Chapter 3 #2
‘Where are you? I woke up in the hospital and John told me I’d be coming here. They’ve locked me in. There’s some twisted nurse that Joe hired. She’s acting like she’s in charge of my life now. What am I going to do? How can I make Envy? I’m stuck here until they let me out.’
I’m rambling. I know I am, but I can’t help it.
They’ve taken everything just like I was afraid they would.
And it was so easy for them to do. A whim and a few words about me and no one even questions anything.
I’m a prisoner in the Novelle house, and there’s no one with any real power who I could tell who would care enough to do anything.
‘I’m like a plaything,’ I say aloud brokenly. ‘A toy for Joe to amuse himself with.’
‘Don’t say that,’ I hear Blake say.
‘It’s true. All Joe had to do was tell John what he wanted, and all John had to do was tell the doctor. I’m a fucking adult, but now I’m in a locked room with windows that don’t open, and a woman telling me what I’m going to be eating for dinner and—’
I break off before I can tell them that she threatened me with correction. They won’t know what I’m talking about, and I can’t open that can of worms right now. I sort of wish I’d told them everything, but at the same time, they’d be a lot more worried than they already are if I had.
‘I’m scared,’ I whisper instead.
‘It’ll be okay,’ Shade says. ‘Daisy, I promise you we’ll figure something out. I’m sorry we weren’t there yesterday. We got picked up by Sauvage's men. He wanted a meeting. They took our phones. We were there waiting for hours. We couldn’t contact you.’
Something in my chest eases. They couldn’t contact me; it wasn’t that they just hadn’t bothered.
‘What’s been going on?’ I ask.
Mav speaks first. ‘Applegate was in the hospital around the same time as you. He was lowkey freaking out. His hands were burned in the fire in the lab at the Novelle Center. He said it was the same kind that killed your dad.’
‘A…fire?’ I ask dubiously.
‘A very specific chemical fire.’
I feel my brows rising. ‘Could it really have been the same person who started both, almost fifteen years apart?’
‘It’s a possibility,’ Mav says. ‘That’s what Applegate was thinking. He said the way the fire was started wasn’t common knowledge and it was definitely the same. We feel like it’s too much of a coincidence for it to be a totally separate thing.’
‘Why did Sauvage want to meet with you?’ I ask, hoping they’ll talk to me about this, too, and keep me in the loop with everything because I really need something to focus on right now that’s outside these four walls.
‘He has a secret lab somewhere in Richmond. He’s pretty much making us use it. He also said he’s investigating the bombing of the club to find whoever did it and make them pay.’
‘Do you think he can?’ I ask, half relieved that they’re telling me what’s happening and half worried because they’ll be even closer to the French mobster they’re so wary of.
‘The French fuck has more resources than we do,’ Blake says. ‘If they’re findable, he’ll find them.’
I frown. ‘Will he kill them?’
‘Probably,’ he mutters.
My nose wrinkles at the thought. I want to know who it is. I want to speak with them, find out what they know about my mother’s death. My father’s death as well, I suppose, if the two fires really are connected.
But I don’t say anything. I have more immediate problems.
‘Can you speak to your dad?’ I ask Shade, changing topics again. ‘Maybe get Andy to speak to him? He listens to Andy, right? Maybe he could get your dad to ease up on me.’
‘I’ll try, Daisy,’ Shade says. ‘Until then, he’s told me you’ll be allowed to go to class, but he still thinks you’re on your old English Lit schedule. Only a couple of your actual classes happen at the same times, on the same days.’
Fuck!
I didn’t even think of that.
‘I won’t be able to get my work done under this nurse’s nose,’ I say quietly, my spirits sinking slowly like a punctured dingy. ‘I won’t graduate.’
‘Tulip, can we….’
‘What?’ I ask when Mav doesn’t finish his sentence.
‘Can we tell Applegate everything? He might be willing to make some kind of allowance.’
‘I think we can confide in him,’ I say after a moment. ‘He gave me a chance here and he was my dad’s best friend. I remember thinking he was a good guy when I was a kid. What do you think?’
Mav is silent. ‘I think we’re gonna have to.’
‘What about Envy?’ I ask. ‘Can you make it?’
‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘I can make it.’
I try not to feel upset that they’ll be doing everything without me. I gave them the formula. I trust them. It’s just that it was my baby.
‘We have a month’s supply that you saved from the club, but Sauvage has pretty much ordered us to use his resources so that he can be sure he has his product. He knows about you. He knows that you’re important to us.’
‘Okay,’ I murmur. ‘And what about the club?’
‘It’ll be a few weeks,’ Shade says. ‘The bomb was hidden in the men’s bathroom. That’s why it blew out the floor to the cellar.’
‘But they can fix it? Our room, and everything?’ I ask quietly. ‘I thought it might be too badly damaged.’
I’ve been worrying about this. I didn’t realize it, but I have been. Very worried. I loved my little lab and our room where we could all sleep in one big bed. I need to know that, once this is all over, we can go back to it, back to the ways things were…however briefly.
‘They can fix it, gorgeous,’ Blake says. ‘It’s just gonna take a minute. But it’ll be exactly the way it was. Okay? I’ll make sure it’s perfect for when we can go back.’
‘Okay,’ I whisper into the phone, trying not to cry with relief.
Something niggles at me. There was something else I wanted to ask. What was it?
Cameras. Blake will be able to find out if there are any watching me with his tech mojo.
‘Oh, do you know if there are cameras up in here? In my old room? In the closet?’ I ask.
There’s silence for a moment.
‘I’ll check,’ Blake says. ‘Give me a sec, okay?’
I hear him tapping on his computer and let out a breath. I’m not alone. My guys are just on the other end of the phone.
I’m not alone.
‘What are you doing now?’ I murmur, closing my eyes so I can visualize them, probably in Blake’s room.
Shade will be pacing. Blake, at his desk and Mav maybe on the bed or by the window. I pretend I'm there with them and just for a second my body unknots itself.
‘We’re at the KIP house. In Blake’s room. We’re about to grab some dinner.’
I smile when I hear I was right. ‘What are you going to have?’
‘We aren’t sure, Tulip.’
‘Have pizza,’ I sigh, ‘and think of me while I’m having to hork down seabass under the watchful eye of Joe’s spy nurse.’
‘You…You’re not in danger, are you, Daisy?’ Shade asks quietly.
I pause for a second. I have no doubt that the nurse has the authority from Joe to correct me if necessary.
He’s seen footage of me at The Heath. He even has that Stinger in the box on his desk that he showed me just before he and Marcus started playing their games with me and their sister interrupted.
He knows how to make things as awful as possible for me, and he definitely will if I make trouble.
‘No,’ I say finally, deciding it’s not a lie because I’m not in danger. Not right now.
Blake comes back on the line. ‘Gorgeous, there aren’t any cameras in your room. I searched their whole system. There’s one in John’s office, and one in the foyer. That’s it. I’m kind of surprised. I had him pegged as being a lot more paranoid than two cameras.’
‘One in his office?’ I ask quietly.
‘That’s right.’
My eyes widen and excitement overtakes my fear. Why didn’t we think of this?
‘John told me at the party that he was in his office the night of April’s accident, remember? Can you check it?’
‘Jesus,’ Blake explains. ‘Of course he did! Yeah, I’ll look right now.’
Just as I hear him typing, the lock on my bedroom door clicks, and I kick the bathroom one closed, ending the call immediately and making sure the phone is on silent.
‘Marguerite, I brought your dinner,’ calls an over-the-top, happy voice.
Nurse Asshole is back. I hoped it would be Stephens or one of the other members of the house staff. My nose wrinkles.
‘Just in the bathroom,’ I say, looking around urgently to find a spot for the phone. I glance at the toilet cistern, but it’ll make noise if I take the porcelain back off now and then try to put it back on while she’s here.
The white bathrobe on the back of the door!
I find one of the deep pockets and slide the phone in, making sure it can’t be seen before I flush the toilet and wash my hands.
I emerge from the bathroom to the smell of fish and my stomach rolls. But I plaster on my pleasant face and even give the hateful bitch a smile.
‘I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot earlier, Nurse Smith,’ I say. ‘The last few days at the hospital after the explosion have been a little trying.’
‘Of course,’ she says back, giving me a smile that is probably as fake as her nails. ‘That’s why I’ve brought you this delicious, healthy dinner. I’m here so that you get better. I’ll give you whatever you need. It’s important that you relax.’
In your locked, stagnant room with no way of contacting the outside world.
‘What about fresh air?’ I ask.
‘What?’
‘I noticed that the doors and windows are locked. Can I have the key so that I can open them if I want some fresh air?’
She looks almost confusedly at the French doors and windows on the other end of the room and simpers. ‘Oh, no. I’m sorry sweetie, but it’s not safe.’
‘The fresh air isn’t safe?’
‘No, having the windows open, silly! You could fall out.’
I blink at her, wondering why her tone has changed to the one that people use when speaking to cute dogs.
‘I know how windows and doors work,’ I say.
She frowns at me, her eyes narrowing. ‘Are you giving me lip?’
I cock my head to the side. ‘Lip? No. I’m trying to work out why I’m not allowed to use windows.’
‘Because. I. Said. So.’