MIA
Cameron doesn’t speak as he leads me down the grand staircase. I lift my dress as I skip down, scared my high heeled shoes—the only type of shoe in my closet—will fall off as I struggle to keep up with him. I feel like some odd mix of Cinderella and Belle, trying to keep my shoes on while running away from the Beast.
“Thank you.” I speak quietly as I follow him, wary of any listening ears hiding in the crevasses of the mansion.
He looks behind him briefly. “I’m just doing a favor for Ryker. He’d do the same for me.”
“Will he be down there? When do I get to see him? Will we be alone?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions.” He stops, and I almost bump into him again. He seems to have a habit of stopping abruptly. “Just remember that everyone in this house is out for themselves. Senior’s girls might seem all sweet and nice, but they’ll run to him with anything they can use against you which might win them favor.” He starts walking again. “It’s not as though they will want to intentionally hurt you, it’s just that everyone looks out for themselves. We have to.” He stops again at the bottom of the stairs, turning to look at me. “So watch what you say and what you do around them, okay? I’m not getting into trouble for you or for Ryker, you understand?”
I nod, he nods, and his stride lengthens as we move down a wide hall. Stopping at a doorway that looks similar to mine but with a keypad off to the side, Cameron presses the code and a lock slides open.
“Guess Senior trusts you more than Sebastian does.” I lift one brow.
“Maestro, don’t you mean?” He chuckles and holds the door open.
Behind the door is a large room, about the same size as mine, but it is one of many, a communal space filled with couches and chairs, tables and bookcases. Apart from the two girls lounging on the chairs, it looks like some strange sort of museum, filled with old and musty things that someone insists are worth something. My eyes scan the mounted heads of animals on the walls, the ornaments stained with age and the paintings of naked women brought alive by the romantic stroke of a brush.
Daisy has a book propped in her hands. She smiles when she sees me and lifts herself up, her dress flouncing around her like a tutu.
“Mia!” She embraces me happily and pulls me over to the other girl, who looks up with boredom laced in her expression. “Mia, I’d like you to meet Iris. Iris this is Mia. She’s Junior’s songbird.”
I start to protest, but at a warning glare from Cameron I shut my mouth and hold out my hand instead. Iris just stares at it and turns back to her book.
“Pleasure to meet you,” she drawls, her eyes scanning the pages.
“Ignore her.” Daisy pulls me away. “She’s always dull when Senior’s not around to pay her attention.”
Iris’s middle finger rises up the outside of her book.
“I’ll take you to meet Lily instead.”
“Sebastian told me to keep my eye on you at all times,” Cameron calls out. “Don’t leave my sight. If you need the bathroom or anything, let me know. You are not to leave this room without me, do you understand?”
“My god, you’re so ridiculous, Cameron. Where’s she going to go, huh? Don’t you think if there was a way out we would have all left by now?” She rolls her eyes and drags me across the room as I twist to catch Cameron’s eye.
“I’m just following orders.” He glares at me, attempting to convey some hidden meaning to his words. “Let me know, okay?”
“Here.” Daisy knocks on a door. “Lily has been here the longest,” she whispers in my ear. “In fact, I don’t even know how long she’s been here. It’s been years.”
The door opens, and blue eyes blink back at me with indifference. “What?” The woman looks between us, a glass of white wine held between her fingers.
“Lily, I’d like you to meet Mia. Mia, this is Lily.”
Lily’s eyes scan me from head to toe. “Pleasure to meet you,” she says with the same enthusiasm as Iris.
I lift my hand and offer a feeble smile and wave. Lily leans against the doorframe. She’s a beautiful woman but old enough to be Daisy and Iris’s mother. Her clothing and styling don’t have the same childish appeal that the two younger girls do, and her room is filled with far more luxuries. I wonder how many years she’s been trapped here.
“You Junior’s girl?”
There’s something about her that makes me want to salute or call her ma’am. Instead, I merely nod.
She narrows her eyes. “Don’t say much, do you? I suppose Junior’s scared any personality out of you already.”
I open my mouth to say something, but let it fall shut when my mind goes blank. There’s something oddly familiar about the woman. Something in the way she stands, something in her stance that I’ve seen many times before.
“Who were you?” I finally find my voice.
“Who was I?” Lily laughs and takes another sip of her wine, even though it’s barely past lunch. “What does that matter?”
“You look familiar.”
“You’ll get over it,” she says and then closes the door in my face.
“They are nice once you get to know them,” Daisy whispers before walking back over to the couch and patting the space beside her. “Come, sit.”
“I—” I look over at Cameron. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Cameron rolls his eyes and heaves himself off the wall. “Of course you do.” He walks down the length of the room toward a door at the rear. “Come on. I haven’t got all day.”
Opening the door, he allows me to walk in first and then closes it firmly behind him. I follow down a narrow hallway, through another room and then out another door controlled by a keypad. “He’s in there.” He nods to a door and opens it wide. “Don’t be long. They’ll get suspicious if it takes too long.”
The room is dimly lit and I peer through the darkness.
“Ryker?” I swallow the nervous knot of guilt at the back of my throat. I have no idea how he will respond to seeing me.
And then I see him. He’s sitting in a chair, legs spread wide and hands looped together as he waits. The sight of him causes my heart to leap in my chest and I quicken my steps.
“Mia?” he gets to his feet, shrinking the distance between us as he strides over and takes my face between his hands. “Mia?” His eyes dart between mine. “Are you okay?”
My nervousness melts and tears spring to my eyes. Pulling me close, he engulfs me in an embrace as he strokes my hair, smoothing it over my head and down my back.
“You’re okay,” he says more to himself than me. “You’re okay.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I hold on tightly. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
The warmth of his breath washes over me as his lips press to my scalp. Tearing myself away, I look up into those ocean-eyes, the ones that throw gray and green and blue all at once.
“I’m so sorry. I thought it was the only way I could get away. I thought that—”
He grips my face between his hands again. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s exactly what you should have done. And for a moment there, I even thought it worked.”
I choke back a thwarted laugh. “Me too. Are you okay? Is your shoulder okay?”
“It’s fine. It was nothing.”
“Are you sure, because I—”
He looks deeply into my eyes, punctuating his words. “It was nothing. Don’t even think about it. What about you?” His hands skim down my arms and his fingers tangle in mine. “Has he touched you? Has he hurt you?”
I lower my eyes to the floor and Ryker curses, dropping my hands and running his fingers through his hair.
“Of course he’s fucking hurt you.”
There’s anger in his tone and I take a step back, aware that I’m not the girl he knew before. Before I was promised to Sebastian, but I wasn’t his. Not really. Not then. But now my skin has been tainted by his touch, my lips have been bruised by his kiss.
Sliding his finger under my chin, he tilts it upward so I meet his gaze. Studying me intently, his eyes widen with alarm as he takes in the dark bruising around my neck. He swallows, closing his eyes for a moment and his Adam’s apple slides up and down.
“Fuck,” he growls and turns to punch the wall, his shoulders rising as he attempts to control his breathing. I imagine it hurt his injured shoulder but he doesn’t seem to notice.
I don’t blame him for his anger. I should have fought Sebastian off. I put more effort into fighting Ryker than I have Sebastian, and yet, Ryker is the one I love. Because I know it without a doubt in this moment, I love him. And I want him to love me too. But with the way he’s looking at me, with anger so clear in his actions, I’m not sure if he still does.
“I’m sorry. I’m so weak.” Tears trip over my cheeks. “I should have fought harder, I should have—”
Ryker whirls back to face me. “No,” he breathes, alarm widening his eyes. “You need to do whatever you can to make things more bearable. Do whatever you can to survive this, you hear me? Don’t ever say sorry. I should be the one saying sorry. I hate myself for not getting you out, for not trying harder to come up for some way for us all to leave this place. But you—None of this is your fault. Don’t you ever feel guilt for what he’s making you do.”
I stare at him through tear-stained eyes. “But that’s the thing. Sometimes it’s just easier if I…” I swallow, not wanting to say the words but wanting Ryker to know that even though Sebastian has me trapped, even though I offered myself to him, Ryker is the one I want. But once he knows what I’ve done, once he realizes the things I’ve said to appease Junior, I don’t think he’ll want me anymore.
“Sometimes it’s just easier if I placate him,” I finish lamely.
Ryker takes my face between his hands again as though forcing me to look at him will cement his words. “I would do the exact same thing. I am doing the exact same thing to keep Everly safe. You need to do what you have to.”
His words are said with such conviction, I want to climb onto him and taste them as they come out of his mouth. I want to devour him and be devoured by him. Instead, I press toward him, begging to be kissed.
And he does.
He draws me close, his hands cupping my face, and kisses me gently and deeply. I grab him greedily, running my hands over his chest and his shoulders, only hesitating when he winces as I run them over the remnants of the wound I inflicted.
“Mia,” he moans, pulling himself away from me. But I’m too desperate for him to hear his warning. I need him. I need him to see me and only me and not the songbird-fuck-toy Sebastian has turned me into.
I kiss his neck and his jaw. I run my tongue over his collarbones and thread my hands into his hair, my movements feverish and frantic. His hardness presses against me as I do everything within my power to meld us into one.
“Mia,” he says again, his hands pushing my face away from his. “Mia, we’ve got to be careful.”
“I don’t want to be careful. I want you, Ryker. I need you.”
“Mia, we can’t. Senior’s girls will be wondering why you’re taking so long.”
I blink away tears. “Please, Ryker. I need this. I need to be seen. I need you to see me.”
“I do see you.” He kisses me passionately before pulling away. “But I won’t be a reason he hurts you.”
My hands drop to my sides in defeat.
“You already are.”
Ryker turns away and punches the wall again. When he runs his hands over his face, his knuckles are smeared with blood. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
I laugh coldly. “It’s not possible.”
“I’m going to figure out a way. It kills me to know what he’s doing to you, what you have to go through. I’m going to stop it. I’m going to set you free.” He kisses me once more. “Hold on, okay? Just hold on and I’ll figure this all out.”
Cameron knocks. “We should probably get her back.” His voice is muffled through the door.
“Look at me,” Ryker pleads. “I promise I’m going to get you out. I’m going to figure out a way to make sure you and Everly are safe.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Ryker.”
The door creaks open and I step toward Cameron, Ryker’s eyes following as I leave, a perfect storm of torment.