Chapter 12
Islipped around the manor and pressed my back flush against the wall, waiting, listening. Zola’s tennis shoes—I was shocked she owned any—painfully squeezed my feet. They were a size too small, but it was less painful than going barefoot. I listened for the sound of the delivery truck.
A handful of days had passed since our lovely little dinner party, and every time I thought about what Laurent said, I seethed all over again. In the end, his words had made my final decision easier.
Laurent wanted me to believe I was in danger, that staying in his manor would keep me safe.
What he’d failed to consider, was that I’d lived on my own for years.
If his enemies were out to get me, they would have found me before now.
No, this was just his way of exercising control.
He wanted me scared. He wanted me to believe others would use me against him.
Wanted me to believe the world wasn’t a safe place for me.
It wasn’t new—this idea. I recognized it for what it was. After all, I’d lived through it with more than one foster family.
After Laurent’s dinner party, I’d finalized my plan.
I knew that I couldn’t simply run as I had before.
Laurent’s vampire patrols would smell me, possibly even attack me as they had before.
So instead, I devised a cleaner way, one that would safely take me outside Laurent’s grasp. Then I’d go to the cops.
I carried on like everything was fine, like I’d accepted my captivity, devouring books from Zola’s collection, innocently greeting each vampire I came into contact with.
I even helped Vittorio around the kitchen when he allowed.
I got my scent everywhere, saturating every room, especially out back, so that it permeated the air.
So that no one would realize I’d gone missing for a while.
When I was alone in my room, I kept the news on, listening. It was my only window into the outside world. There had been no word on Daniel after the initial broadcast. A murder like that at a prominent location should have been the talk of the city. And yet, everything had gone quiet.
My only guess was that the Yoshiki family didn’t want to be the center of attention. They had bribed the news stations to keep it from mainstream television. That only irked me. I knew nothing about what had happened. Was I still a suspect? Had they finally come to a conclusion about his death?
The good news was, my photo was no longer circulating—
An engine revved. The sound of the delivery truck made me exhale.
Right on time. I slipped closer, hiding behind a hedge near the kitchen door.
The truck rolled to a stop and the driver hopped out.
Vittorio appeared. They discussed prices for several minutes before Vittorio handed over a wad of bills.
The driver grabbed his hand truck and began unloading boxes while Vittorio went back inside.
I waited just a moment, until they were both out of sight, before slipping from my spot and rounding the far side of the truck. I leaned against it, breathing.
The delivery driver emerged from the kitchen. I listened as he loaded more boxes. When he disappeared again, I slipped around to the back of the truck. Glancing through the kitchen windows, I spotted Vittorio with his back to me, arranging things in the pantry.
I snuck into the back of the truck, plunging into its depths. I blocked out the oppressive fear building in my gut. I hated dark, enclosed spaces. Had hated them for years. Even now, a tiny bead of sweat rolled down my neck past my shoulder blades.
The kitchen door opened and closed. The rumbling handtruck meant I had seconds before the driver caught sight of me. I quickly shoved myself between several stacks of boxes, ignoring the claustrophobia that made bile rise in my throat, and threw my hand over my mouth to keep from breathing loudly.
I didn’t know if he was human or vampire. I was willing to take the risk, knowing if he was a vampire, he’d smell my presence. I also relied on the hope that Vittorio wouldn’t step outside and into view. The driver grabbed several more boxes near the mouth of the truck, then disappeared.
My ears roared with the sound of my racing pulse.
This was it. I had to get it right. There wouldn’t be another chance like this.
The kitchen door opened once more. I heard Vittorio’s voice, thanking the driver. There was a moment of hesitation, then his voice continued. My shoulders relaxed.
The back door of the truck slid shut, latching. I was plunged into darkness, trapped. I all but sobbed with relief, keeping my hand tight over my mouth. Bracing my body against the wall, I waited for the truck to start.
It flared to life, rumbling up through my feet and rump. It was too soon to consider this a victory. Still, tears squeezed out of my shut eyes.
The backup alert sounded, and then the truck was rolling. It moved for a few seconds then stopped, then started up again, driving forward. Thirty seconds later, it stopped—
My heart stopped with it. Please, please, please…I begged. Every muscle in my body was clenched. We surged forward again as a tear rolled down my cheek. The gates. It had stopped to wait for the gates to open.
Oh, God! Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. I was getting out of here. I was racing toward my freedom. I was this much closer to going home, to getting my life back, to Ania.
One minute turned into two, and I began to relax.
I needed to think about the next phase of my plan.
The driver would go to his next location.
When he opened the back and began unloading boxes, I’d slip out.
Then I’d find a phone, or some other way to get into contact with Ania.
We’d go to the police together. If anyone believed me, it would be Ania.
I wouldn’t be able to tell them about the vampires, but I could bend the truth enough—
Tires screeched, locking up, sliding. I slammed into an adjacent stack of boxes. They crashed against another stack as my head struck the wall. A sob escaped my throat as I went on high alert. I couldn’t hear anything in the insulated space.
A loud click, a whirling sound, and then brightness flooded my surroundings. I blinked and threw a hand over my mouth, but a tiny whimper still escaped.
“Miss Shaw,” came the voice I both hated and loved, the voice that made me shiver every time I heard it. “I thought we’d moved past this reckless behavior.”
I didn’t make a sound, slinking deeper into the shadows. Fuck. He was going to kill me. My one chance, and it was over, and he was going to kill me just like he’d promised. Oh, God. My mind raced as I began to tremble, my pulse spiking.
“I can smell you in there, little flower. Come out like a good girl or I will drag you out.”
I stifled a cry against my hand. Still, my feet betrayed me as I stood.
“That’s a good girl. Come along.”
I emerged in a dreamlike state. Not because he was willing me, but because my mind went numb with defeat. I saw him there, standing framed at the back of the truck. A single glimpse of his face told me everything.
I preferred his features emotionless. Instead, they were laced with fury. From the thin line of his lips, to the flashing of his cold gaze. My legs barely worked. I moved forward in a trance.
He had the audacity to hold out his hand—a trick.
The moment I took it, it was all over. My gaze darted toward the road.
I spotted both Marco and Vittorio standing by, looking off into the woods.
I didn’t dare catch their gaze, but something told me Vittorio’s hesitation earlier had been important to all of this.
And that? It felt like a fucking betrayal. He’d never been my friend. None of them had been. I was certain that even Zola would have sold me out, despite wanting to believe otherwise.
My chest caved in on itself. I had no one. I was nothing.
“Come now, Miss Shaw.” Laurent’s tone was deceptively soft.
I was going to die. The realization sharpened. So did something else.
If I was going to die, I would do it with my dignity intact. I forced my limbs to stop shaking so he wouldn’t feel it and placed my hand into his. He didn’t crush it, but simply led me down and out of the truck.
Before I could blink, I was scooped up. He moved so fast, everything around us blurred.
My stomach lurched. Then, he stopped. When I next blinked, we were descending steps into a lower part of the manor I was unfamiliar with.
When I blinked again, the clang of a door echoed in my ears.
I was taken into a small space, a darkened cell with a single lightbulb overhead.
I whimpered, my head spinning, as Laurent set me down.
My legs gave out. I crumbled to the floor.
The space pressed in around me and a new fear took over.
In the span of a single second, memories rushed to me, threatening to drag me down to a far darker place.
I gulped, trying to breathe. “No,” I managed, barely a whisper.
“No, not this. Please, no. Please, Laurent.”
I had never begged him, not once since he’d taken me. Demands, yes. But I’d never begged.
His expression hardened. “You leave me no choice, Miss Shaw.”
He backed away. I tried to scramble across the floor after him. He slipped through the doorway. It slammed shut behind him.
I didn’t have room for anger beyond my sudden fear.
Instead, I shivered looking around. Scenes flashed across my vision, flickering between here and another place I’d blocked out years ago. My stomach heaved. I scrambled to the corner, to a bucket, and threw up my breakfast. I heaved and heaved, until nothing else came.
He could have just killed me. Instead, he’d put me in here. Had he known? Had he discovered something about my past?
No, surely not. He wouldn’t have bothered. He thought I was a spoiled party brat. He wouldn’t have taken the time to learn anything else about me. Males like him were too arrogant.