Chapter 5 #3
Before I’ve even processed what they’re saying, Marcus and Jacob are on either side of me, grabbing my arms and shoulders.
They pull me quickly back to the couch and push me down to sitting, holding me there while the nurse stands behind and grabs my face, putting her hand over my mouth before I can scream.
Belatedly, I do now, but it’s muffled. I struggle, but Marcus and Jacob are too strong.
Joe comes to stand over me. ‘I told you what I would do if you didn’t obey me. You brought this on yourself, Marguerite. I want you to know that. This is what you’ve forced on me because of your behavior.’
He brings his hand up. In it is the Stinger from the black box he showed me before. It’s smaller than the one I wore at The Heath, I notice. Flatter and not so hefty.
I buck at the sight of it, trying to escape and screaming loudly behind Nasty Nurse’s hand. I kick out at him, catching him in the knee and he hisses in pain.
‘Hold her legs!’ he snarls, and Marcus and Jacob’s hands smash my thighs into the couch.
He’s talking. I can’t work out everything he’s saying because I can’t focus, but it’s something about putting it on the same leg as The Heath.
My left leg is raised up forcefully and the straps put around it. They’re cinched tight, high on my thigh and I yell again as I try in vain to shake my head to get her hand off me.
No. This can’t be happening.
‘Get her up.’
I’m pulled to my feet and a smirking Joe pulls the short dress up to my waist.
‘If you don’t want to wear the clothes I buy for you, you don’t have to,’ he says, ripping down the coarse underwear.
I gasp behind the Nurse’s fingers as I feel Marcus’ hand edging downward to touch me, but Joe slaps it away.
‘I’ve told you, you’ll get your chance once she’s in the family, brother, but not before.’
I hear Marcus chuckle darkly in my ear.
I feel more straps being wrapped deftly around my waist. Tears are falling down my cheeks, making the skin itch.
‘Don’t want it coming off,’ Joe says with a wink just as I jerk my head and bite down on one of the nurse’s fingers when it gets between my teeth.
She yowls, pulling my head back by my hair hard and hissing into my face through her clenched teeth to let go.
Joe ignores her. He tests the straps, making sure they’re tight, his fingers against my skin.
‘These are pretty much unbreakable, so don’t bother trying to cut them.’
He finally steps away from me, leaving me uncovered from the waist down for everyone in the room to see.
‘Let her go.’
I’m freed.
I immediately claw at the straps, wanting this thing off of me.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Joe warns
I ignore him, tears blurring my vision.
‘What the hell?’ says a new voice.
My hands fumble to pull my dress down and I turn to find Laurie at the door, frozen in her tracks and staring at me.
‘Babe, I told you to wait in my room for me,’ Marcus says tightly.
‘What’s going on in here? Why is she here?’
Marcus goes to her, pushing her gently from the room. ‘You know that girl is nuts. That’s just to make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s for safety.’
‘But why—’
‘I’ll explain it all later, babe. I promise.’ I vaguely hear him say as the door closes.
I pull at the straps again, making a noise of distress.
‘Stop doing that Marguerite,’ Joe orders.
I shake my head. I can’t speak. I can’t do anything except try to get it off.
Then there’s pain. It courses through me, much worse than anything I’ve ever felt.
My mouth opens on a silent scream as my muscles lock and then convulse. I hit the floor hard, my head thudding against it with a crack.
The next thing I know, I’m on the couch. My body hurts everywhere.
He’s close. I can feel his breath on my face.
‘Watching them zap you at The Heath were some of my favorite parts of the videos we were sent of you,’ he whispers, and I feel him laugh silently. ‘Used to watch them over and over. But this was even better.’
He gets up and moves away from me while my head lolls and I think I drool on myself.
‘I’m very happy with the voltage,’ I hear Joe saying more loudly from somewhere far away. ‘It’s perfect for keeping her in line. I’m confident she’ll do what she’s told now.’
‘What now?’ I hear Nasty Nurse purring. ‘Maybe we can…’
There’s a pause.
‘Jacob, take my disobedient fiancé home, would you?’
My limp form is picked up a moment later and swung over Jacob’s shoulder easily.
‘Get on your knees,’ I hear Joe say, and there’s the sound of a zipper as Jacob takes me out of the room.
We go through the house and out the front door.
The Banderville butler doesn’t seem at all perturbed, closing the front door gently behind us as we leave.
Jacob puts me in the car, laying me down on the back seat.
He pulls my dress down and doesn’t touch me except when he has to.
At least there’s that.
The car starts moving and I slowly come back to myself. The GED is tight around my leg, the straps around my waist feel like they’re cutting into my skin.
When I can, I sit up, staring straight ahead.
Jacob looks back at me, something on his face that I haven’t seen before. I don’t know what it is though, and I don’t care.
‘Just do what he says, okay?’ Jacob says softly.
I don’t look at him and I don’t answer.
MAV
It’s not working. I’ve followed the formula exactly. I watched Daisy make batches and batches of Envy, and yet, every time I try to create it, following her exact steps, it isn’t right.
Why isn’t it right?
Not for the first time, I wonder if Daisy’s gift of the formula at Christmas is lacking something. Maybe she doesn’t trust us as much as she pretended.
I rub my eyes. Maybe she’s right not to trust us.
She’s stuck in the Novelle house and none of us have come up with a viable plan to get her out.
Blake wants to just kill pretty much everyone, and I’d love for him to do just that, but there’s no way he’d get away with it.
Getting rid of low-level scumbags no one cares about is not the same as taking out an old-money heir and the heads of house in two of the oldest families in Richmond.
At least at the Novelle estate, she’s safe. It probably sucks being stuck in there, and I know she hates it, but at least she’s not in any real danger. John wants the marriage to happen. Surely, he’ll make sure she’s okay.
God, I miss her, though. Those nights in the club with her and my best friends seem like distant memories now, despite the fact that it’s only been about a month since Christmas.
I glance at Sauvage’s guy. He’s been sent in to watch me but, as far as I can tell, he’s no chemist. He doesn’t know this batch is bad, like the four others I’ve made before it.
Shit! Why is this happening?
I’m getting desperate and I think it’s starting to show.
I stand up and stretch, yawning. ‘This one’s going to be a few more hours,’ I say to the guy who doesn’t ever talk back.
He just looks at me.
‘I’m gonna go…’
I sidle past him and out of the lab Sauvage has built down in the bowels of his sleek Richmond hotel.
You’d never know it was here, but it must have been put in relatively recently.
It’s new and gleaming and state of the art.
I have no idea why the French gangster has a lab in the lowest levels of his hotel, and I haven’t asked.
But it’s clear that it’s never been used before either.
I had to take the factory plastic off everything the first time I was down here.
Sauvage’s guy trails me to the elevators and comes inside with me. I press the button for the ground floor, accidently locking eyes with him in the mirror for a moment.
We both look away quickly and ride up in silence.
The doors open and I can’t get out quickly enough. Now that I’m back upstairs, my phone starts to go off with a plethora of notifications.
The first ones are on the chat, and as I run down the conversation, I see Shade and Blake’s messages getting more and more urgent as Daisy doesn’t get back to them over the course of the day.
Shit. She’s not answering and the Novelle butler is in the hospital after a hit and run.
I call Shade.
It only rings once.
‘Where the fuck have you been!’
‘You know where,’ I hiss harshly. ‘What’s going on?’
‘She’s not answering. Lu can’t get her either.
I went by the house. I couldn’t see her.
She was in her room and that bitch of a nurse followed me around like I was gonna steal something, so I couldn’t even sneak in to see her.
My father’s on another trip until next week.
Short of trying to break into my own family home, I don’t know what to do.
Without Stephens there, I don’t know who I can trust, who I can even ask about her. Fuck!’
‘Can’t Garrett go over there?’
‘She did. Nasty Nurse wouldn’t let her in. Said Daisy was resting and was tired after a long day.’
‘It’s bullshit. She’s hiding something,’ I say.
‘No shit. She didn’t show up at school this morning for her pretend class either. She’s not reading anything we send.’
‘She might not have the phone right now. If Stephens was charging it for her, and he’s not there…
’ I reason, trying to play devil’s advocate even though everything in me wants to go over to that house and bust down the doors that stand between us.
I want to see with my own eyes that she’s okay.
‘There could be a simple explanation. Maybe we’re just jumping to conclusions. ’
‘Maybe.’ Shade doesn’t sound convinced. ‘When are you done?’
I glance back at Sauvage’s guy who’s nearby and clearly hanging on every word I say. ‘Few more hours.’
‘This batch better? Say nothing if it’s not.’
‘Nothing.’ I start walking slowly, meandering like I don’t care if my babysitter can hear my conversation.
‘Dammit. What’s the problem? Same as before?’
‘Can’t say,’ I murmur carefully. ‘It could be one thing. It could be lots of things.’
‘How pissed was Sauvage when the last batch wasn’t right?’ Shade asks.