Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Chloe
A knock at the door jolts me out of my pacing as the maid enters, her hands full with my dinner dishes.
I hurry forward with a bright smile. “Let me help you with that.”
Under the pretense of holding the door, I slip the bobby pin from my sleeve and jam it into the latch, praying that the security woman in the hall doesn’t notice.
“Lovely weather we had today, don’t you think?” I say.
Ignoring me like usual, she delivers the tray to the table and leaves with a curt nod. When the guard frowns at me, I step away from the door, letting it swing shut.
The lock whirs with a slight clunking noise, and my heart leaps into my throat, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I wait for someone to investigate.
When no one comes, I take measured breaths, willing my pulse to slow.
Dinner hour is a skeleton crew shift, with all the staff going on break, except the kitchen server. When Louie and I have our private time, even they make themselves scarce unless summoned.
It’s the opening I’ve been waiting for.
I hover by the door, ears straining, until I’m certain the penthouse has fallen silent. The only sound is the muted electrical hum that pulses through the walls.
Hands trembling, I test the handle and nearly cry in relief when it gives way.
I’ve done it.
I’m out.
Hand shaking, I ease open the door and peek into the hallway.
All clear.
On tiptoes, I creep past closed mahogany doors that hide Louie’s opulent office. My breath comes quick and shallow as I resist the instinct to run straight for the elevator. Instead, I keep my steps slow, placing each foot with care.
At the end of the hall, the elegant living room sprawls out on the right, the floor-to-ceiling windows displaying a city at night.
Stepping to the left, I hug the curve of the staircase and peek around into the dining room. Also empty.
My pulse pounds in my ears as the bronze doors of the elevator come into view. Escape is so close. I just have to cross the open space without being discovered.
I creep forward, looking over my shoulder at the second-story loft, which lies in darkness. Unable to stop myself, my steps quicken, closing the distance to the elevator.
A cold sweat breaks out across my skin as I press the call button.
An eternity passes between one ragged breath and the next. Then, with a soft ding, the doors part, revealing the mirror-lined interior.
I rush inside and crouch beneath the wall of buttons, my flushed face and braided pink hair reflecting on three walls. Terror fills me that, at any second, one of Louie’s guards will step out of the break area, or the server will come out of the kitchen and sound the alarm.
With a trembling hand, I jab at the ‘door close’ button over and over, my breath coming in panicked little gasps.
Finally, the doors whisper shut.
I reach up and select the ground floor. Relief weakens my knees, and I collapse against the wall, the metal cool on my fevered skin.
I did it. I’m getting out of here.
But the seconds tick by, and nothing happens. The elevator stays on Louie’s floor, suspended in place.
Then the doors open again.
I shrink back in horror as expensive Italian loafers come into view, followed by the legs of a tailored suit. My heart freezes, ice crystallizing in my veins.
“Oh, Chloe, darling.” Louie tsks , shaking his head in disappointment as he stands over me. “Silly little Omega. You need an access key to use the elevator.”
He crouches, bringing his face level with mine. Cold, blue eyes study me, a predatory gleam in their icy depths. His pheromones push out, filling the small space with the noxious scent of almonds and anise. It coats the back of my throat, making me gag.
Louie reaches out, catching my chin in a punishing grip, his emerald ring digging into my skin. “This is not what I hoped for when I told you to think of a way to please me. Not at all.”
I’m trapped. Caged. At his mercy.
From the dark promise in his gaze to the curl of his lip, I know that he’ll make me pay for my escape attempt. His desire is a noose around my neck that will choke me into submission if that’s what it takes to break me.
Louie releases me and stands, stepping back out of the elevator. “Bring her.”
A hulking guard I haven’t seen before strides in, his meaty hands reaching for me.
I try to dodge, but the mirrored box offers nowhere to go. He grabs my waist, and I struggle, kicking and pummeling his chest, but it’s no use. As I thrash and scream, he hoists me over his broad shoulder like a rag doll.
He carries me to the couch in the living room, where he drops me.
The plush cushions knock the wind from my lungs, leaving me gaping like a fish.
The guard stands at attention as Louie glides into the room, infuriatingly unruffled, not a blond strand out of place. The bastard knew I would try to run.
“Honestly, darling.” He takes a seat next to me and brushes loose hair from my flushed cheeks. “I expected a more intricate escape plan from that devious mind of yours. The plots in your books are so complex. I suppose using a bobby pin holds a sense of nostalgia, though.”
I glare at him, ignoring the trembling in my limbs as I push myself upright. “This isn’t one of my romance novels, you psycho. This is my life. You can’t keep me prisoner here!”
He cocks his head to the side. “I disagree.”
My voice rises with hysteria. “Someone will come for me! You won’t get away with this.”
Louie smiles, gentle and amused, like I’m a petulant child he’s indulging. He cups my face with a gentleness that belies the steel beneath, his breath fanning across my lips. “Oh, my sweet darling, no one is coming for you.”
“Gr-Grady will?—”
Louie shakes his head. “Grady is dead.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. No. It can’t be true.
I shake off his touch. “You’re lying!”
The cold certainty in Louie’s expression tells me otherwise, and a hard ball forms in my throat.
He leans in close, his scent suffocating. “You’re all alone now,” he croons. “No one is looking for you. No one is going to save you.”
A whimper escapes my trembling lips, and tears blur my vision. This can’t be happening. Sobs wrack my body as the horrible truth sinks in. I really am alone.
Grady. My best friend. The first person to ever believe in me. Gone.
Louie pulls me into his arms, enveloping me, and I struggle against him without the strength to push him away. When his fingers wrap in my hair, directing my face into the curve of his neck, my gasping cries fill my lungs with his horrible scent, and I hate how it soothes the ache inside.
“That’s it, let it all out,” he whispers, stroking my back. “You needed to go through this to accept your new reality.”
My body shakes as Grady’s death sinks in like a heavy stone.
“Shh, it’s all right, my lovely little Omega.” A purr vibrates in Louie’s chest, and he shifts me back to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Let me comfort you.”
Before I can protest, his mouth covers mine, firm and demanding. For a moment, I’m lost, craving a connection amidst the swirling sadness and confusion. His tongue thrusts into the seam of my lips, forcing them apart for his invasion, tasting sticky-sweet like cough syrup.
Wrong. The word pushes through the fog of grief. Everything about this is wrong .
Twisting, he lowers me to the cushions, his body moving to cover me.
Panic snaps me back to reality, and I wrench my face away. “No! Stop!”
Reflexively, my knee jerks up, nailing him hard in the groin. Louie grunts in pain, and I take advantage of his distraction to slam my cast against his head, knocking him to the side.
I scramble out from under him and back away on shaky legs, my heart pounding. “I will never submit to you, no matter what you try. You can’t break me.”
Louie glares at me, his handsome face contorting into a snarl. He turns to the guard. “Take her to her room and remove her laptop. Clearly, she doesn’t deserve such privileges.”
As the burly man grabs my arm, Louie leans in close, his breath hot against my ear. “You will submit, and if you continue this defiance, the punishments will only grow harsher.”
He inhales, a wicked smile spreading across his lips. “I’ll visit you again when you’re more…agreeable. Which should be any day now, based on how sweet you smell.”
Panic fills me as I’m dragged away with no further resistance. I need to choose my battles if I hope to make it out of here intact.
Once the laptop and charger are confiscated from the nightstand, the guard leaves me. The bedroom door slams shut, the lock sliding into place without issue this time.
Ignoring the ache in my healing arm, I grab the dresser and drag it in front of the door, barricading myself inside. Then, with nothing but the silence, I wrap my arms around my stomach and slide to the floor.
Oh, Grady. How can you be dead?
Tears roll down my cheeks, and I settle onto my side on the carpet, curling into a ball as I grieve.
I barely sleep that night, tossing and turning until the pale light of dawn filters through the curtains. I rise and pace around the room.
Will he really leave me alone until my Heat begins? I lift my collar, trying to detect the sweetness he claimed was there, but I’m immune to my own pheromones.
The lock clicks, and the door thunks against the dresser. Someone shoves harder, sliding the furniture out of the way. Afraid that Louie has come for me, I back myself into the corner. But it’s only the guard and the maid with my breakfast.
While she sets the tray on the small table, the guard drags the dresser from the room, taking away even that small chance at protection.
Once they leave, I walk on shaky legs to investigate the plate of food. Dismay fills me at the sparse meal of plain toast and a small apple.
Is this what Louie meant by punishment? Does he plan to starve me into submission?
Lunch hour comes and goes without the maid’s return, and hunger claws at my stomach. Is he trying to revert me back to the half-dead Omega he first met? The girl so desperate for help that she reached for him?
I shudder at the memory, wrapping myself tighter in the blankets as if they can shield me from his schemes.
No matter what he tries, I will never be that weak again.
The days drag by in a blur of hunger, boredom, and simmering rage. With each passing hour, my hatred for Louie intensifies, fanned by the gnawing emptiness in my belly and the knowledge of my helplessness.
Between meager meals, when the maid takes my glass away, I drink water from the sink faucet to ease the ache of emptiness. With nothing else to do, I sleep to conserve my energy.
At first, I ignore the symptoms of my approaching Heat, the insistent need to adjust the pillows just so, the fidgety anxiety that I have nothing from my Alphas to build a proper nest. I dismiss the signs as a manifestation of my discomfort and stress.
On the fourth day, the truth can be denied no more. I wake to a fever spreading through my body, the comforter itchy against my skin. When I push it off and try to stand, dizziness hits without warning. I collapse back onto the bed, panting as warmth pools between my thighs.
Whimpering, I hug a pillow to my chest, willing the heat to subside. In a few hours, my pheromones will be strong enough to slip under the bedroom door, seeking to lure an Alpha to me.
Louie will come to take what he wants, and I’ll be so out of my mind with need that I won’t care that I hate him.
No, not now. Not like this. Panic surges through me as I stare at the door, expecting it to open any second, for the wrong Alpha to step inside.
Licking my parched lips, I fumble with my cast, tugging free the bottle of stolen suppressants. My hands shake as I struggle with the cap, and it pops off without warning, spilling pills onto the white sheets.
I pluck one up and crunch it between my teeth. These are the emergency ones, designed to be fast-acting. They’ll stop what’s happening.
As the minutes tick by, though, the fever only grows.
I scoop up more, weighing the tiny blue pills in my hand. There’s the risk of an overdose, but I fear embracing Louie during my Heat, of being permanently Marked as his even more.
I toss back a handful, chewing them into a paste and choking on them. The chemical flavor makes me gag, but I hold it down.
A bitter taste coats my mouth, but the pills work their magic, and the fever recedes.
I exhale a shaky breath, tears of relief pooling in my eyes.
A shiver wracks through me, and I fumble to pull the blanket over my body as my temperature continues to drop.
Oh, no.
I don’t want to die here, not without seeing my Alphas again.
My arms shake as I push myself out of the bed, tumbling to the floor, pills spilling around me.
Cold spreads through my veins, turning my limbs to lead, and I collapse to the carpet. If I don’t pull through this, at least Louie didn’t win.