43. Penelope
Penelope
Six months of silence from Vaughn felt like a lifetime when every day was spent pretending to be someone you weren't. At first, I counted the days. The hours. The fucking agonizing minutes.
I told myself that if I could just survive or fight hard enough something would change. Someone would come. A mistake would be made. An opportunity would appear.
For weeks after sending Vaughn that final message, I barely slept. Every sound outside my door made my heart race. Every look from a stranger in the lobby made my pulse jump.
I waited for him. I waited for some sort of chaos. I expected men to run in. For alarms to scream out. For Vaughn to force his way back into my life the way he always did—violent, possessive, unstoppable. I waited for a miracle.
The chaos never came.
Silence did.
At first, I convinced myself it was part of the plan. He was waiting. He’d come when the moment was right.
Weeks stretched into months…
Silence.
I should have felt relieved. Instead, it left me hollow. The man who once threatened kings for me had vanished without a single gesture. Maybe Katia was right. Maybe I’d never been anything more than a pawn. A mistake. Weak. One… of many.
Even now, the thought made my chest ache.
To think about Vaughn was too much. It was dangerous. Not because I feared folding and running back to him, but because the truth had become harder to sort from the lies.
Katia made sure of that.
She told me stories about women. About manipulation. She’d go into examples of his obsessive ways. She’d feed me violent little lullabies about who Vaughn Masterson truly was.
Whether the stories were real or not, I didn’t know.
But I was sure they had done their job. Each one had broken something inside of me.
With brokenness at the foundation of my identity, it was easy to slip back into that role.
I played the frightened girl. The damaged heiress.
I was the scared mouse again. I had become exceptionally good at playing that part.
Every day inside Grove Square followed the same careful routine. I worked under Marian. I trained with Elliot or her every evening. I kept my head down, and I followed the rules just enough to earn small freedoms.
Maybe it was conditioning. I was in my head too deep to know. I suspected everyone. I trusted nothing.
The rewards began with an unchaperoned walk for coffee from the bakery downstairs. Roaming the allotted floors without supervision. Each gift of independence felt like progress. Each step was a lie, and I wasn’t buying into it.
I wasn’t grateful at their generosity; I was growing into a monster.
I studied and watched the guards. Their schedules.
I became extremely observant and recognized who came and went.
I listened to conversations when people thought I wasn't paying attention. I read files when no one was looking. I smiled and laughed and pretended to heal. My mind clung to old habits—excuses. I knew what I was doing wasn’t training, it was predatory.
There was only one thing that kept me grounded.
Marian. She was kind. Too kind. That alone made her dangerous.
The more time we spent together, the harder it became to remember that she was still part of the system keeping me here.
Sometimes I caught myself forgetting. Sometimes I even believed her when she told me I was safe.
Katia never let me forget the truth. I was a prisoner. But one surrounded by constant change.
The biggest had been Marian's travel schedule. At first, she barely left Grove Square. Then the trips started. Two days, here… Three, there.
Paris.
Berlin.
Tokyo.
And during that time, Katia came to me…
Always coming. Always telling stories…
“Did I tell you that one time Vaughn was in Beijing? I really thought I had him, then. The man is so well travelled. Did you know he speaks eight languages?” Her hand waved.
“He was stalking Princess Eleanor of Denmark in those days. Hideous woman, but from the stories, I think we both know looks mean absolutely nothing to him. I mean, he must have felt like he hit the jackpot with you. But he didn’t need her to be pretty.
The woman he fucked were pretty enough. Beautiful, really.
And always willing. I don’t think I ever saw a woman reject him. ”
Tears had left me, and I hated that they did.
“Would you say Vaughn was a daring lover? Did he enjoy fucking you when there was a risk involved? He seemed to take lots of risks. He’d fuck women on balconies. In windows where people could see. Boats. I think he liked me to watch. Sometimes, I wondered if he did it on purpose.”
She’d stop to check my jealousy, waiting for a reaction. When I didn’t give her one, she’d move on to the next story.
I dreaded every time Marian left. But I did notice the positives.
Each time my friend returned, she seemed more confident.
More relaxed. More convinced that the danger around me had passed.
And each time she left, the walls around me seemed to close in just a little bit tighter.
It fed the beast inside me. It made me want to rattle my cage and scream through my fury.
So… when Marian mentioned Miami and how long she’d be gone, something inside me shifted. I became elated, and I planned.
“Socks?”
Marian dug through her suitcase. “Got them.”
“Toothbrush? Toothpaste?”
She pointed. “Right here.”
“Panties?”
“Yep.”
“Vibrator?”
Marian went to point, snapping her attention to me in shock as I burst out laughing.
“What? You’re going to be gone for two weeks. That’s a long time. You really don’t want to forget your toys. Then again, we’re talking about Miami. That place is going to be crawling with hot guys. Hot. Tanned. Muscular—”
“Okay, it’s time for you to go back to your own room.”
I laughed, feeling my face fall as I went through the motions.
“I’m really going to miss you. Are you sure you have to go?”
“I leave all the time. I’m always bouncing around for work, lately.”
My bottom lip pouted because it was true.
“Never for two weeks, and never so far away. This time feels different. I don’t like it. Take vacation and stay here with me. You pretty much run your family’s companies. You’re the boss. Stay.”
“And miss the convention? Penny…”
I let out a long groan, collapsing to her bed.
“I forgot about the convention. You’ve been so excited to go. I think it’s the main reason you even decided to meet with your rival.”
She smiled. “But not my rival for long. Dodge Corp can either sell to me, or I can destroy them. It’s simple.”
“You’re a shark, and I love it, Marian LaRoe. Savage, dangerous—”
“Shark,” she said, jumping on the bed next to me to lie down. “Sharks are bad. I know this. But I’d rather be a shark than a scared mouse.”
Broken.
Lies.
Yes... this is who I was now. Robot…
“I’m a scared mouse.”
“You’re allowed to be a scared mouse. You’ve got a shark protecting you. You’re safe now.”
Tears came as I thought over Vaughn. Even though I went through the motions of having my conversation with Marian, I knew better than to let myself feel it.
The stranger I had become—the act I had perfected—had to get me out of here.
Katia knew the truth. Marian did not.
Thanks to Katia’s little talks, I knew anything revolving around Vaughn was top secret, and that was a relief.
But with the secrecy came my own. I found myself testing Marian.
I wanted to see if she’d be more than my friend.
I wanted her to help me. I couldn’t keep doing this.
I had to leave. I wasn’t just desperate anymore; I was becoming devious.
“Marian, I’m so jealous. I want to meet what’s-her-name.
That fancy author you’re always reading.
She has to be good with how often you’re glued to those books.
I know you’ve used the term dark romance before, and you’ve warned me and explained the sort of content the stories have, but I was going to ask if I could—”
Her lips parted as she shot up and pulled me to stand. I knew in that moment I had her. Books were Marian’s life. Especially the ones she stayed glued to.
“I shouldn’t be this excited, but oh my God.”
“See, that’s why I want to read them,” I laughed. “Your reaction is addicting. You love those fictional worlds. I want to feel that, Marian. I want to feel something other than fear. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’m curious. I want to give it a try.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I want you to read them but—”
“I’ll be okay,” I assured. “The parts you’ve told me about seem a bit scary, but I want to at least try. I need to face this fear. It seems like starting in a book is the best place. Besides, I need this. Like, really, really n—”
I was being pulled into the library before I could finish. As she began explaining the dark content, I let myself study every expression that crossed her beautiful face.
“Dark? I’ve lived the dark, Marian. This can’t be darker than that.”
She slowed, her eyes narrowing through her flash of anxiety.
“You say you need this. I haven’t been through anything like you, but I do know pain. This does help. A lot. And the stories… Penny, you have no idea how much you’re going to love them. Once you start, you’ll never want to stop. That’s okay, just don’t say I didn’t warn you. You asked for this.”
We headed to the bookshelf, and I watched her features draw in as she slowed. Pain. Heartbreak. It was so obvious as she stared ahead at the book, her hand hovering just short of the spine.
“Marian? …Marian? Earth to Marian?”
Seconds passed. Almost a minute. My intrigue exploded, and my mind twisted possiblities a little more. She blinked hard, shaking her head.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Wow. Memories.” She grabbed a book called, Slade, pulling the paperback free.
“Start here. Just… protect that book with your life, Penny. To the death.”
My mind raced as I looked at the entwined couple on the front. “I will. I promise. You should probably get going.”
“Yeah.”
She turned, heading back for her room. I followed, watching her grow antsy and even paler through her thoughts. What was happening? Marian was shaken. Affected like I’d never seen.
I looked down at the book, glancing back up to her.
“Marian, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m great.”
She zipped up her suitcase, turning to face me. Multiple expressions flashed, and her breath came out shaky.
“Penny…” Her hand came to rest on her stomach. Seconds stretched out as she shifted. I wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or be sick. I’d never seen her so rattled before. And she kept looking at the book. Fear. She was afraid, but of what?
“Why don’t you pack and come with me?”
My heart all but stopped through disbelief.
“Me? Go to Florida?” This wasn’t right. It was reckless. What was she hiding? I was breathless as I forced out the obvious, weak “Penelope” response, even if I didn’t want to. “But I have to work. The agents said—”
“Katia knows you’re safe with me. Besides, I’m the boss,” she smiled. Pleaded? “You said so yourself. Come to Miami with me.”
She wasn’t just afraid, she was terrified, and even if it made me the worst person in the world, I wasn’t going to let her forget it.
Come…?
Oh, I was going to Miami, alright, and I might never leave.