I will burn every lie to the ground if I have to.
Hours pass.I drift in and out of restless sleep until dawn creeps through the window.The lock rattles.My heart jumps, then sinks when it ain’t Royal.
Oaks steps in with a protein bar and a shit-eating grin.
“You’re prettier when you’re chained up, sweetheart.”He bites his lip.“Oh, what would you do, oo oo for a Cliff bar?”he sings with a wink.
“You flirting with me, Oaks?What would your Ol’ lady think about that?”
“You’ll never get a chance to run your mouth to Bethany.”He tosses the bar like he’s feeding livestock.“It’s a good thing Legend says you’re off limits.”
As he strolls out, I swallow the humiliation and the bar.I need strength.
Later, Royal returns.His steps are too soft for a man that big.His blade rests at his hip.His hood is low.He closes the door behind him, and the room shrinks.
“I want out,” I say.Calm this time.“I want to talk to Legend.”
He studies me for a long breath.Silent.
“I’m leverage,” I murmur.“Leverage only works if you let it speak.”
Still, he watches.
“You’re scared,” I add.“Not of me.Of what you will do if you get too close.Heard I’m off limits.”
He approaches slowly this time.His hand lifts, and I brace for impact, but he only brushes a strand of hair from my face, like he’s testing how soft I am.His fingers graze my cheek.My pulse stutters.
“You’re a dangerous creature,” he murmurs.
I smile without humor.“Takes one to know one.”
He pulls back.Turns.“Nothing’s off limits to me.You’re my prisoner.”
I smile coldly.“Then you should lock the door.”
He stops.
Just a second.
His hand pauses on the handle.Just long enough for me to see that he heard me.Felt me.Understood exactly what I meant.And when he leaves this time, I swear I see his hand tremble.Royal leaves me in the quiet, shaking with the truth neither of us can escape.
My fate is in his hands.
Chapter 2
Royal
The barrel’s already out back when I step into the night.
No light.No witnesses.Just the scrape of gravel under my boots and the low hum of the clubhouse bleeding through the trees like a reminder that I still belong to something bigger than my sins.
I don’t look toward the building where I keep what I don’t want found.I never do.Thinking about it too hard gives things weight.Memories that don’t stay buried if you give them air.
The masks are in my hands instead.
Cheap plastic.Cracked paint.Sweat-stained straps.Halloween garbage that somehow became something else when I put it on and let it turn me into a shadow she could survive.
The skull ghost goes in first.
