dragged away from his girlfriend because some spoiled rich asshole pointed at him like he was selecting something from a menu. And that was without going even further back to my entire reason for being here: Warren’s abduction in a van carrying Wonderland’s name.

“For payment,” they said together.

I shook my head, frustration rising. “I already told you I don’t have any money. Not Wonderland currency—whatever the fuck that even is—and not normal money, either. I had some, but it got taken off me. Along with my phone. Along with my actual clothes.”

Zeke tilted his head slightly. “These aren’t your clothes?”

I glared at him. “No. I generally prefer not to dress like a male prostitute. Frankly, after the amount of groping I’ve endured tonight, I should be charging you.”

Part of me recognized that antagonizing two men who looked capable of snapping me in half probably wasn’t the best approach, but it had been a shit day. Hell, it had been a truly spectacularly awful few days. My life had spiraled out of control the moment I’d decided to go out and buy milk. If only Warren and I had just eaten toast, none of this would’ve happened. Neither of us even took milk in tea or coffee.

Zeke’s gaze drifted slowly over me, the temperature in the room seeming to rise several degrees. “They suit you.”

“Yeah,” Zane agreed, doing his own share of ogling me unabashedly.

“Fuck off.” I said.

“We accept other forms of payment,” Zeke said with a slight smirk.

“What other forms of payment?” I already knew what he meant. I wasn’t that clueless. “What part of me saying I’m not a prostitute wasn’t clear?”

Zeke’s grin widened, giving me the uncomfortable impression that he enjoyed mouthy people.

Zane wandered over to the desk and picked up the phone. “If you won’t pay, we'll have to report it.”

“Report it,” Zeke echoed.

“To whom?”

“The Harts.”

The fucking Harts. Great. “And then what happens?”

The twins exchanged a glance before shrugging. “One of them comes here,” Zeke said eventually. “Could be Queenie. Could be Henry.” His gaze swept over me again, a slight smirk playing on his lips. “Could be Kellan.”

“It’ll probably be Kellan,” Zane added. “He usually handles the pretty boys.”

My stomach lurched. “Yeah, well, he already took one tonight,” I said bitterly.

Zeke laughed, the sound low and rough in his massive chest. “He likes more than one toy at a time. He breaks them often enough that he needs frequent replacements. Might as well have one lined up.”

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. Anything was preferable to meeting Kellan Hart face-to-face. Maybe it was arrogant, but dressed like this, I had absolutely no doubt he’d take one look at me and decide he wanted me too. Only sheer luck had prevented his attention from landing on me earlier.