Imperial

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Ah. . . Shit.

Pinching the tip of my finger, I plucked out a thick splinter that had planted itself deep into my skin. I was trying to feel for any weakness in the board that was secured over the window. Sliding my hands around the edges, I pushed them in and swept them around, but it wasn't loose, it didn't wiggle or budge an inch.

I thought I had finally felt a tiny fracture in the wood, something I might have been able to get a decent hold on so I could break it apart.

Tugging hard, I placed one foot on the wall and started to pull and used all my weight as leverage. But all I ended up doing was falling on my ass and getting stabbed by an angry thorn in the process.

Lifting my head, I glanced over my shoulder, waiting to hear the handle jiggle or the locks spring free. There was still just silence.

Machi hadn't come yet today, he hadn't come the day before either. No one had come at all. Which was odd, he was normally at my bedside before I even had time to pick my head up off the pillow.

Where the hell is he?

Not seeing him made me uneasy, it sent my nerves into a torrent of worry and fear. But I waited patiently, sitting on the edge of the bed with my hands in my lap.

He's fine, I'm sure he's fine. I tried to convince myself that he had probably gotten tied up in this place, that maybe he had gone out to collect the women he had talked about during breakfast with those men.

But when I got up this morning and he still wasn't here, it made me question how safe I actually was. Machi had been clear about one thing, with him I was protected. Without him I was a meager crumb, a lone woman among the wolves.

I refused to let my mind get the best of me, twisting images of torture into vast expanses of fears I couldn't control. So I tucked it inside, forcing all those ideas into a small ball and locking them away.

And I waited, wishing for that handle to turn. He never came.

The birds had come and gone, the sounds of high and low tide had made their mark on the rocks outside the hotel walls. But there was no Machi.

Shaking my hand, I could feel my pulse beat against the pad of my finger as a bubble of blood seeped to the surface. Placing it in my mouth, I sucked it clean, allowing the taste of iron to slip over the back of my throat.

Where the hell is he?

What if. . . What if something happened to him?

The idea made my stomach churn, it forced my muscles to tremble and come undone, as if the earth had somehow opened up and swallowed me, gifting me to the clutches of hell.

He was my way out, he had promised me. . .

Promises he might not be able to give anymore. So what are you going to do?

If he was gone, if this world had taken him from me, then all I had left was one person. . . Me.

I felt heavy and fragile as the walls closed in, threatening to smother me where I sat, burying me head deep in sand and leaving me there to suffocate until the lights went out forever.

It doesn't matter, none of it matters. I'm getting out, even if I have to claw my way to the surface.

Taking in a deep breath, I tore a small piece of lace off the trim of my panties and wrapped it around my finger. Pushing off the floor, I stood up, resting my hands on my hips and angling my head to stare at the giant bar holding me prisoner.

Screw after screw after screw was all I could see. The small metal pins were tightly locked in place, smiling down on me with an evil smirk.

Gripping the side of the wood, I dug my fingertips in, barely holding on. Resting my palms flat, I pulled. Throwing my body back, I bent my knees and yanked as hard as I could.

The tip of one nail broke, splintering down the center and sending a sharp pain through my hand. Huffing loudly, I threw my hands in the air and glared at the window.

They might as well have used cement to lock me inside, because there was no way I was strong enough to pull it free.

“Fuck you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I slammed both fists against the surface. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” Pounding my hands one after the other, I cried a river of tears.

All the promises of being free and going home were vanishing, disappearing right before my eyes as if the waves from outside had found their way in and washed everything away.

The water bore a trench over my cheeks, following the curve of my jaw and soaking the seam of my bra. Sniffling, I dragged my fingers across my face, doing my best to wipe them away.

No! I will not die here like this!

Not this way, not any way.

Raking my fingers through my hair, I twisted in place and looked for something I could use to pry the wood out of the fucking wall. I wasn't going to just sit there and wither away like a forgotten animal in its pen.

Time had escaped me long enough.

From the corner of my eye, a bright twinkle caught my attention. Turning towards the shiny glare, it hit me, it was right there and I hadn't even realized it.

Grabbing the mattress, I tugged it off the frame and let it fall to the floor. Dropping to my knees, I felt the metal leg of the bed, looking for the bolts that held it together.

What the hell is that? My fingers ran over rough lines and long indents in the metal. Dipping my head under the frame, I saw letters carved into the steel. Brushing the dust off, I read the words.

I'm not afraid anymore. You can have my body, but you'll never have me—M.W.

Holding my breath, I touched the scratched letters. Each letter bled into my skin, forcing me to understand that this place was a black hole. If you got too close, and you couldn't get away, it would suck you in, tearing you apart limb by limb.

Whoever this was, whoever had left this message, probably didn't expect for it to ever be seen. I couldn't help but think they wrote out a thought in a moment of clarity. Realizing that they would never see their life again.

I was not going to be that girl, I would never allow this world to willingly have me.

It was time for me to go.

Gotcha.

Finding the small bolts tucked up near the bend, my thin fingers were able to unwind the nuts and free the leg.

This. . . This has to work.

Gripping it tightly, I kissed the cold metal. Please work.

Jumping to my feet, the bed wobbled in place, balancing on three legs. Stepping to the window, I curled my hands firmly around the metal rod.

You can do this. It's just wood, it's not stone, it's not unbreakable.

Taking a deep breath, I lined up the end with the tight space between the wall and wood. Jamming it in between the plank and the drywall, I used every bit of strength I had to try and pop it free. Gritting my teeth, I rocked back and forth, watching small flakes of dust sprinkle the floor like powdered sugar.

“Come on!” Stepping back, I lurched forward and stabbed the wall. “Just fucking break already!”

Dropping my arms to my side, I shook them out. They were still sore and cramped from being suspended up over my head. But that didn't matter, I had to ignore the pain and force it away.

Adrenaline and pure need swept in, taking over and refusing to allow any weakness to hold me down and stop me from escaping.

Keep going, don't stop. You can't give up, Perri.

Grunting loudly, I bared down hard, using all my weight to try and move something that felt like a damn mountain.

“How's that working for you?” His voice cut in, making me jump inside my skin.

Whipping my head around, I dropped the pole and ran to Machi. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I tried to embrace him, but he didn't hug me back.

Yanking my arms away, his eyes shifted around the room, looking up at the corners of the ceiling and every nook and cranny he could find. “Don't do that—just in case. . . Just don't.” Releasing my hands, he took a step back and ran his palm across his forehead. “We need to talk.”

Fumbling with my fingers, I dug my toe into the floor and watched him. He looked tired and frayed as if he had just fought a war and was still reliving it inside his head.

“What's wrong? Are you alright? I thought something happened to you. Where the hell have you—”

Holding up his hand, he dropped his head into his chest. “Not now, we're not doing this right now.” Stalking forward, he picked up the mattress and tossed it back onto the bed. “You need to know something.”

The room tunneled, spiraling into a tight funnel and sucking the air from my lungs. His face was sunken in, light purple circles rested under his eyes, shadowing his lids like dark pools.

“What?” I asked, holding my hand to my chest and feeling my ribs rise and fall.

The way he was acting made me nervous. I couldn't help but wonder if things that had changed. Did the rules change? Was I being transferred from him to another man for training?

He sat in silence for far too long, staring down at the floor. Folding my hands together, I took a step closer. “What is it? Tell me, Machi.”

“It's here, it's time, the auction is tomorrow and you're in it.”

Relief flooded my veins, causing the knots in my gut to flutter with excitement. “Okay, that's good isn't it? I—I mean we will finally be able to leave, right?”

The sooner they had the auction, the sooner he could buy me and we could be done with this fucking place. Why did that deserve the same delivery you might give someone if their loved one had passed?

“Leave?” Tilting his head, his eyes bounced up to mine. “No, we aren't going anywhere together. Why would you think we'd be leaving?” His eyes hooded and his brows twitched as confusion filled his face.

“You're going to buy me, right? If you bought me then no one could tell you what to do with me. That's your plan, isn't it?” Pleading with my eyes, his face went still, crushing all the hope I had left.

He's not leaving with me. . . He doesn't plan on buying me.

How diluted was my mind to think that he was the one who was buying me?

False hope was a horrible thing. It held you high, it made anything around you not matter as long as the end result worked in your favor.

I was wrong, and Machi didn't even need to say the words out loud for me to realize it. But I wanted to hear him say it, I wanted him to tell me why he couldn't do the only thing that would secure my future.

“You're not going to buy me, are you?” Lowering my eyes to the floor, I stared at my feet.

“Buy you? I can't buy you. That's not how it works. I'm not supposed to touch you, never mind fuck you, so no, buying you is out of the question.”

All my faith flooded out of my body, spilling from the tips of my toes and seeping through the floor. I felt lost as he shredded my life like a piece of paper and dropped the tattered fragments at my feet.

If he wasn't the one buying me, then he couldn't make any guarantees that the man who would will ever let me go.

He lied to me.

He made false claims to give me hope, to work me over and make me listen.

I'm so fucking stupid!

“There's nothing I can do to stop it, Imperial.” His thumb stroked over his throat, digging into the thick muscle surrounding his neck. “But, if you do everything like I told you to, you'll be fine.”

My blood percolated under the skin like hot coffee, flaring with hate and bubbling with a bitterness that erupted over the surface.

Veering my stare, I squinted through heavy lids. “Fuck you, I'm not doing it.”

“You don't have a choice.”

Digging my fingers into my palms, my arms went stiff by my sides. “You don't get to tell me what choice I have. What about getting me out? I thought you said—”

“I know what I said.” Closing the distance between us, he leaned into my ear. “Please, I need you to trust me.”

“Trust you!” Slamming my hands into his chest, I shoved him. “You're a fucking liar! I should have never listened to you in the first place!” Pushing him again, I bared my teeth. “Was this a game to you? Was I just a game to you?”

“No, it's not—”

Cutting him off, I stepped into him, holding my hands tightly by my hips. “It's not what? It's not a game? You promised me! I thought you were going to get me out of this fucking hellhole!”

Machi's eyes softened as he tried to grip my arms. Slapping him away, I barked. “Don't fucking touch me. Don't you ever try and fucking touch me again!”

“Imperial, you're not listening, you have to trust me.” Snatching my arms in his hands, I struggled to break free. But he held me bolted to him, pulling me firmly into his chest. “It's not safe to talk like this, so please, just do what I say.”

“Let me go,” I huffed under my breath, wiggling hard and trying to get loose. “I told you not to touch me! Let me go!”

Jerking my body, Machi wrapped his arms tighter, holding me in place. “I'm not letting you go. Not until you promise me that you'll trust me.”

“No! I hate you!” Flailing my shoulders around, I kicked my legs and tried to drop to the ground. Machi had me in a bear hug, tucked so snugly into his arms, I almost couldn't breathe. “You're a liar and a killer and I should have never thought of you as anything other than that!”

His eyes blazed with hurt, as if I had just stabbed him in the chest. “You have no idea what you're talking about. That night, what you saw. . .” Pausing, he took in a labored breath, crooking his jaw to the side. “You have no fucking clue. What I did—what I did saved lives, it only ended one.”

Thinning my lips, my nostrils flared. “Nothing you say can excuse what you did. You chose to kill that man, you chose to steal me away and bring me here. What does that say about you, huh?”

“If I could tell you it all, I would. But it doesn't change anything, you'll still be here, you'll still be going out to be sold. What I need you to do is look at me, just look at me and you'll see the truth.”

“No! You're a fucking liar, I don't want to hear another word! Just leave! Leave me alone.” Going limp, my eyes started to fill as the tears threatened to take hold. I didn't want to keep crying, I didn't want to keep feeling like everything was going to shit. “Just leave.” Dropping my head, I looked down at his toes, refusing to see his face anymore.

Everything he had told me was a lie.

Everything I thought I knew was a lie.

There were no promises. . .

It was all just a mask for the monster he still was.